Pictus or Corydoras?

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robham777 said:
I am adding 2 more festivums and my 2 chocolates tonight from my 125. The tank has only been set up for a week with 4 festivums from my 36 and so far no readings for ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. I threw a couple of bags of cycled ceramics in the sump, and will move an ac110 over if I need to. I also need to get my qt ready since it has been idle for months, if I end up with 20 cories may have to switch the 20 for a 29. Is there an issue mixing cories if I can't locate a suitable quantity of the same species?

Stanzzzz7 Stanzzzz7 thanks for the suggestion, I will swing back by the lfs tomorrow and see if they have any hoplo. Without looking specifically for them, I probably would have assumed they were loaches and not paid them much attention since I would prefer not to mix continents. Are they ok in groups?
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Yes,Hoplo's do very well in groups and it's the best way to keep them.

If you choose the corydoras route and you want to mix them,that's fine with most species.
However some have very different temperature requirements. Do some reading up on each species before you buy.
I would also choose larger growing cory's.
Most of the cichlids you are keeping are not very predatory and you should be fine.If they do decide to try and eat a small corydoras, they can become lodged in the cichlids throat and kill them.This is unlikely but it does happen sometimes.
 
Corydoras are not good in a tank with territorial species as they don't respect boundaries and will be on everyone's plate all the time. They need a peaceful tank and territorial species need tankmates that get the point....unlike corydoras...

But having said that, corydoras would always be my preference. They're one of my favourite fish and they're very active when happy.
 
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In a 210 gallon with the cichlid species the op has chosen he shouldn't have any problems.
They are all mildly territorial and will be much more occupied with each other than a shoal of cory's.
Done this many times with Brochis splendens and had no issues.
None of the op's chosen cichlids are very nasty. I agree they would be a poor choice for cichlids that are known to be aggressive.
 
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Yes, it can work. I just felt the need to mention because the OP said they've got no experience with either fish and corydoras are nosy little fish. They'll swim into a fish's mouth if large enough :).

A school of hoplos is another good choice too and not as small as corydoras. They have really interesting breeding behaviour and build their spawning nests with leaves on the surface of the water.

Another small catfish that you maybe interested in, if you can find them, is Hyalobagrus flavus or Shadow catfish. They stay small, about 1.8 inch and are a shoaling species as well, but tend to swim mid water.

Here is a link to their profile:

http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/hyalobagrus-flavus/
 
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Stanzzzz7 said:
Yes,Hoplo's do very well in groups and it's the best way to keep them.

If you choose the corydoras route and you want to mix them,that's fine with most species.
However some have very different temperature requirements. Do some reading up on each species before you buy.
I would also choose larger growing cory's.
Most of the cichlids you are keeping are not very predatory and you should be fine.If they do decide to try and eat a small corydoras, they can become lodged in the cichlids throat and kill them.This is unlikely but it does happen sometimes.
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Looks like the peppered cory is out since it hails from southern Brazil and Uruguay so temps in the 78-80 range would be on the extreme end of the spectrum for it. The question of whether or not the cories could end up lodged in another fish's mouth is definitely an important one. If their size ends up being questionable at any point I do have some other places I can stick them.

Coryloach said:
Yes, it can work. I just felt the need to mention because the OP said they've got no experience with either fish and corydoras are nosy little fish. They'll swim into a fish's mouth if large enough :).

A school of hoplos is another good choice too and not as small as corydoras. They have really interesting breeding behaviour and build their spawning nests with leaves on the surface of the water.

Another small catfish that you maybe interested in, if you can find them, is Hyalobagrus flavus or Shadow catfish. They stay small, about 1.8 inch and are a shoaling species as well, but tend to swim mid water.

Here is a link to their profile:

http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/hyalobagrus-flavus/
Click to expand...
Thanks for the input, the goal here is a peacful tank. I have never attempted cories because they would have been an obviously bad fit with most of the fish I have kept or a group would have pushed the stocking to an unacceptable level.
 
Suitable corydoras that can handle higher temps are sterbai, adolfoi, duplicareus,burgessi, davidsandsi, imitator, gossei, seussi, and probably others.
 
Checked all the lfs and could not find any nice cories or hoplos, I plan on making the rounds again today. Too bad I don't want eclipse or blue channel cats, I found plenty of those. I did see hoplo cats at bluegrassaquatics.com in stock. Anyone had any experience with this vendor?
 
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