New to corys, good dither for plecos?

[Blackhawker]

I had a renown breeder tell me that corys are good to help settle plecos and make them feel more comfortable. I'm going to need a medium sized species to keep with medium sized cichlids. What should I get and will they steal alot of food away from my plecos?

[MatsP]

I do believe they make plecos feel calm and such.

As to whether they steel food from plecos or not depends very much on what plecos and what you feed. If you have "carnivore" plecos and you feed them pellet/granule food, then certainly, the corys will go for that food too. Corys don't even sniff at vegetables, so if your plecos are more on the vegetarian side of the food-spectrum you'll have no problem with corys going for the food.

And if the plecos are settled and feeding properly, they should be able to fend off the any cory that happens to get in the tank.

Make sure you match your pleco temperature requirement with the cory temp requirement - not good to keep warm loving pleco with cooler water corys like C. paleatus or C. aeneus. If you have your tank set to 28'C/82'F, then most corys will be unhappy - C. sterbai and a handful of others are OK with warmer water, but most corys live in shaded streams that rarely exceed 24'C, and many are in higher altitude where the water is even cooler.

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Mats

[andywoolloo]

I have sterbai with my L066 and I have pandas with my bristlenoses. They get along fine.

I would be afraid to keep pl*cos and corys with cichlids. What kind of cichlids? I would be afraid they would injure the pl*co or cory. I have read horrible things about pl*cos losing eyes and fins ripped etc. Unknown if the ciclids would do that to corys also, maybe. But like I said I have just read that.

[Blackhawker]

The cichlids I keep have a peaceful to semi-aggressive temperment. I dont keep Oscars or JDs or any other "dead red" aggressive fish.

[MatsP]

If the chiclids are small enough and relatively friendly, then it should be fine. It would probably be a good idea to mention what species of cichlids they are, as there's probably someone here that knows whether it's OK to keep them with corys or not.

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Mats

[Blackhawker]

Green Texas cichlid, Macaw cichlid, Rainbow cichlid, and a firemouth cichlid.

Of the bunch, the only one that appears to be the alpha is surprisingly enough the Macaw cichlid. It's surprising because of the bunch, those are considered the most peaceful. I cant figure it out.

[MatsP]

But they are still small, if I remember your other post(s) correctly. Agression in cichlids usually starts when they become "teenager" size.

I personally wouldn't put corys with any of those fish - mostly because they are central americans and like hard, alkaline water, where all corys are from South America [except for a couple of species from Trinidad], and like soft, acidic water. But they are also not well protected against a large bully of a cichlid like those can become - well, perhaps not the fire-mouth, but the others are quite capable of biting a cory to bits.

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Mats

[bamboosticks]

but some cories are shyer than others

[MatsP]

but some cories are shyer than others

Very good point. And they are all more shy in a small group.

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Mats

[drpleco]

Personally, I don't think that medium plecos are a great idea with those cichlids. Competition for food will be an issue, as will nipped fins. I keep angels in with some of my bigger plecos, but that's about it. That's just me, though.

[Blackhawker]

I did much research on those cichlids I maintain. Granted some of them can stray from the norm, but in general those cichlids do well with plecos. I'd say the texas and macaw are in the teenager stage, with the rainbow being almost a full adult. The rainbow doesn't pay attention to anything, even food. I'm still trying to get him to have a normal diet. The other little guys mind their business. They don't pay attention to the tetras or the plecos.

All of those cichlids are considered "community" cichlids. I'm just trying to maybe think of a bottom dweller that can aid the plecos in being more social.

[wrasse]

if the rainbow is H Multispinosa and the firemouth I guess is T Meeki, then I agree they are more suited to a community and something like a shoal of brochis would be fine with them, ideally in neutral water conditions.

Whats a macaw cichlid's latin name?
Texas cichlids are more boisterous, aren't they?

[Richard B]

what exactly does the term community cichlids mean? I would say that firemouths & texas are no way cichlids for a community tank. However they are good examples of cichlids that can be kept in a cichlid community tank. I would not put corys in a tank with these species. A dither fish should be something that is active which encourages shy fish to feel more comfortable & corys do this fine for plecos when there is no threat from predators. With the inclusion of these cichlids the corys won't act correctly & won't do a dither job. Things may be ok at present but these cichlids get bigger & aggressive tendancies will increase as they age & grow.

In light of having the cichlids i don't think there is a bottom dweller which can be used to the effect you are trying to achieve

[MatsP]

I'd say the texas and macaw are in the teenager stage <cut>

That doesn't correspond well with this post:
http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... 45#p187248

If your fish is currently 2", it is far from a teenager - it's only about 25% of the ultimate size according to your own statement on their size.

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Mats

[Blackhawker]

Thanks Richard, I guess I won't be able to achieve that with having a cichlid community tank.


Mats, it was a rough estimation. I'd say the firemouth is definitely 2-3, but the texas is around 3-4.