New Owner Of 2 Peppered Cories

[clown_loach]

I introduced 2 peppered cories to my fish tank earlier today and would like to ask some questions about these cute little fish.

My tank holds about 63 litres of water (Juwel Rekord 600) and has a good selection of live plants, wood, rocks and fine gravel. The temperature is a steady 24 degrees and I change around 25% of the water each week and test the water regularly (last reading ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0).

I already have 8 xray tetras and 8 glowlight tetras happily living together. I've read that cories are happier in larger numbers, do I have enough room to add another 2 peppered corries?

Feeding - LFS sold me King British catfish pellet food. After the cories had a morning settling in, I dropped some of these pellets in, only for them to be grabbed by some of the glowlights who squirrelled themselves away in a corner to eat. Quite comical to watch!

So, how do I make sure my new little charges are getting enough to eat? I've been looking through the posts here and looks like feeding them at night when lights are out and the other fish are sleepy is a good time. Suggestions are also 1-2 pellets for each cory. Have a got this right?

 

[Mowbz]

You do indeed need more, another 4 or 5 would be good, but that would make you overstocked no doubt. How is the tank filtered?

I would recommend feeding them at night. Drop in a few pellets each about 5 minutes after you've turned off the lights. Thats when they'll be most active. I would imagine with there only being two, they dont come out much? (Althought in a 63ltr tank, you mustn't have trouble finding them!) If this doesnt work, try distracting the Tetra at one end with flake, and drop pellets in the other end. Feeding sometimes does have to be tactical!

 

[clown_loach]

You do indeed need more, another 4 or 5 would be good, but that would make you overstocked no doubt. How is the tank filtered?

I would recommend feeding them at night. Drop in a few pellets each about 5 minutes after you've turned off the lights. Thats when they'll be most active. I would imagine with there only being two, they dont come out much? (Althought in a 63ltr tank, you mustn't have trouble finding them!) If this doesnt work, try distracting the Tetra at one end with flake, and drop pellets in the other end. Feeding sometimes does have to be tactical!

Thanks Mowbz for your advice. Spent hours just watching them both last night and noticed that they are active in the evening that during the daytime.

I did take some fish flakes and with a small amount of water made them pellet shaped and dropped them in while I distracted all the other fish the other end. The corys found these quite quickly and nibbled away.

Would it be OK to get another 2 corys to keep these 2 company?

My tank came complete with its own bioflow filter system... the blurb says it "offers reliable and effective two-stage biological and mechanical filtration, together with great ease of maintenance. The high volume filter ensures low maintenance along with easy access to all the media without having to remove the filter from the aquarium. Our pumps are designed to ensure the effectiveness of the filtration system by supplying an adequate slow flow of water through the filter media. Due to the large volume of filtration material, this flow ensures a highly effective filter, which results in crystal clear water."

 

[Katch]

Make sure your tank isn't too hot! These are sub-tropical corys and the don't do well at temperatures higher than 24c and much prefer 20-22c. Other than that keep your substrate nice and clean.

 

[Tizer]

peppered corys get too big for a small tank, you are better off exchanging them for something more suitable.

 

[clown_loach]

Make sure your tank isn't too hot! These are sub-tropical corys and the don't do well at temperatures higher than 24c and much prefer 20-22c. Other than that keep your substrate nice and clean.

Thanks for this advice.

The temperature is just below 24c constantly and changing 25% of the water weekly is keeping my tank look good and all the fish seem happy.

peppered corys get too big for a small tank, you are better off exchanging them for something more suitable.

What would you suggest? If my fish grow I'm more than happy to get a larger tank!

 

[Tizer]

Couple of other posters on here at the moment in a similar position, i would return peppered corys and get pandas corys instead

Without doubt your fish will grow more, thats what they do But they need space to grow into before they start to suffer from deformaties.Ao you cant do "oh he looks big now, best get a bigger tank" by then, its too late, you need to work out just how big they get and get a suitable tank quite early.

 

[clown_loach]

Couple of other posters on here at the moment in a similar position, i would return peppered corys and get pandas corys instead

Without doubt your fish will grow more, thats what they do But they need space to grow into before they start to suffer from deformaties.Ao you cant do "oh he looks big now, best get a bigger tank" by then, its too late, you need to work out just how big they get and get a suitable tank quite early.

Thanks for the sound advice Tizer. I'll go back to my LFS as at the end of the day, it's the fish welfare that is more important.