Why do you like Corydoras?

Sterbai corys are just the cutest, fluffiest little fish I know. They never fight, they will always peacefully leave problems alone

looks wise, i'm not a fan of them. I heard they are good for cleaning up dong their bottom feeder thing really well. the ones I had were too rough in my nano tank and pushed dirt and uprooted plants. they were pretty hard to kill to. I left it out of the water for minutes and still stayed alive. i threw it over the fence and got rid of it.

intothewrx said:

looks wise, i'm not a fan of them. I heard they are good for cleaning up dong their bottom feeder thing really well. The ones i had were too rough in my nano tank and pushed dirt and uprooted plants. They were pretty hard to kill to. I left it out of the water for minutes and still stayed alive. I threw it over the fence and got rid of it.

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wtf?

Thanks everyone for your insights. It sounds like they have very interesting personalities, so that makes a lot more sense. That's something you can't see from pictures or fish profiles. I might have to try some in my new tank. Although the uprooting plants thing does worry me a little. Has anyone else had problems with that? Or is it maybe just that one fish? Also, which types of Corys are you favorite?

You can look for some videos in YouTube, their behaviour might be different from what you see in your LFS. Might mess with your carpet plant if your tank is not matured, mine did. But I still love them.

Sterbai! (and they like hot 25-28 Celsius water too, no other cory can stand such a temp) Their pattern is great and they're so big!

They're so darn cute, other than that they produce a lot of waste and stir up the substrate, bad fish choice for planted tanks unless you go with the dwarf version. I got some agazzi's myself, little trouble makers stirring up organics all over the place, but love the.

Yeah, basically what (most) everyone has said - Very cute, fun to watch, interesting in ways that other fish aren't, and good scavengers. I have my first cory species right now, which are habrosus, and I understand they and the other dwarf cories aren't exactly typical for the genus (spend more time in midwater than on bottom, mostly). Still, they do some of the typical cory things and root around in the sand quite often. They're also safe with my shrimp, which is great. There's no real need for them though if you don't see the appeal.

I always thought I like them because they are a small catfish and I always loved catfish, but never had a big tank for anything bigger. They are one of the first fish I had; a great fool proof pet, which is a good thing contrary to what another poster thinks.

I would say they can go with shrimp, but shrimp always hide. Plus, they reAlly seem to prefer sand, but I kept mine with all kinds of substrate.

That is something to consider. If you aren't a fan, then that's fine. I am not really a fan of neon tetras or really any tetras and that's fine.

I also decided goldfish aren't my favorite. I got some for outside, then just brought them in for the winter and they make me so nervous with their constant sudden fast movements.

Bananableps said:

Just make sure to get at least 6! All of the fun behavior you're reading about here requires that you have a school. They won't be happy on their own, and neither will you!

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Or even more like 8 of them. They will school even with other types of corys, so you can mix them. And get them sand as a subtrate! I know everybody is telling they're good on gravel etc., but when you'll see corys on sand you'll know true happiness :-D

nel said:

Or even more like 8 of them. They will school even with other types of corys, so you can mix them. And get them sand as a subtrate! I know everybody is telling they're good on gravel etc., but when you'll see corys on sand you'll know true happiness :-D

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More like 12! 16? 24!

But yes^^^

Although I've heard they school best when kept as single species?


Seriously, stick to sand. Gravel can really wear down their barbels, particularly if it's something abrasive like ecocomplete.

Another nice thing about corys is they mostly occupy the lower/substrate level of the tank, so they can help things feel more balanced out without distracting from your other fish. That area really doesn't have a lot of options, especially when you get into the smaller tank sizes. I hope to eventually have a small shoal of habrosus

Like almost everyone else has already pointed out corys are just ridiculously adorable and fun to watch. Also - there are so many varieties, sizes and colors, including black, metallic orange and bright green. You can't go wrong with corys.

n25philly said:

wtf?

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chill, before you judge me, try hard to love me. I went through a tough time in my life where i had my pet. It was my favorite out of them all. It used to crawl up on me and play with me every time i put my hand out. One day i saw it sick. the eyes were milky and popping out, gasping for air, body going in and out and when i put it on the floor all it could do was gasp for air on it's side barely able to crawl. I was home alone and didn't know what to do. I had to end its pain. I took it outside to the dirt and a shovel. I don't want to go into details of what I did, but afterwards i felt sad and dirty but I had to do what I had to do. That experience brought me a better understanding of animals, life, and how humans are the rulers and kings of all animals.

yall eat fish and chips right? would you have the guts to deal with death for food?