Corydoras: Your Busy and Awesome Aquarium Freshwater Fish
The Corydoras (armored Catfish) is a unique fish in your aquarium. They are small, fun, busy, friendly, curious bottom fish that like to live in a group, an asset to any aquarium.
They search the bottom for food, they are real-day fish, and they like to swim in plain sight; Corydoras is a freshwater fish in Callichthyidae and subfamily Corydoradinae.
Do you want cheerful, striking fish in your aquarium? Then choose some Corydoras.
How to Keep Corydoras Fish healthy
Fish food is essential for this, Also because good fish food makes the colors more potent and the resistance increases. I always use food that is suitable for the Corydoras.
This contains the proper nutrients and has the right size so that the fish can eat well. I also like that it is also good food for other fish.
The Corydoras family has more than 1600 species in all kinds of colors, sizes, and patterns. native to South America, where they live in large shoals in slow-flowing rivers.
They like to live in groups at the bottom of your tank. They are excellent cleaners of your aquarium.
Length: 4 to 7 cm
Age: 5 to 16 years
Aquarium size: Enough space, at least 60 centimeters long
Water temperature: Between 22C and 28C
PH value: Between 6.5 and 7
Particularities: Corydoras are small bottom fish and the cleaners of your aquarium. They like to live in a group.
Nutrition: Feed Tablets, Red Power Granules, Tubifex, Red Mosquitoes.
What does Corydoras need?
A Corydoras is a fish that can get stressed quickly, and this is a feature that you must take into account.
When buying a new Corydoras, let them float in the water for half an hour to get used to the new water temperature. Once used to it, they are avid cleaners.
They like to live at the bottom of the aquarium.
That’s why they must get food that reaches the bottom of the tank and doesn’t float on the surface or get eaten by other fish in the tank.
The Corydoras like to live in a group.
They are friendly fish, and they leave other aquarium inhabitants alone, even shrimp. You won’t see them much on their own, but they are most content in a group and happily swim around in plain sight.
What does Corydoras prefer to eat?
Please be careful with the food, when you feed the fish in your tank, the Corydoras hang underneath to catch the leftovers.
They make sure nothing is lost. As a result, there is no excess food at the bottom of your aquarium, and your aquarium remains nice and clean.
But you have to make sure that the food you use reaches the bottom of your aquarium. Otherwise, they will not have enough food.
The Corydoras are omnivores. Too much plant food is not enough because they mainly need animal food. They, therefore, do not eat algae.
You can choose to supplement them with meat-based food tablets, such as Red Power granules. But you can also feed them tubifex, red mosquitoes, and frozen foods such as bloodworms and daphnia.
How to set up an aquarium for Corydoras?
As mentioned, they like to live at the bottom of the aquarium, and they help keep the water moving at the bottom. In this way, they contribute to good water quality. That is why the correct setup is essential.
Corydoras live during the day. When they are in a group, you will notice that they are busy looking for food at the bottom of your aquarium during the day.
Make sure you have enough hiding places where they can hide during the night or for other fish in your aquarium. For example, pieces of Driftwood, stones, or dense vegetation in which and under which they can shelter.
Sometimes they want to go upstairs to gasp for oxygen. So make sure that there is space on the water surface for this.
Corydoras search the bottom of the aquarium for food with their snout and barbels.
With coarse gravel, these hairs can be damaged, and as a result, they can find less good food. Therefore, make sure you have excellent gravel or preferably sand at the bottom of your aquarium.
Due to their small size but eternal curiosity, they search for food even in the small cracks.
They like to do this, and they also want to have the space to swim. Therefore, make sure you have an aquarium of reasonable size where the swimming space is not limited by too much decoration.
An aquarium smaller than 60cm in length is not suitable for Corydoras.
Provide sufficient oxygen in the water.
The armored catfish originally lived in rivers in South America. They like soft water with a slightly acidic PH value.
Growing Corydoras is relatively easy
Some steps in growing Corydoras:
Step 1: Feed them tubifex and red mosquito in advance to prepare them for mating.
Step 2: Do a sudden water change with cold water, often enough for the female to lay the eggs.
Step 3: The eggs are glued to plants, windows, or the filter.
Step 4: After five days, the eggs hatch.
During mating, the female holds about two to four eggs between her pelvic fins. The male fertilizes it for about 30 seconds.
The female then swims to a suitable place to attach the eggs. The pair will repeat this process until about 100 eggs have been fertilized and attached to plants or windows.
Difference Between Males and Females Corydoras
Males Corydoras are often slightly smaller than the females, while the females are often somewhat more rounded than the males, especially during fertilization.
This way, you can easily recognize males and females.
What types of Corydoras are there?
The Corydoras is also called the armored Catfish and therefore belongs to the armored catfish family. There are over 150 different varieties! Therefore, the most popular types of Corydoras are briefly discussed here.
Corydoras panda: Cory Panda
Also known as panda armor catfish, Corydoras panda is one of the most famous armored Catfish. You can recognize it by its distinctive panda-like appearance, with a black spot at the beginning of the tail and a black spot at the eye. The dorsal fin is black, and the color is generally white/beige. This species grows to about 5 centimeters.
Corydoras Julii
The Corydoras Julii is also called the leopard armor catfish due to its distinctive appearance. This fish is about 4 to 6 centimeters long.
Corydoras Aeneus
The Corydoras Aeneus, or the spotted Armored Catfish, is a species that is albino or black.
This Catfish is about 6.5 centimeters long.
Corydoras Sterbai
The Corydoras Sterbai is another widespread subspecies. This fish is about 8 centimeters in size and usually has the colors anthracite with silvery speckles.
This species stands out because of the orange pelvic and pectoral fins and the barrels.
Corydoras Paleatus
The Corydoras Paleatus is one of the easiest species to keep and is recognizable by its rich colors. This species grows to about 6 centimeters.
Most common diseases in the Corydoras
The Corydoras are particularly susceptible to fungi, infections, and stress. You can recognize when they are sick by the following characteristics:
- Idle and do not eat. The Corydoras are always actively looking for food.
- Fluffy fungus on the body, which resembles cotton wool.
- A lump in the mouth is also often a sign of fungus.
- A big belly can indicate a bacterial infection.
- White dots or white fluff are a sign of White Spot disease.
- Bulging eyes or a different eye color indicates inflammation.
- The best medicine against Corydoras diseases
Do you recognize these symptoms? Act quickly to prevent it from worsening, then treat them with the proper medication.
What fish does the Corydoras like to live with?
Corydoras are fun, friendly fish, and they get along well with other fish in your tank. The Corydoras likes to live in a school of at least five conspecifics.
Did you know that the Corydora is poisonous? They are friendly fish, but if you are in danger, they can release venom. However, they rarely do this.
Incidentally, the poison is not dangerous for humans. When they feel threatened, their spines and pectoral fins can also expand.
As mentioned before, Corydoras does not tolerate stress well. Therefore, please do not put this fish with other fish that may attack or chase them; this increases their stress level but can also cause them to use their venom.
This is, not a pleasant living environment for fish among themselves. Choose the Corydoras if you want a cozy, busy fish in your aquarium with beautiful colors that you like to swim around visibly.
