Best Cory Cat for Beginner?

Hi there. Im going on 3 months with a fish tank and I’m loving the hobby. I’ve been thinking about what I’d like to keep in a future tank. Most likely 20 gallon community tank. I love Cory Ctas but I’m not sure which is the most beginner friendly. I’ve narrowed it down to five Cory’s I like the most. Albinos, Peppers, Pandas, Sterbai and Pygmy Cory Cats. Which one is best? And what are their social requirements?

 

Hi there. Im going on 3 months with a fish tank and I’m loving the hobby. I’ve been thinking about what I’d like to keep in a future tank. Most likely 20 gallon community tank. I love Cory Ctas but I’m not sure which is the most beginner friendly. I’ve narrowed it down to five Cory’s I like the most. Albinos, Peppers, Pandas, Sterbai and Pygmy Cory Cats. Which one is best? And what are their social requirements?

Welcome!
All corys should be kept in groups of 5 or 6 at the minimum since they are schooling fish. In my experience I have found albinos and s&p to be the hardiest. So, if you have a 20 gallon long I would suggest those, but if its a 20 high I would suggest the pygmys since they don't get as big. Whatever you decide on getting, just make sure to get 5 or 6 so that they feel comfortable in the tank

 

Welcome!
All corys should be kept in groups of 5 or 6 at the minimum since they are schooling fish. In my experience I have found albinos and s&p to be the hardiest. So, if you have a 20 gallon long I would suggest those, but if its a 20 high I would suggest the pygmys since they don't get as big. Whatever you decide on getting, just make sure to get 5 or 6 so that they feel comfortable in the tank

Thanks very much!

 

Adding onto connorjs' post, if you can't find albino corydoras, bronze corydoras are the same species. So you could get them as an alternative

 

I love sterbie cories, so pretty!, Wichever one you choose, I suggest you get 6 or more with smooth natural type gravel or sand substrate.

 

I love sterbie cories, so pretty!, Wichever one you choose, I suggest you get 6 or more with smooth natural type gravel or sand substrate.

Thanks for the tip! I'm leaning more towards Salt and Pepper because of their adorable little size lol. But Sterbai is most definetely the one to choose if myLFS doesn't S&P

 

Thanks for the tip! I'm leaning more towards Salt and Pepper because of their adorable little size lol. But Sterbai is most definetely the one to choose if myLFS doesn't S&P

Good plan!

 

Hi, most of the readily sourced species of cory are beginner friendly.
Which species is more suitable for your tank will depend on what other fish you’re going to stock as some species of cory such as C.paleatus & C.panda prefer cool temperature, C.sterbai prefer warmer temperatures.
You’ve mentioned peppers (C.paleatus) salt & pepper (C.habrosus) & pygmy (C.pygmaeus) all are dfferent species, if you’re wanting a small bottom dwelling cory the C.habrosus would be suitable as C.pygmaeus spend a lot of it’s time in the middle levels.
I’d suggest before deciding on which cory to get that you have a think about what other fish you’d like as well, maybe go to your Lfs & see which fish you like best, write down their names then come back & we can advise which would be suitable for your tank

 

Hi, most of the readily sourced species of cory are beginner friendly.
Which species is more suitable for your tank will depend on what other fish you’re going to stock as some species of cory such as C.paleatus & C.panda prefer cool temperature, C.sterbai prefer warmer temperatures.
You’ve mentioned peppers (C.paleatus) salt & pepper (C.habrosus) & pygmy (C.pygmaeus) all are dfferent species, if you’re wanting a small bottom dwelling cory the C.habrosus would be suitable as C.pygmaeus spend a lot of it’s time in the middle levels.
I’d suggest before deciding on which cory to get that you have a think about what other fish you’d like as well, maybe go to your Lfs & see which fish you like best, write down their names then come back & we can advise which would be suitable for your tank

Good idea. Thanks!

Ok so I have my almost complete stocking plan. Now its going to be a 29 gallon since its higher. This is my stocking idea so far (See Pic). Now the Cory selection is not final. Its just there so i can see the stocking level. Sadly ive seen that S&P is not always hardy. So im stuck between Albino/Bronze Corys, Peppered, and Sterbai Corys. Which one is hardier and best suited for this stocking?

