Can Mixed Cories School Together/ Cory School Size.

I'm interested in getting some corydoras for my 20 gallon aquarium currently stocked with 1 male betta. My lfs has albino cories and pepper cories. I was wonder if I got 3 of each would they school together? Also if I get 1 kind what size school would they need. I'm looking for the smallest school possible with them still being very comfortable. Also I have a peaceful community tank if the betta is mean to them

Also do they eat their eggs? Do I have to worry about a male to female ratio?

 

I personally don't recommend adding cories in with a male betta. I'm not sayin NO that this will never work because i'm pretty sure they've been kept together before by other hobbyist, i'm just going off the fact that Male Bettas are aggressive by nature and very territorial. Cories are very gentle and live in their own little world.

As for schooling it's better to keep the same type of cories together I recommend 3 or more with 6 or more best. If there are different types mixed they may not school together, this is also a "it depends" thing.

 

Cory will occupy the lower region out of the betta’s territory (99% of the time). I keep Cory with my Betta with no issues and many renowned breeders will rank a cory as a “best Betta tank-mate”. I have two Betta tanks and one has albino Cory and the other has Panda. The Betta throw a flare here and there and never do anything more. If anything it’s probably healthy for the Betta to get to peacock around occasionally. Just keep an eye out and if you notice over aggression (it’ll be easy to see) separate them. I’d say no problem though

I do think the whole “Betta need to be kept alone” stigma is a bit overboard but to each their own. Betta with some harlequin rasboras or tetras are fine (one of the two). Additionally for bottom clean up crew a few pleco or Cory or loaches are just fine. IF you want a third species, nerite (black racer or zebra)snails or Amano shrimp are also fine.

I wouldn’t mix though. Stick with a shoal of a kind.

 

As long as it's a school of cories, it should be safe. But if it's a super aggressive Betta, it will end in heart ache. i've lost fish including a cory to a skirt tetra. Cories have no defense. It's an unfair fight.

I added a lot of plants and decor for easy retreat. The cories only swim maybe 3 inches without a natural buffer nearby. But, my blue Betta Hercules ( avatar) lived with neons for a bit over a month, no real attacks. just some curiosity. It's a dice roll imo. You won't know until you try. I'd just avoid red Betta - maybe it's a myth but I've read they are more aggressive which in nature with exotic coloring ( frogs, spiders etc) = death coloring sort of makes sense to me.

 

Agree with others the bigger the shoal of one kind of cory the better. They do glass surf sometimes and will pop up to get a gulp of air every now and again, they are like little puppies. I have heard it's best to add the betta to your community at the end to help avoid him of being aggressive. With that being said sometimes that doesn't matter, bettas have personalities like every thing else living, you won't know until you try. Some hate shrimp and love other fish some hate other fish and love shrimp some will be ok with snails but don't give an inch with anything living and some will not tolerate anything but themselves. They all are different and that's what makes them so fun! I have my mister with mollies and corys and 2 otos and he does great, the corys are nervous of him "hovering" so make sure they have plenty of hiding spots maybe even a floating log for your betta to hang out in just to encourage him to hang out on top. Also be careful of the temp corys don't really like it too hot and bettas don't like it too cold. I have mine at 77 and everyone seems happy and active with that temp. The store I got my betta from kept their ranks at 79 so I felt ok with 77 for him and he is just as active as the rest of the family.

 

Albino and bronze cories are the same species, so school together. You should get at least 6 of the same species.

 

To answer OP's qsn, a school of 6-8 Corys will be best, and they shld all be of the same type, although they do school with the albino variation of their species. They do work pretty well with Bettas.

 

Also about the sex of them only way to tell is by looking on top of them, females are wider then males thays about it, no one I know worries about sexing corys I'd say you will be just fine.

 

I don't know what it is with my Cories then because I have both Albino and Bronze in a 125g and they do not school together. I've always just assumed that different ones won't school together. Perhaps mine are just stuck up. Lol. But I do agree with everyone else, you should get at least 6 for them to be happy. They have great personalites. My Albinos go nonstop all day. My Bronze are lazy and make the Albinos look like dolphins, lol.

 

Mine are pretty spastic, they sit around not doing much for 30 min, then all of a sudden they blast around the tank at full speed for 10 min before settling down again like nothing ever happened, then rinse and repeat

 

Peppers are cool water Corys and can get quite big, so not temp compatible with the betta. Also 6 of one species is far better.
So C.aeneus is the "only" choice.

 

The kind and number of corys has been answered but not the other question. Yes, corys will eat their own eggs. If the one plastering them every where doesn't eat them the ones following behind her will.

As far as needing to add a specific male to female ratio, no. Unlike some species that will fight if the ratio isn't right that doesn't happen with corys. Just one female with 4 or 5 males might get pestered a bit too much though.

