What Cory Is Right For Me?

I've recently started my first ever aquarium, and I currently have 7 neon tetras, a cockatoo cichlid, and 3 nerite snails living happily in it. I would really like to have a school of Cory cats in it as well, but I'm worried that I may get a species that doesn't fit in with my current setup or parameters. I've done some research, but there seems to be a bit of discrepancy amongst the sources and I was wondering if anyone here would have any advice. My tank's dimensions are 24 x 12 x 14 inches and it's a 20 gallon tall. The LFS's around me carry bandit cory, bronze cory, skunk cory, panda cory, pepper cory, and three stripe cory (I believe). Thanks for any advice!

 

A 20 gallon tall is a pretty small footprint for any cory. They should be in groups of 6 or so and there just isn't enough space for them to be happy. The only one I see as suitable would be pygmy cory's.

 

Sorry double post..

 

Most people recommend a 24 inch minimum tank length for dwarf corydoras (habrosus, pygmy, and hastatus), and a 30 inch minimum tank length for medium sized corydoras that get around 2.2 inches as adults (metae, melini, panda, trilineatus). Pandas are the smallest corydoras usually available at big box pet stores, so if you were absolutely set on getting corydoras, you might select those for your tank. They might be ok in a 20-gallon standard, but they'd be happier in a 20-gallon long.

For the larger corydoras (aeneus, sterbai, peppered) that get around 2.6-2.8 inches as adults, I'm not sure what specific tank length people recommend, but a 40-gallon breeder or 30-gallon long is usually suggested, and those tend to be about 36 inches long.

I'd say my question is whether the cichlid would be fine with dwarf corydoras since they are often less than 1 inch long. Even if the cichlid isn't aggressive, I'd be worried that it would occasionally try to eat the small corydoras.

 

Are the ‘pepper cories’ salt and pepper, or peppered? If they’re salt and pepper, you could do a group of those.