Will different pygmy cory schoal together?

I have a 20 gallon with 5 pygmy cory catfish in it and asked a local fish store to order 6 more for me. I didn't realize that there were actually three different pygmy cory catfish and he ended up ordering me 6 habrosus instead of pygmaeus. So I ended up taking 5 of the habrosus and a pygmy cory as that was all he had, leaving me with 4 habrosus as one died and 6 pygmy for a 20 gallon with two honey gourami and 15 harlequin rasboras. Will these fish schoal together and be comfortable? Do I need more of the habrosus?

 

Habrosus will stay closer to the bottom, but still use the entire tank if there are enough plants etc.

I've never kept them together, but I don't think there would be any issues between them. My Habrosis never schooled. They remained spread out throughout the tank, mostly they hung out on top of the plant leaves when they weren't feeding.

 

I had another issue happen with this as well. So I had a few more deaths due to a disease that has now hopefully cleared up and I only have one habrosus left. Furthermore to add to this issue when I went to purchase more bronze corydoras for a separate tank, they gave me what they called "green Corydoras". They said green was another name for a bronze corydora and at the store they looked like a bronze corydora as I had no comparison. When I came home I realized they are not bronze corydoras as they are much paler with a much more green abdomen. What should I do?

 

They are color varients of the same species, Corydoras aeneus.

The fish won't care. I guess you can return them if you don't like them, but they should hang out with the bronze.

 

Here is a photo of the two corydoras, bronze is left. The green corydora, on the right, is also bigger then the bronze corydoras I have so I think it is a corydoras splendens. Can you confirm if it is a colour variation or not? I don't mind keeping it if it is a colour variation but if it is a different species I would have to get more or hopefully be able to return them.

 

I have 3 habrosus I have been trying to get more for a year. I was told by my LFS when they had Pygmy that they will all school together so I bought 10 and literally not one of them schools. They are just all over the tank. They don’t seem unhappy just scattered. It’s a 20long and planted.

 

JMO - Behavior is driven more by the group dynamics

my false julii do not have a female so they act skittish, less playful antics. less shoaling.

female cories are larger, so that may account for size diff you are seeing. Females will slowly out grow the males in size.

I don't think the fish will care that much between the slight color differences.

Mine were purchased as green cories

I have 3 habrosus I have been trying to get more for a year. I was told by my LFS when they had Pygmy that they will all school together so I bought 10 and literally not one of them schools. They are just all over the tank. They don’t seem unhappy just scattered. It’s a 20long and planted.

any females?

I really do think the behavior changes if there's a female in the group.

when I gave away some baby cories a few years back, I made sure 5 male, 1 female

a male cories without a female cory is depressing, less playful chase

I have about 20+ cories, 3 -4 females now.


I am thinking about moving my 5 male false julii to a tank with my green cories to see how they interact. I expect some interaction, not sure how much. it's just catching them to move them takes a lot of effort.

 

here's a link to Practical Fishkeeping article about the Splendins. It seems that the best way to tell is by counting the rays of the dorsal fin. The Splendins will have 10-15 while the aeneus will have 7ish. They don't really resemble the aeneus much when you see them side by side.

Brochis: A giant among dwarfs

The picture of the green one doesn't show the detail of the dorsal fin, but it does look small like the aeneus.

You can probably find some good photos at planetcatfish.com

EDIT: Regarding the Habrosus. When I kept them they did not shoal like "normal" corys, like others have said, but they did often hangout together when feeding. I would have 5-6 of them grazing together on the same flat rock. I found that when they were on bottom they were more likely to stay in a group. They were more solitary when exploring the upper parts of the tank, often resting on a leaf.

 

Your bronze corys are both bronze corys. Also albino corys are bronze corys. Many get confused with the green and pets stores like to sell them as green. The only green cory is the emerald cory and it has (I think) 13 ribs on the dorsal fin and does get much bigger than a bronze cory. About 3x the size.
As to habrosus and pygmies no they won’t school together. Pygmies are schoolers that swim mid level of the tank. Habrosus are a more typical cory and look like tiny corys. The pygmies have their own look. My pygmies lived about a year and the habrosus started dying off within the first month till I was left with one. When I bought them was the first and last time I’ve seen them in a store. Both sets of 6 coexisted in a 15g shrimp tank. The last habrosus is about 2-4yrs old now in a 36g and doing fine.

 

I guess that depends on what kind of cories you have. Overhere, in my community tank in the livingroom there are three kinds of cories and they do shoal from time to time.

 

Thank you for all the replies. From my research/ personal experience corydoras are most comfortable with their own species. Meaning habrosus will not school or be as comfortable with pygmymeaus corydoras. However if what I have are green corydoras and not splendens then they are the same species as bronze corydoras. The green corydoras I have are a little larger than the bronze corydoras but appear to have the same dorsal fin. So I think they are the same species but I will try to take better photos or a video if possible.

 

This was the closest comparison I could get.

 

Same corys .

 

I have 6 varieties in my 40 gallon community and they all get along great. My bronze, sold to me by that name, are the same size as the albino and they do spawn together. One variety I never knew the name of, I had 4 in a tank and 3 died. The remaining one seems happy with the others. I have a 10 gallon tank with what appears to be bronze, they look the same, but are half that size and have laid eggs that hatched on their own. Only found 1 wee fry 2 weeks ago, don't know how many I may have hiding. Venezuelan perhaps? I just see all varieties getting along fine.

 

I have 6 varieties in my 40 gallon community and they all get along great. My bronze, sold to me by that name, are the same size as the albino and they do spawn together. One variety I never knew the name of, I had 4 in a tank and 3 died. The remaining one seems happy with the others. I have a 10 gallon tank with what appears to be bronze, they look the same, but are half that size and have laid eggs that hatched on their own. Only found 1 wee fry 2 weeks ago, don't know how many I may have hiding. Venezuelan perhaps? I just see all varieties getting along fine.

I’m with you! I’ve got one tank with 12 bronze another tank with 12 strebi and a third tank with a complete mix of cories. All three act the same.

 

This was the closest comparison I could get.

Indeed both C.aeneus. The tankbred green Aeneus originate from the time C.venezuelanus was seen as C.aeneus as well (nowadays it would be seen as crossbreeding).


BTW : Pygmaeus might gang up with C.hastatus (both are midwater swimmers) but won't with C.habrosus (bottomdweller). C.habrosus doesn't shoal tightly.