 

I'm interested in getting some corydoras for my 20 gallon aquarium currently stocked with 1 male betta. My lfs has albino cories and pepper cories. I was wonder if I got 3 of each would they school together? Also if I get 1 kind what size school would they need. I'm looking for the smallest school possible with them still being very comfortable. Also I have a peaceful community tank if the betta is mean to them

Also do they eat their eggs? Do I have to worry about a male to female ratio?

Hello Kit...

Corydoras aren't schooling fish. Watch Tetras sometime, they're schooling fish. Corys are shoaling fish, there's quite a difference. If you heavily plant your 20 gallon, especially with some bottom plants like species of Anubias, you could have some Corys, say six or so. Aquatic plants do wonders to help calm fish and make them feel comfortable. If you keep the tank water especially clean with lots of large, weekly water changes, the fish won't feel stressed at all and they'll be fine with your Betta.

Old

 

Albino and bronze cories are the same species, so school together. You should get at least 6 of the same species.

I don't know what it is with my Cories then because I have both Albino and Bronze in a 125g and they do not school together.

Albino doesn't necessarily mean Bronze Cory ( C. Aeneus ). They are the most widely available species, but you can get Peppered ( C. Paleatus ) Albino Corys too. OP could ask her lfs, i'm sure they'll be able to tell her which ones they have in stock.

If you go with " Bronzes " ( C. Aeneus ) there's a couple of really cool color morphs ( Albino, Black/Venezuela or Peru, Neon stripe ) and there's even Veil Fin variants ( not that fond of those myself, in general , and they will all school/shoal together.

 

This^ My mom has peppered and albino cories. They do not school or shoal together, the albinos are a lot more active. I thought that meant they were different species, but when she moved to a place with soft water, her cories spawned and made babies that grew up in her tank. I can't remember what she got, but I think they were all peppered. If she bred an albino to a peppered offspring, she would get 50% albino since the peppered offspring all have one albino gene.

So does that mean they are the same species, but they don't school/shoal together? It's the same experience as Sheena-Phx, the peppers are lazy and the albinos are always moving all over.

Maybe the albinos have no sense of fear from predators (which they've never seen in her tank) and the original peppers have more natural instinct?

 

My 2 albinos and 2 cories stick together and at times seem to play. The 2 sterbais I have don't hang around the cories and stick to themselves.

Tony

 

Albino doesn't necessarily mean Bronze Cory ( C. Aeneus ). They are the most widely available species, but you can get Peppered ( C. Paleatus ) Albino Corys too. OP could ask her lfs, i'm sure they'll be able to tell her which ones they have in stock.

If you go with " Bronzes " ( C. Aeneus ) there's a couple of really cool color morphs ( Albino, Black/Venezuela or Peru, Neon stripe ) and there's even Veil Fin variants ( not that fond of those myself, in general , and they will all school/shoal together.

I didn't know that. How do you tell apart albino bronze and albino peppered?

 

Albino doesn't necessarily mean Bronze Cory ( C. Aeneus ).

If you go with " Bronzes " ( C. Aeneus ) there's a couple of really cool color morphs ( Albino, Black/Venezuela or Peru, Neon stripe ) and there's even Veil Fin variants ( not that fond of those myself, in general , and they will all school/shoal together.

Hi, apart from the albinos the others you mention although in the aenus group aren’t colour morphs they’re separate species & won’t shoal together although they may stay close for security reasons.

I didn't know that. How do you tell apart albino bronze and albino peppered?

Hi, aenus & paleatus as a quick guide have different dorsal fin shapes, have a look at the two species here
Corydoras(ln6) paleatus • Callichthyidae • Cat-eLog - planet catfish
Corydoras(ln7) aeneus • Callichthyidae • Cat-eLog - planet catfish

 

I have two different cories together, they group together most of the time, and intermix together. But its abnormal. I have 3 peppers and 3 trilineatus.

I don't recommend peppers, as mentioned before they need cooler water than what a betta can handle.

 

As long as it's a school of cories, it should be safe. But if it's a super aggressive Betta, it will end in heart ache. i've lost fish including a cory to a skirt tetra. Cories have no defense. It's an unfair fight.

I added a lot of plants and decor for easy retreat. The cories only swim maybe 3 inches without a natural buffer nearby. But, my blue Betta Hercules ( avatar) lived with neons for a bit over a month, no real attacks. just some curiosity. It's a dice roll imo. You won't know until you try. I'd just avoid red Betta - maybe it's a myth but I've read they are more aggressive which in nature with exotic coloring ( frogs, spiders etc) = death coloring sort of makes sense to me.

That does make sense. I read that plakats are more aggresive bettas because they are closer to wild type bettas. I have a plakat dumbo that's white/tan/ very light blue