Corys

[orrmk]

I don't know much about corys (or danios) But I see them at the store and always think they are sooo cute. Anyway, I read in a few other posts that the corys eat poo. So a couple of questions: Do they really eat poo? How big do they get? And is there a certain kind of cory that is better than another....is there more than one kind?

[orrmk]

Let me re-phrase on of my questions.

Is there one kind of cory that is better 'with bettas' than another?

[Betta MVP]

No, corys don't eat poo, but they will eat any food that falls to the bottom so they do help keep the tank clean. Albino corys are cool looking, but they are very delicate and are really inbred and sometimes hard to keep. I had some spotted corys, not sure of the official name, and they never bothered any of my other fish. I think corys normally can get up to around 2 inches unless you get the pygmies. You do need to keep them in groups though, or they get nervous since they are schooling fish. 3 or more is usually good, but 6 or more is better.

[ana]

mine sure eat poo, but i dont think theyd eat pellet poo, ive seen them suck up gourami poo though while vaccuuming up the bottom with their mouths thats why i originally bought them, for my gourami tank. they eat anything that falls to the bottom. my guys were pooping so much i could see so much sucking up at each vaccuuming and i thought this couldnt be great, so i bought ancestral corys first, they seem to be more about fallen food and mine are a bit overfed and boring, so i bought julis, theyre voracious eaters and lively and fun (actually when i first asked an lfs friend if he had any fish that ate poo i was joking, imagine my surprise)

i make sure to add a bit more food so that they have something besides poo to feast on, it cant be that appetizing

now when i vaccuum theres just a bit of flakes

i dont know who would be better with bettas, but of the two kinds i have i would say ancestral because theyre more quiet, julis are a little more hyper

and i dont know if they would eat pellet poo, its rather large, mine are in with gouramis and since theyre on flakes its long and thin, i dont know if they could eat one of the round ball poos, maybe that was what bettamvp was referring to

as far as size, i think they all average at full size around 2 inches max. they tend to get very broad though, theyre little constant munchers

i think theyre my favourite non bettas, that i have anyway, and my julis are my favourites of them, theyre so playful and happy

[Betta MVP]

Here is a great link to fish profiles with a few species of cories listed along with their needs and how to care for them. The cories are near the bottom.

www.fishprofiles.com/profiles/fw/bottomfeeders/

You need to feed them some type of food that sinks if they don't get enough leftovers from your betta. They may accidently suck up some poo when they are searching the bottom for food, but they could not survive on it.

[orrmk]

Thank you all so much for your responses. The link is very informative too!

I am planning on setting up a couple of my 10 gallon tanks again and would like to add a couple other fish for variety. I will most definitely get a few corys to add....they sound like fun little guys! (and gals!)

Thanks again!

[ana]

yeah, mine scurry at every feeding eating all that drops from the top, theyre hungry little guys, i feed enough extra to feed them too. the first pair i got are getting terribly fat and lazy

theyre in with my gouramis so lots of falling flakes to fill their fat little tummies

[Doofusmom]

Just make sure if you add corys to be careful with the aquarium salt. They are very sensitive to aquarium salt and cannot tolerate it very well since they do not have scales.

[mickey85]

I've got an albino cory at home(all the others died) and he loves it! He's in with our goldfish and the guy has to be at least 7 years old. He's an old dude.

[JulietV]

I have two (tiny) albino corys in with my goldfish and pleco. One was literally less than half an inch when I got him, and was in with my tetra tank until they all died. (I have had NO luck with any tropicals from local stores, none. I'm giving up on them until I can get to a fish store my vet told me about that's two hours away but actually cares about their fish's conditions.) They've gotten a little bigger, but are still small compared to their tank mates. That doesn't seem to bother them, as I've seen even the tiny one push the pleco around! They seem to really thrive on Tetra-brand sinking granules, and vaccum up anything the goldies miss. Honestly I sometimes worry that the pleco's the one who'll lose out, so fast are these little guys! They're the most entertaining bottom feeders I've ever had!