Corys in a 55 Gallon

lotsabettas · Post by **lotsabettas** » 22 Aug 2005, 20:25

Hey everyone I have a 55 gallon and would like to know how many corys could go into it at present I have the following
4 cory aneus,1 dwarf gourami,5 angelfish and just got 6 cory palateus today (very small juveniles 3 for $6)..
Reason I ask is the angels are pairing up and picking on one so we are looking at possibily getting rid of at least one pair of angels.The cory aneus are two pairs male/female the new palateus are too small to tell right now..
The local LFS has a large selection right now of corys average price is 3 for $9 and I was interested in some sterbai...
My tank isnt planted it has pool filter sand as substrate and various rocks and caves for hiding..Filtration is 2 penn plax cascade 150's (but will be upgrading to penguins or emperors soon....
Just figured if Im down sizing with the angels have I got the limit of corys already as I dont want them to be uncomftable

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 23 Aug 2005, 09:15

The stocking level of a tank is very much related to the amount of maintenance you're willing to do.

There is a "basic" rule for stocking, that says 1" of fish per gallon. That would mean about 55" of fish in your tank.

Counting that the average large cory will take up about 2.5" (some of the smaller ones will not even reach an inch, but I'm being conservative here), you could keep about 20 of them in the tank, and still have some space left for a couple of other fishes.

However, this is dependant on your water changing, feeding levels and several other factors (efficency of the filter, planting level, etc, etc). The way to determine if you do enough water changing is to measure the nitrate (NO3) levels at the end of a water change [just before you change the water]. If the level is under 25 ppm of nitrate, then that's fine. If it's higher, you need to either have less fish or more water changed.

Sterbai's are very nice. I'd probably get 6 of them, so that you have a good chance of having both sexes, as well as getting a good size bunch of them to shoal together.

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Mats

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 23 Aug 2005, 14:45

What temperature do Angels require? Is it around 80 degrees F.? If so, this is too warm for Paleatus and Aeneus Cories. From observation, they seem to be most comfortable(no outwards signs of stress) between 74-76 F. Breeding seems to be triggered at appx.71-72 degrees F. I've noticed if the water temperature goes anywhere over 77-78 degrees F., outward signs of stress begin (rapid breathing,more trips to the surface,etc.)Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 23 Aug 2005, 14:54

Good point from Bronzefry there. Sterbai's are quite "warm water loving" for cory's, and are probably the best cories to keep with warm loving fish like angels.

Most cories prefer the lower 70's rather than upper 70's or 80's. They generally live in areas where the water comes from mountain streams, and the water is a lot cooler than the warm water where you'd find angels or discus.

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Mats

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 23 Aug 2005, 14:59

I'd also worry about an Angel finding it's "inner C******d" when it's time to guard the eggs.

lotsabettas · Post by **lotsabettas** » 23 Aug 2005, 21:40

we just upgraded the filtration today replaced one of the cascade 150's with a penguin 350 so we have that and one cascade filtering a 55 gallon...we will be getting rid of one pair of angels later today and looking to get more driftwood etc to provide more hiding places...
theres also a possibility of more tanks as someone local is selling like 70 15 gallon tanks a load of 20 gallon longs etc will keep posted as to what we end up with hardware wise..
have just discovered a cory expert in pittsburg who has 10 species available to buy so things are looking up

Cory_lover · Post by **Cory_lover** » 24 Aug 2005, 13:09

on that note, what if the 55gallon had nothing but only corys? ie an "ALL-CORY" tank? *drools* like one of those 'cory playhouse' hahahaha

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 25 Aug 2005, 10:14

It's PROBABLY better to keep lots of corys in several small tanks, rather than one big one. It avoids two potential problems:
- Cross breeding. Although the people with lots of experience say that this doesn't happen very frequently, there are certainly some species that WILL cross-breed, and letting them share the tank isn't a good idea.
- Different temperature (or other water parameters). Some cories want really cool water, others like quite warm, and the rest are somewhere inbetween. Some are more tolerant to higher or lower temperature, but they all have slightly different IDEAL temperature.

But let's say that you find a few species that are suitable to go together, yes, you could easily keep about 20 full-size fish in a 55 gallon tank, supposing you watch and adjust your water changes as to keep the nitrate level below 25 ppm [this shouldn't be a particular difficult task, 25% per week would probably cope just fine, maybe even less than that, but it does depend on the filter, planting, and feeding levels].

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Mats

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 25 Aug 2005, 15:02

If you come to adore a certain Corydora species, you can make this species a focal point in a 55 gallon aquarium. I have done this with Paleatus in a 75 gallon tank. I love this species(many consider it "common"). The behaviors exhibited by 8 Paleatus in a moderately to well planted 75 gallon tank with Tetras, Otos and (1) Peckoltia is something I personally like to observe. Everybody has different ways of approaching things. There are many correct ways of doing things.

These Paleatus took their first breather from breeding this summer. I believe it was about 4 weeks off(warmer temperatures?).Now,they're back at it. The largest specimen is the Peckoltia(L-147?),which is already 4"TL.Paleatus get quite big for Cories,about 2-1/2" for the dominant females. They look even bigger when filled with eggs. The males are smaller. I hope we aren't confusing you. Please let us know if we are.