Corydoras for Hard Water List

[CassCats]

In general, it's easy to say that most bottom dwellers are from softwater habitats, but there are a few exceptions if one does enough digging around.

This is a list of corydoras suitable for ranges 200ppm and up, but be aware it may vary availability for your particular water as some are low-end. For the sake of ease, I use ppm, but to convert to DGH, I use:

Water Hardness Conversion

A tool to convert measurements of harness from ppm to degrees and vice-versa

www.thinkfish.co.uk

I've compiled a list of cories with their size of tank and GH ranges to simplify things for those wondering what they can keep in harder water.


Minimum Tank Size: 10 gallons
Corydoras:

Corydoras Hastatus 36-215ppm

Corydoras hastatus – Tail-spot Pygmy Cory (Corydoras australe) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Minimum Tank Size: 20 gallons
Corydoras:
Corydoras Aeneus (bronze) 36-268ppm

Corydoras aeneus – Bronze Cory (Corydoras schultzei, Corydoras venezuelanus) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Corydoras Ambiacus 30-215ppm

Corydoras ambiacus (Corydoras grafi, Corydoras longirostris) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Corydoras Bondi 36-215ppm

Corydoras bondi – Blackstripe Cory, C031 (Corydoras bondi bondi, C031) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Corydoras Brevirostris 36-215ppm

Corydoras brevirostris – Spotted Cory (Corydoras melanistius brevirostris) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Corydoras Metae 90-215ppm

Corydoras metae – Bandit Cory — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Corydoras Melanotaenia 36-268ppm

Corydoras melanotaenia (Green-gold Cory) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Corydoras Melanistius 36-268ppm

Corydoras melanistius (Spotted Cory) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Corydoras Julii **the REAL julii** 36-215ppm

Corydoras julii – Julii Cory — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Corydoras Elegans 18-268ppm

Corydoras elegans – Elegant Cory (Corydoras pestai) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Corydoras Agassizii 36-215ppm

Corydoras agassizii – Spotted Cory — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Corydoras Axelrodi 18-215ppm

Corydoras axelrodi – Axelrod’s Cory — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Corydoras Arcuatus 36-215ppm

Corydoras arcuatus – Skunk Cory; C020 (C020) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Corydoras Napoensis 18-215ppm

Corydoras napoensis (Napo Cory) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Corydoras Paleatus up to 215ppm

Corydoras paleatus (Pepper Cory) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Corydoras Sterbai 18-268ppm

Corydoras sterbai (Sterba's Cory) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Corydoras Rabauti 18-215ppm

Corydoras rabauti – Rusty Cory (Corydoras myersi) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Minimum Tank Size: 40 gallons
Corydoras:

Corydoras Fowleri 36-215ppm

Corydoras fowleri – Fowler’s Cory — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

**due to larger size and potential aggression between males

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Oh wow, thank you for doing this! This will be so helpful when people want cories, but have harder water. At least hopefully they will choose a species that can tolerate their water conditions better than many others would. This is very kind of you, thank you

 

[Essjay]

I use the hardness converter here https://www.fishforums.net/aquarium-calculator.htm for dH/ppm conversions On TFF, ppm is called mg/l CaCO3.

For other conversions, eg mg/l calcium, common on UK water company websites, I use this one https://www.cactus2000.de/uk/unit/masswas.php

 

[Byron]

The "Water Hardness Converter" in post #1 that deals with dH to ppm and reverse is easy, but if you want to avoid having to go to that site, and you have a calculator on the PC, use the number 17.9 either way. To convert dH to ppm multiply the degrees by 17.9, and to convert in reverse divide ppm by 17.9 and you will have the corresponding dH.

This works with dH (dGH) and ppm only, not Clark or other "degrees."

 

[Essjay]

The calculator on here also includes deg Clarke.

GH and dH are the same thing
mg/l CaCO3 = ppm
US hardness = grains per gallon

 

[jkkgron2]

I have hard water and I keep c.rabauti corys in it. Maybe add those to the list? I might have to try out some of those species!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I have hard water and I keep c.rabauti corys in it. Maybe add those to the list? I might have to try out some of those species!

Nice!
Pretty fish, and SF gives their hardness range as 18-215ppm, 90 by 30 base aquarium dimensions

Corydoras rabauti – Rusty Cory (Corydoras myersi) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

 

[jkkgron2]

Nice!
Pretty fish, and SF gives their hardness range as 18-215ppm, 90 by 30 base aquarium dimensions

Corydoras rabauti – Rusty Cory (Corydoras myersi) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

I guess it depends on where they were bred. As far as I know, everywhere around me has hard water so I’m guessing they were bred around here. Since I got them locally.

 

[CassCats]

I have hard water and I keep c.rabauti corys in it. Maybe add those to the list? I might have to try out some of those species!

added!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I guess it depends on where they were bred. As far as I know, everywhere around me has hard water so I’m guessing they were bred around here. Since I got them locally.

I wasn't disagreeing with you, I was saying that they would be a good choice to add to the list, because 215ppm is pretty hard water, and SF agrees that they can handle that range.

 

[jkkgron2]

I wasn't disagreeing with you, I was saying that they would be a good choice to add to the list, because 215ppm is pretty hard water, and SF agrees that they can handle that range.

Ah, makes more sense. I was a bit confused about the post. Thanks for clearing that up

EDIT: The reason I was confused was because I thought that in the original post it said 300ppm instead of 200 so now that I reread it that explains a lot.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Ah, makes more sense. I was a bit confused about the post. Thanks for clearing that up

EDIT: The reason I was confused was because I thought that in the original post it said 300ppm instead of 200 so now that I reread it that explains a lot.

Sorry man, didn't mean to confuse you! I was saying it was nice, I was glad there was another cory species to add to the list, and gave the hardness range and tank size to try to save @NCaquatics some work so she could add them to the list This list started because I was complaining to NC about how all the fish I like are soft water fish, but I live in a hard water area. She's our cory expert, and she found a whole bunch of cories that can tolerate harder water, yay! Yours are a nice addition

 

[CassCats]

Theres other experts on cories too. @Byron deserves some praise for that title

 

[Stanster59]

Found it