Corydoras Care Guide

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Introduction

Corydoras are the quintessential aquarium catfish. Over 180 described species inhabit rivers across South America. The CW217 (Corydoras hoplisoma aff. concolor) available from MTF Aquatics is a rarer, wild-caught find for serious collectors. All Corydoras are strict schooling fish — a minimum of 6 individuals is required; larger groups of 10-20 produce natural, animated behaviour.

Tank Setup

• Size: 3 x 1.5 ft for a small group of medium species.
• Substrate: Fine sand is essential — they constantly push their snouts into the substrate to sift for food, and gravel damages their sensitive barbels causing infections.
• Plants and decor: Dense planting, driftwood, leaf litter and shaded areas are appreciated.
• Filtration: Gentle to moderate. Strong currents exhaust Corydoras. Use a spray bar or lily pipe diffuser to reduce flow.

Water Parameters

Temperature: 22-26 C. pH: 6.0-7.5. Hardness: 2-12 dGH. Ammonia/Nitrite: 0 ppm. Nitrate below 30 ppm. Weekly 25-30% water changes. Clean substrate is critical — barbel erosion is almost always caused by dirty substrate or elevated ammonia. Rare wild-caught species like CW217 often prefer softer, more acidic water (pH 6.0-6.8) and blackwater conditions.

Feeding

• Sinking pellets/wafers: Hikari Sinking Wafers, Tetra Tabimin. Feed after lights out for best results.
• Frozen bloodworm, daphnia and brine shrimp: excellent conditioning foods.
• Sinking carnivore foods: earthworm pellets, frozen Cyclops.
• Blanched courgette and cucumber occasionally accepted.

Ensure food reaches the bottom — in competitive tanks, target-feed Corydoras in the evening.

Breeding

Corydoras breed readily with a large water change using slightly cooler water as a trigger. Females store sperm during the T-position embrace and deposit eggs on glass or plant leaves. Eggs hatch in 3-5 days. Remove eggs to a separate container with an airstone. First foods: infusoria, micro-worm, then newly hatched brine shrimp.