Which Cory? Which Cichlid?

[tarheels910]

I have an empty 20 gallon tank with sand. I want to put some cories in there. Which kind should I get? Can I get one of each from my LFS or will they fight? Im trying to keep them with some kind of cichlid. I like to stay with american cichlids. So looks like yall are building my tank. I dont have much money so they must be sorta cheap. So tell me which cories and which cichlids. Thanks for your help.

 

[hughitt1]

I would stick with one type of cories and get a small school..

5 panda cories
1-2 rams or apistos

panda cories are good for a 20 gallon since they stay fairly small and are really cool fish.. if you want cichlids, stick with the dwarf cichlids such as rams or apistos.

 

[cichlidkeeper91]

I have an empty 20 gallon tank with sand. I want to put some cories in there. Which kind should I get? Can I get one of each from my LFS or will they fight? Im trying to keep them with some kind of cichlid. I like to stay with american cichlids. So looks like yall are building my tank. I dont have much money so they must be sorta cheap. So tell me which cories and which cichlids. Thanks for your help.

And Cory pandas are poisonous, by there mouth you will see something that is like four little tentacles. So dont touch it where those are.

 

[ET1]

What???

 

[webcricket]

Those four little tentacles are called barbels. They are used to "sniff" out food and there is nothing poisonous about them.

There has been discussion of some cory species emitting a poison via their pectoral and dorsal fins as a self defence mechanism (specifically the sterba variety) but it is nothing that will harm a human or your fishes tank mates.

 

[hughitt1]

There has been discussion of some cory species emitting a poison via their pectoral and dorsal fins as a self defence mechanism (specifically the sterba variety) but it is nothing that will harm a human or your fishes tank mates.

hmm. any idea where the thread on this was? i havn't heard anything like this before :X

 

[webcricket]

It wasn't this forum that I found the info on. Just do a google search for "corydoras" and "poison" and you'll find the mention. I couldn't find any scientific type research myself.

 

[tarheels910]

I dont know much about rams and apistos. Which one lives longer and which one gets bigger? Can i get a price range for the two. And which one would get along better with panda cories? Do they both breed easy and protect their babies? Sorry about all the questions. Thanks you your help.

 

[hermitcrabcrap]

I have touched plenty of panda cory mouths, I have never been stung. I must be lucky. I have never heard of panda cories barbels being poisonous.

 

[Toirtis]

Corydoras fin rays are certainly pointed and a bit serrated on the ends, but there is nothing venomous in any known Corydoras.