What info can you give me on Panda Corys (Ex. Temp, max size, tankmates) What other corys do they do well with?
Pandas are one of the smaller corys, around 2" & are a cooler temp species, 24C would be their limit though they'd be happier a bit cooler than that. They'll go with any other cooler temp cory though imo they're best kept in a large single species group as they're notorious for cross breeding. Any non aggressive tankmates are compatible with corys, no fin nippers as they can be a sitting target & no territorially aggressive fish as corys have no concept of territory & can get themselves into trouble.
Temp:22 to 25°C Ph:6 to 7.5(they like blackwater) Max size:5cm Tankmates: they do well with most fishes, but top and middle dwelling fish are better to prevent competition for food. Special conditions: they need to be in schools of at least 6.the bigger the group, the better. Tank size: at least 15 gallons for 6.Bigger the better. Food:Mine like shrimp pellets, hikari bottom feeder pellet and occasionally some algae wafers @Coradee should be able to help
I have 6 Pandas and they're the best They're really playful, always chasing each other about the tank, diving in and out the bubbles. They do like to rest as well though and on a few occasions ive thought i've lost one when they've only been snoozing lol. 2 of mine are over a year old and about an inch in length. They live with my neon and cardinal tetras and BN plec. I feed them sinking shrimp pellets but they will also eat any flakes that fall to the bottom and also like to munch on my BN algae wafers. The pandas have become one of my favourite fish. Temp wise and for tank mates - everything Coradee said
I have a small group of panda corys along with a julii cory and spotted cory (I had more of both, but they dies shortly after I bought them) and they all hang out together happily like they don't even know the difference. Don't keep them with loaches, or they'll go hungry more often than not.
I know a number of killifish people who have kept them with Killies. Many killifish species tend to stay in the upper part of the tank, and a fish to eat food that gets past them is very useful (they also fed the catfish extra food like pellets, of course). The fact that most killies are kept without heaters makes the Panda's cool temp preferences desirable. One unexpected advantage of this is that the breeding mops that killifish use to spawn also serve as a spawning medium for the Panda Cories. They prefer to spawn in the plants, rather than on hard surfaces like the more common species. This made it possible to get both Killifish fry and Cory fry from the same breeding tank! There was no evidence of either species eating the eggs of the other.
((sorry off topic kinda)) OMG. I have never seen panda Corys. Now I must find those for my new tank instead of albino... ((return to your normally scheduled program))
They're great fish. I actually got a couple of them in my tetra/Danio community tank to help clean up the bottom (which they do an excellent job at). But I got super attached to them! They're so cute. Pandy and Andy are their names, they love each other so much! They're always playing leap from and climbing on top of each other. You'll always find them sitting on the ground of swimming right next to each other. Hardy fish too. I've had both of them a while and they're doing great.
I Have also had panda cories! One thing I will say that no one else has said is that they mate a lot!
THat is good info Sarah73 .... Do they eat their own eggs, or guard them from other fish? Although I think Panda cory fry would probably be almost the single cutest thing ever. Don't really want to have a bazillion of them.
Ive not seen panda fry, but when I got my 4 they were tiny, only about 1cm max. Remember getting rather narky with the sales person at my LFS as id phoned to reserve these Pandas and when I got their to collect them we couldn't see any. The guy (with a hint of panic in his voice!) said his colleague must have sold them! After 20 mins of me searching around all the tanks and the salesperson on the phone to colleagues I finally spotted them! They were soooo small, we'd totally missed them time and time again! But they were absolutely adorable and I just fell in love with them. Being much smaller than my 2 adults they didn't spend time with them. In fact it's only now that they're all about the same size they're starting to all hang around together.
With the tank size I'm looking at upgrading to soon. I'll likely get 8 total. and buy them in sets of 4.. Have a fear of adding too many fish at once.. If I can find them...
They will not guard the eggs. They will eat the eggs and so will other fish if they get a chance to. And if they hatch in the tank, they will become fish food and Cory food. I would use a razor to get the eggs off and put them in a tank of their own. The fry are very cute when they start to get color