 

I've kept albino cories and I can personally say they are generally very hardy. Only one of my nine albinos died over the course of two years until I sold them to someone. All the species are probably very hardy but I can vouch for albinos. Sterbais are my favourite colour pattern though

 

I am having a great time with my five false jullii corys ,I think your should consider it too ,I find their size a good middle ground

 

Peppered Corys are my choice, but more then 20 is where the fun starts ...

 

I think Sterbais are easy to care for and they are generally more expensive than the pepper and the albino and the bronze because they are more sought after. So if you are a good diligent fish keeper and do your weekly water changes, take care to provide high quality foods and make sure you understand and achieve fully cycled system for your tank, then I say go with the Sterbai. They are beautiful, medium size, and breed like crazy once they are happy with you. It will be fun collecting their eggs, raise up the fry and sell them back to your lfs who will very gladly buy Sterbais over all the other species because they are popular and more higher priced on the retail end. You will get more credit or money for your baby Sterbais. I just love their orange pec fins and their pretty body spots……gregarious and really cute cories.
I personally have bred Sterbais without much effort and have sold more than 100 juvie Sterbais back to my lfs for good store credit or money. They don’t last long at the store either because everyone around here seem to love “locally bred” sterbai babies cories.

 

I have a pair of emerald corys that are at least 10 years old, maybe as much as 15 years old, sure can't complain there.

But in the same tank, a 55 gallon, I'm also up to 19 albino's because I raised a couple batches of eggs. I know it sounds like a lot, but it's a large enough tank, 4ft long and I make sure I feed enough so they get food and personally, I find them so interesting in such a large number.

I also have a 10 gallon in which I'm growing out what started as tiny baby panda corys, one of the smaller corys. With them I found that they are better if you get them older than I did, can be a tad sensitive, but once they grow, they are quite hardy.

 

I think bronze (aeneus) or peppered (paleatus) are probably the easiest for a beginner. They're both fairly hardy, and I rarely see paleatus corys ill or dead even in bad pet shops.

I didn't find the habrosus (common name salt and pepper, or dainty cory) to be all that fragile, personally. At least no more so than any other fish their size, such as a neon/cardinal/ember tetra, or a harlequin/espei/kubotai rasbora.

It will be fun collecting their eggs, raise up the fry and sell them back to your lfs who will very gladly buy Sterbais over all the other species because they are popular and more higher priced on the retail end. You will get more credit or money for your baby Sterbais.

Just check with the pet store first, because they may not be legally allowed to buy them or give store credit. For example in Florida it's illegal for a pet/fish store to buy from anyone who isn't also a fully licensed aquaculturist. (I suspect because aquaculture is such a big industry in Florida; many ornamental tropical fish sold in the US were either farmed in Florida, or came into the country via Florida, especially S. American species.)

 

Just check with the pet store first, because they may not be legally allowed to buy them or give store credit. For example in Florida it's illegal for a pet/fish store to buy from anyone who isn't also a fully licensed aquaculturist. (I suspect because aquaculture is such a big industry in Florida; many ornamental tropical fish sold in the US were either farmed in Florida, or came into the country via Florida, especially S. American species.)

In my case, it's a matter of that unfortunately all I have available is box pet stores and they will not take for free, buy, or give store credit because they are under contract to dealers.

Case in point, one has a nice display to entice people to start with shrimp, have everything you need for shrimp, except the shrimp. They can not get shrimp from their current dealers, have been trying for at least a year. I offered some beautiful, healthy, red and/or blue cherry shrimp for just store credit. Nope, they legally could not do it. Their lose and truth be known, no skin off my teeth other than I have numerous pets and would have like store credit to get the dogs a treat or a new aquarium plant.
But back to topic. As far as raising cory babies. I didn't do it for years. I knew my corys were breeding, but the other fish and the parent corys always ate the eggs. So you don't really have to worry about finding homes for a bunch of cory babies.

In my case, one day the hubby noticed them breeding and got excited. I just said, oh yea, they do that all the time, something will eat the eggs. But then he saw some on a plant leaf that got missed and bugged me to save them. Not having any experience, I really didn't think it would work, but to humor him, I cut off the plant leaf and set up a hatching tank, And it worked, sure surprised me.