Blackwater Corydoras sp.

general-sherman · Post by **general-sherman** » 29 Nov 2003, 15:05

I'm in the process of setting up a blackwater biotope tank. It will losely be based on the Rio negro river and will most likely house some discus. Are any of the more common Corydoras sp. collected from blackwater habitats? Can they tolerate the higher temperatures required to keep discus?
One point of interest...discus require higher temperatures then most other tropical fish, but many fish from the same area/habitats as discus are said to need the normal temp. range of 24-26. Why is this so?
Thanks.

Post by **Coryman** » 29 Nov 2003, 17:59

Firstly the temperature and other species thing would be to do with the depth of water they prefer. If ther Discus are in the upper levels it will be warmer than at the bottom, also the flow can vary at different levels.

With regard to species of Cory to keep with your Discus, this is a subject that has been covered several times and a little back checking will give you greater in depth answers.

Having said that and not wanting to appear negative here are a few species suitable for warmer set ups: - C. gossei; C. adolfoi; C. burgessi; C. sterbai and C. duplicareus. The first in the list would probably be the best suited for your Discus set up, as in my experience these require temperatures of 80 deg F or more before they will spawn.

Not wanting to put anyone of from keeping this species they will happily live at lower temperatures. but not for breeding.

Ian

Post by **Shane** » 29 Nov 2003, 18:14

Actually, "fancy" Discus are kept at higher temps for a number of reasons. If you pick up some wild Discus they will be far more hardy and do just fine in the upper 70s to lower 80s.
-Shane