What Cory's, Community Tank

[johnny70]

Hi

I'm looking at stocking some cory's for my community tank.
Below are the following species that I'm thinking about,

C.sterbai
C.xinguensis
C.duplicareus
C.trilineatus
C.weitzmani

Could you tell me if they would be suitable for a 180 ltr, 23c, pH6.8 ammonia and nitrite 0.0 and nitrate 5.0,heavily planted tank with sand substrate,bogwood, tufa and slate, pH has been bufferd with coral sand as pH and kH(1.0) are very low. Running 2 filters a Juwel internal and a Fluval 305 External as we would like to overstock.
The tank has been up and running for 9 weeks now, I would like to know that these corys could go in now or if i should wait a while, at the moment I have 3 mollys, 3 rock shrimps, 6 columbian tetra's and various snails. The only other fish we are planning, are 1 L numbered plec up to 5" , pair of Blue Rams and some more tetra's. Other suggestions welcome

I know we can't stock these all at once, would 5 of each be too much? If we couldn't have all 5 types of corys which and how many would you suggest.

Many thanks

JOHN

[MatsP]

You can find which species is OK with which temperature by using the "Cat-eLog search" (At the bottom of the Cat-eLog menu). I entered Callichtyidae/Corydoras as Family/Genus and 23-24 in the temperature selector, which gives this list

As you can see, C. sterbai, C. xinguensis aren't listed, as they prefer a higher temperature.

Unfortunately, with the species you've listed, it's almost impossible to have a shared temperature that all like: C. sterbai and C. xinguensis prefer a temperature no lower than 26'C, whilst C.duplicareus aren't happy above 24'C according to the data in the Cat-eLog.

Also, blue rams prefer temps about 28-30'C in my experience, noticably lower will almost certainly lead to white-spot or some other problems.

As for stocking up the tank, I'd add one species of Corydoras at a time, with say 5-6 of each.

Once you start getting the stock up, keep an eye on your nitrate levels, as that's where you're going to see if you're getting towards overstocking - you'll see the nitrate rise between water changes, and if it reaches much over 20 ppm, you should start considering the stocking level.

--
Mats

[johnny70]

Thanks Mats, I'd not seen the advanced search button, very helpful indeed, I'm currently reviewing what fish especially we are having, want to get it right and not cause any distress to our fish.

Thanks

JOHNNY