Pygmy Corys

[dan44762000]

hi all just cycled my tank three days ago and wanted something to clear up the substrate and have been reccomended some pygmy corys
i am planning on getting 6 of them. i have a 70 litre tank and it currently has three neon tetras and three black tetras.
will they get on is my first question ?
secondly i have read mixed reviews about how diffucult/easy they are to keep.
any special requirements ?

my reading today were ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5
ph 7-7.5

i have some plants in there but there the artificial ones
couple of ornamental stones too

please say i can add them as i believe they would benefit my tank greatly and apparently very little bio load.
its going to be a community tank .

 

[JustKia]

As a rule corys fare better in a more mature tank. However, I have 3 albino corys and 3 peppered corys in mine and they seem to be doing pretty well (well they're spawning...)
As corys are scaleless they are more sensitive to "stuff" in the water - ammonia, medications, etc

However, I would say that if your tanks stats have been consistently good (ie 0 ammonia, 0 nitrItes) for a couple of weeks and providing you keep a close eye on your tank and stats that you will probably be OK, I'm no expert so that is purely my opinion based on my experience.

Corys are fun little creatures. Just make sure that your substrate is either smooth gravel or sand as they spend a lot of time with their bellies on the substrate and they also shuffle through it with their barbels, a rough substrate can lead to your fish either getting sore or wearing it's barbels down or even off completely.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome Dan. You don't say which pygmies you are looking at. My own experience is that the hastatus are very shy, the pygmaeus are not quite as scared of their own shadows and the habrosus are full active members of my tanks. If you are looking at the habrosus, they are quite the characters in a small tank like that and I would go for it. If you are looking at hastatus, you may never see them out in the open so they are not as much fun to keep. I have all 3 and am trying to encourage the hastatus to breed because I hope their fry, raised in a normal fish room, will be out in the open more often.

 

[Inchworm]

I have all 3 and am trying to encourage the hastatus to breed because I hope their fry, raised in a normal fish room, will be out in the open more often.

Hi OldMan47

That's an interesting idea. I'd be very interested in finding out how that turns out. I've had the least luck with them of any of the three. When I bought them online, many were dead on arrival and some did not adapt to my tank very well, but I hope to try them again when they become available.

 

[OldMan47]

Try sending a query to Luis at Florida Guppies plus. I got mine by asking him if he had any. At the time he had pygmaeus and habrosus listed on Aquabid but I already had those. The ones he sent me were quite robust and did well but I couldn't stand to watch them huddled in a corner trying to look invisible. I put lots of hiding places for them and now just see them in a glance as I enter the room.

 

[Inchworm]

Thanks, OldMan47

I'm hoping that at some time in the future Frank's Aquarium will have them in. He's a reliable dealer and is within travel distance so I can pick them up. After the disaster I had with the last batch I'm affraid of having them shipped.

http/www.franksaquarium.com/

 

[mikev]

Inchworm,

So you use Frank too? Lots of my fish came from him.... I saw pretty good Habrosus at Fishtown a week ago, $1/fish, unfortunately something else had higher priority and they are sold out now.

I have all 3 and am trying to encourage the hastatus to breed because I hope their fry, raised in a normal fish room, will be out in the open more often.

Hi OldMan47

That's an interesting idea. I'd be very interested in finding out how that turns out.

not going to change anything, I'm afraid. I had high hopes for a Sewellia fry growing in my tank now...while the adults are extremely shy, it was fearless for a while. in the last two days as it crossed 1cm, it started avoiding me.....