30g corydoras biotope

**kerouac** · 08-08-2009, 07:38 PM

Howdy,

If my 30g presently undergoing the water-holding test this afternoon passes, I would like to turn it into a corydoras biotope, as close to their native habitat of the Amazon river basin as possible.

I have one question at the moment...how many corys can I safely keep in a 30g? I am definitely going to keep bronze, starting with the six I already have in my 10g, but I'm thinking about adding another species like Sterbai but am unsure at present.

I apologise if this has been asked before...the search option takes forever on this computer. If so just point me in the right direction. Thanks!

**gm72** · 08-08-2009, 07:40 PM

Bronze corys will breed incessantly if given the proper environment, and that can be a lot of fun. For example I have a school of about 13 members of the bronze, started as 6.

Amazon--I think sand substrate, planted with plenty of wood, but others more knowledgeable in the area will guide you further.

**kerouac** · 08-08-2009, 07:48 PM

Ya, I was planning on sand and plenty of gnarled driftwood. I will probably also let the tannins colour the water.
Possibly: rocks, leaves(?) and some plants. On the plant front I don't yet whether heavily planted or sparsely planted would be best as of yet. Still doing research there.

**Hailey** · 08-08-2009, 08:15 PM

Yah, I think thats the right direction. They love driftood and sand.

And Im not sure about how many, because they might breed turning into more corys. Also I'm not too sure in 30g is big enough for two big schools. You might be able to get away with 6 others though...but wait for someone else to inform you on that.

Well please make sure you show us pics of the tank! Sounds like its going to be great. I love corys!

**Mustang Boy** · 08-08-2009, 08:53 PM

something else you might wanna think about is maybe some kind of tetra to occupy the upper regions of the tank not alot maybe just a small school of like 6-8 would be a good contrast

**kerouac** · 08-08-2009, 11:26 PM

I was thinking it might be two small. Maybe just twelve albinos then?

I'm don't know about the tetras, I'm kind of leaning toward a species-only tank. My cows in the 10g move all over the place almost constantly so there's no need to worry about there only being movement on the bottom, lol.

I have a slight problem though -- if the corys breed, I have no one to give/sell the babies to and no room for any other tanks. If I just let the babies/eggs stay loose in the tank, will the adults eat them?

**mac** · 08-09-2009, 01:05 AM

Corys tend to lay their eggs on rocks or logs, and the glass. You could just crush the eggs when you see them. Or if you want try to sell them to your LFS.

As for this Bio type, I am about to set one up to, for breeding.
Here is a few links to help you.

Hope this helps you.

mac

**Hailey** · 08-09-2009, 01:55 AM

Im sure your local fish stores would love to take corys from a close source. But, if not you could post ads on kijiji, or craigslist. People are always looking for good deals on there.

**kerouac** · 08-09-2009, 02:25 AM

Thank you very much for the links and suggestions. Our last lfs recently went out of business. I'm not sure I could squish the eggs myself, so perhaps selling surviving offspring online is another idea.

I took some measurements of the tank and it is 36" x 15" x 17" tall. Is that closer to 40 gallons?

**Hailey** · 08-09-2009, 03:04 AM

Yah, it should be no problem to sell corys online, people love them, and hey, you can make a little money...lol

and here are our calculators,

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/converter/

put those measurments into the volume calculator and check, I checked for you and it shows 39.74 gallons