Fancyfins12
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Can I keep 2 dwarf corys in a 20h with a 10"x20" footprint? I'd have driftwood and caves up to mid tank, but I want to make sure they'd have enough bottom space to thrive.
Enough space for Corys?
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Dwarf cories are really social, they need nice large school to be happy. I wouldn't keep them in anything that couldn't house at least eight of them.
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Fancyfins12
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Okay, thank you. How much space do you think that would be? I also have a 20 long
Well it depends. Which species were you planning to keep? Corydora pygmaeus? Corydoras habrosus? corydoras hastasus? Or were you thinking of like, panda cories?
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Fancyfins12
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What @AdoraBelle Dearheart said. They are just so much more fun to watch in large groups. In a big tank they run and chase and roll over each other like kittens. One of the funniest fish to watch there are.
They're really adorable! I picked up one because he was on his own in the store, I knew I wanted to get some eventually, and figured I could get him some friends soon. But supply problems meant they couldn't get any more until four months later...
I swear, the final week before I managed to get more pygmies, he was depressed. He didn't hang out with the otos or guppies I tried putting him with to give him some sort of company. In the early days of getting him, he'd bop about all over the tank, eploring, swimming about, sitting on different plant leaves. But I was worried about when he seemed to get depressed. He started just sitting on the filter outlet day in and day out. I never saw him exploring or sitting in other places. The water quality was perfect, he wasn't ill, he was just isolated and depressed.
Now I've finally got more (eight right now, planning to get more with the next shipment, to bump the school to 12) and it's a whole different fish. They all hang out together, and they feel safer when they're in a large group and no predatory type fish with them, so I often find all of the pgymies and all of the otos sitting around on the sand part of their tank together. Then groups of three or four will take off to swim around together.
Personally OP, while they swim mid-water more than many other cory species, they do also like to sit around on the bottom and be in a large group, and the more the merrier as far as they're concerned. They really need a good amount of them, and you'll see behaviours you just wouldn't if there were only two or three of them. If there's the option of a tank with a larger footprint, go with that one, and get shrimp or something for the high tank.
@AdoraBelle Dearheart You mentioned something that too many people miss by not catering to a particular species needs. Their behaviors. I have species only tanks and the fish do things that they would never do if other fish were around. To me, the best part of this hobby is watching the fish. They put on a much better show if you give them what they need socially. You also mentioned lack of predators. Very important as they will not do what is natural to them if they are constantly looking over their shoulders for trouble.
Was that meant to be “20g”? As in a 20 US gallon tank?
If so, you could keep a shoal of 6+.
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Fancyfins12
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Hi
Hi yes it is a 20 US gal, but a high tank (20h). As I understand footprint is more important for keeping bottom feeders than volume. The general op seems to be that my tank is too small
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Fancyfins12
New Member
I appreciate everyone's input! I decided not to add any corys to either of my communities. But someday if I have more space I'd love to have a school of them 
You mention a 20 long and a 20G. I wouldn’t put any in a 20G. Bronze, emerald, and pandas will go fine in a 20 long. Get about 10 of them. You can still add a mid level group of fish too if you like. Perhaps 6 cardinal tetras?
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Fancyfins12
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Hi, yes. Both are 20 gal tanks but one is high and one is long. The long footprint is 12.5"x30"
Do you know what you plan to do with the high tank? I've seen some really interesting ones!
They're tricky to stock, but not impossible, and easier because it's a 20 high, not like, one of those 5-10 gallon high ones I've seen that are even harder to stock I ask because I have a real yearning to get one of those impossibly shaped tanks, like a tall hexagon tank, and make a vertical aquascape for shrimp
Maybe like a soil wall climbing the back of the tank, with plants scaped into it so the shrimp can use the vertical space, perhaps with a slight waterfall at the top. Ahh, dream aquascapes!So would be fun to see what you're planning to do with your tall one
I would put them in the 20g long. They will have plenty of room.
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