help me pick my fish

[orillian]

Hi, two questions from a beginner:

1) I have one bronze cory and one pepper cory. Is it better to a) purchase 1 more bronze cory and 1 more pepper cory, or B) return the pepper cory and get 3 more bronze cory?

2) Does a bronze cory see a pepper cory as a different kind of fish or the same kind?

3) My bronze cory has this huge lump on her chest. I am not sure about the location of the cory's reproductive organs but I imagine that they would be more posterior than where the lump is. My wife thinks that the cory is pregnant. I am worried that is is a growth/tumor.

Thanks

 

[The-Wolf]

Mixing and matching corys is fine.
They tend to see shape rather than markings.

Now this "lump" can you be a bit more descriptive?
exactly where is it? texture? size?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi orillian

If your cory has a lump, there is something wrong with it. Corys look pretty much the same way before and after they spawn, so that is not the cause of it. Corys have smooth and symmetrical profiles and anything out of the ordinary is probably wrong. If you are in doubt and can take it back to the lfs, you might want to do that.

Corys are schooling fish who prefer to be with their own kind, but will school with others as long as the size difference is not too great. It would actually be better to have a group of the same kind in your tank, but it would not be bad if you decided to mix these two kinds together.

If you would like to breed them at some time, I suggest you get only one kind. It's hard to pick out males and females when they are young, so if you buy a group, chances are you will have at least one of each gender.

 

[GuppyDude]

when i ahd my peppered cory he didn't hang out with my bronze one, id get a whole differant kind of cory and that way the bronze cant pair off and leave the peppered one hangin, or vise versa