Panda Corydoras, Deilcate?

[friendlyfishy777]

I am considering adding Panda Corydoras to my tank but I keep reading they are deilcate and often die prematurely at the remote sign of trouble with the tank. I, of course, intend to keep my tank spotless but I would rather have fish that are realtively hardy, as due to some unforseen reason there maybe a time when a water change is delayed. So what I am hearing about the Pandas is worrying.

I'm looking for owner experinces to judge if I can have some cute pandas come join my tank.

I am thinking of purchasing Wild Caught which I have heard are more hardy.

 

[Tizer]

All corys prefer to be kept in good sized groups. Pandas in my opinion should be kept in no less than 10, since they are smaller and a lot more shy than others. I've lost count of how many pandas i have, but i think its about 7 now, after losing a couple very early on. As for wild or tank bread ones...personally i would think the tank bred fish, if bred locally will be much more hardy.

 

[Corydoralover]

yea i agree with tizer they are smaller but they arnt shy as harlequins can justify

 

[Nova 8]

I have never had issues with panda cories over the years, Ive had numbers from 4-20 at any one time and they did great either way. As for wild or tank bred, if you are worried about hardiness of the fish i would go for tank bred. They will be less picky with food and water requirements.

 

[kevin82]

I only have 5 pandas but they are in with 6 Dulpicareus and they are doing just fine, although they've only been in the 240L since saturday.

I have had pandas in the past and they can be sensitive to water conditions and changes. Didn't loose any but you could tell when they weren't happy

 

[Harlequins]

Wild caught pandas i think are more sensitive to tank set ups,whereas tank bred are more hardy in my opinion.

Has with most corys,they prefer cooler temps 22-24 degrees being ideal for them.

 

[Mowbz]

I lost 1 on the way home, and then a further 2 of 10 bought within 48 hours of putting them into a newly cycled 4ft, but have had to put this down to stress/water shock.

Originaly thought is was due to a mini cycle as the ammonia was showing 0.25ppm. turns out there was 0ppm (API liquid ammonia test - PITA) and considering i still have the 7 survivors 3 weeks on, its looking good.

They are very much "out in the open", and spend most of their time whizzing up and down the front ofthe tank. I plant to up the numbers to about 10-12 this weekend, as they prefer to be in a bigger group, but they seem to be enjoying all the space they have.

I honestly dont know if Tank or Wild are better, but would probably buy tank bred over Wild if i was worried about them hard to keep. If you're not worried about the amount of maintenance (after all, we have them to care for!) and can afford to take on a large group of Wilds (given the right tank / parameters etc) and you can get the majority of them through the first few weeks, i would say you would be ok. Depends on how you handle fish loss. Peronsally, if there was nothing i could have done, im not worried, it happens, but i would be mortified if i found one of mine had died from somethind i caused/could have prevented.

 

[cynic]

Have to agree, i have 6 panda's and shy they are not. Often see them swimming in the mid to higher levels of the tank, almost for the hell of it.

Very entertaining to watch.

 

[friendlyfishy777]

I honestly dont know if Tank or Wild are better, but would probably buy tank bred over Wild if i was worried about them hard to keep. If you're not worried about the amount of maintenance (after all, we have them to care for!) and can afford to take on a large group of Wilds (given the right tank / parameters etc) and you can get the majority of them through the first few weeks, i would say you would be ok. Depends on how you handle fish loss. Peronsally, if there was nothing i could have done, im not worried, it happens, but i would be mortified if i found one of mine had died from somethind i caused/could have prevented.

If I thought it was something I had done I'd be terribly upset. I am very willing to get them through the settling in peroid and would give my all for them. Unrelated I know but I have two wild caught Gold Laser and they seemed to have settled in very well. I've had them just over a week. Got two tank bred Gold Laser yesterday to go with them. I plan to carry on studyly building up their numbers to at least six. Which might make the ammount of Pandas I can have limited. I was looking at around six.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

friendlyfishy777, being someone who also loves catfish myself, I'd urge you to keep a close eye on the "big picture" of your 200l tank stocking. You could very easily end up with a very bottom heavy tank, with a lot of different catfish competing for space on the tank floor, with no stocking space left for midwater or upper water fish.

Back in the summer, my fish stocking suddenly had a reality check and I then saw I had too many bottom dwellers for my tanks, which resulted in me having to sell on a group of Corydoras sterbai and a group of Emerald Brochis.

 

[friendlyfishy777]

Thanks for the reality check! Just looking at the tank today I thought it looked pretty much full when it comes to the bottom. I guess I might just have to start another tank sometime down the line.