[JasonBD77]

So I am incredibly in love with Corydoras pygmaeus and hastatus. My tank is big enough but I am concerned about their comfort. The goal is to be heavily planted with very little open floor space. My understanding is that they prefer to spend their time swimming off the floor. There will be plenty of room for that. Will they be happy without much open floor space? I could get my hands wet and redo some things if need be. Thanks in advance!

 

[IKeepShrimp]

I don't have too much experience with the different species of dwarf corys as I only own habrosus, which I absolutely think are fantastic little fish. My understanding is that they don't all necessarily behave the same way, as in some like to swim around the mid-section of the tank as well as foraging along the bottom. I can say for my habrosus, I have them in a 29g tank that is pretty heavily planted along the bottom and they seem to really enjoy it as it is. They do spend alot of time on the bottom of the tank but also they like to plant themselves pretty much anywhere in the tank that they fancy.

Just one person's experience to consider. Also, I definitely recommend taking a look at habrosus if you are looking at dwarf cory species!

 

[SueD]

My hastatus (only have 3) spend a lot of time on/near the floor of the tank but they do so in among the small crypts I have, even though there is plenty of open space. My 6 habrosus in another tank also hang out mostly in a densely planted side of the tank (smaller crypts and hard to even see them) and venture into the smaller open space occasionally when I feed. So yours should be fine among the plants and might even prefer it.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Do you have a lot of thick carpeting plants? Or are they more interspersed larger plants?

I've kept C. pygmaeus multiple times. Each time, the fish have always entered into the "understory" of the tank, and I rarely see them. Presumably, they snack on pods and shrimplets. I'd see them darting around underneath the cover of various plants. In the 10 gallon, they'd hide under the Cryptocoryne undulata (or whatever the Petsmart TC non Crypt wendtii plants were), and in the 29 gallon, they hid under some unidentified stem plant. Each time, there was plenty of open space (Indian Almond Leaves in the 10, a barren field caused by amazon swords in the 29), but they never ventured out from their cover.

 

[JasonBD77]

I was at one of the local shops today for Amano shrimp and they had 11 pygmaeus. I decided to go for it and brought all 11 home. They are spunky little things. I don’t care if they hide a lot so long as they are happy.