Corydoras in the aquarium
Corydoras aeneus
The large corydoras family contains at least 120 different species, and a lot of these are widely available in aquarium shops all over the word. Their popularity is not surprisingly, they have nice coloring, are very outgoing and are always busy foraging the bottom of the aquarium for food. In a tropical community aquarium they are an excellent choice as a schooling fish for the lower areas, and if you are looking for a good bottom cleaner for your discus or angel tanks, you could give it a try. In my discus tank a small group of Corydoras aeneus is cleaning up the bottom nicely, they even recycle the poop of the discus.
Corydoras care guidelines
Always keep them as a group of at least 5 fish, the more the better.
Although they come from different environments, they are rather tolerant when it comes to water values like PH and temperature. For basic keeping any temperature between 24 to 27 degrees Celsius and a PH between 6 and 8 will do.
They eat almost anything, but frozen foods like bloodworms and tibifex should be a part of their diet. They also like the pallets especially for ground dwellers, this way you can be sure they get enough to eat.
In a community tank you can keep different species of corydoras together as a group.
Provide some hiding places, you can often see them rest in such a place as a group.
Breeding Corydoras
Corydoras are egg laying species, they lay sticky eggs which the female will deposit onto leaves, rocks or what else seems suitable. They often spawn within the group, if one couple starts spawning that could trigger other couples to do the same. An other spawning trigger is a cold water change, within limits of course. This somehow imitates the heavy rainfall that is the start of the spawning for corydoras in their natural environment. Breeding corydoras is not the most easy thing to achieve, but I also noticed spontaneous reproduction in a normal community tank.Recommended corydoras species
Corydoras aeneus
Corydoras acrensis
Corydoras ambiacus
Corydoras burgessi
Corydoras metae
Corydoras rabauti
These are just a few of my personal favorites, the list of species is really endless, If you have a small aquarium you could have a look
at the Corydoras pygmaeus the smallest member of the family.
Recommended reads about Corydoras
The Bronze Corydoras
Corydoras pygmaeus
Corydoras World
Posted by Tinker Fish
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