Mixing Cories?

[mic8310]

Hi

My first thoughts were to add cories as my first fish after the cycle period but ive now read that isnt such a good idea (wonder why a lot of newbies seem to think they are ok for that?). Ive been to a big shop over in Reading today for a look and there seems to be quite a variety of cories. If they work better in groups rather than couples, would it matter if it was (for arguments sake) 10 of the same kind or 10 different ones?

Out of interest looking back at the shop, all of the cories were tiny... bout an inch... if they grow to different sizes where have the bigger ones gone?!

cheers

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome Mic8310. The bigger ones are what yours will be 6 months after you get them. In the meanwhile a minimum of about 6 is usually recommended. It will give you a lot more interaction between the fish and schooling behaviors if you get all one kind. One of each can live in the tank together but won't be as interesting to watch. I would try picking out 3 or 4 that you like the looks of and come back to ask which would work better for your tank temperature and water conditions. Some of the cories do better at different temperatures and some tolerate high pH water better than others. It is always better to match the fish to the water than try to match the water to the fish.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi mic8310

My first thoughts were to add cories as my first fish after the cycle period but ive now read that isnt such a good idea (wonder why a lot of newbies seem to think they are ok for that?).

I keep seeing that, but have never seen a convincing reason why they shouldn't be one of the first fish introduced to a completely cycled tank. If you've done a fishless cycle and have an active colony of bacteria going, with ammonia and nitrite readings at 0 and an elevated nitrate reading, why not? I regularly set up new tanks using a bit of filter floss from existing tanks with no problems.

What other kind of fish are you thinking about getting? Perhaps we can give you some suggestions about corys.

 

[mic8310]

To be fair i havent given too much thought into much else, i like corys and as i have sand at the bottom of the tank it seemed to be a good idea

The vision i have for my tank would be to have lots of small fish like neons, guppys etc and have a few larger fish that stand out. I was thinking about a few angel fish but there seems to be debate if theyre suitable to go with neons so i dont know now, i was just gonna see what kind of water i had and take it from there!

 

[toshapetriji]

I live in Reading and have some mature filter media you can have which will speed your cycle along if you want it.

 

[mic8310]

I live in Reading and have some mature filter media you can have which will speed your cycle along if you want it.

pm sent

 

[Inchworm]

Hi mic8310

How nice of toshapetriji to offer you some filter media. That's going to be a big help!

If you really like corys, why not consider skipping a bigger centerpiece type fish? A nice school of corys can be very active and interesting by itself or with just some smaller fish in the tank. Since they are not at all aggressive they will get along fine with neons or even kuhli loaches and otos.

How big is your tank?

 

[pippoodle]

i gave up the idea of a centerpiece fish and opted for the cories - they are excellent fish and if happy and have no aggressive fish in the tank with them they dont just stick to the bottom but swim in the middle areas of the tank a lot
i cant recommend corys enough