# Corydora community and planted tanks



## nel (Jan 23, 2016)

They may uproot everything... or not. They don't like any substrate other than sand, but in my planted tank once there were sterbai corys and it worked fine.


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## klibs (May 1, 2014)

Corys will not uproot stems or anything like that. Some people say they can uproot carpet plants if not rooted strongly enough. Never tried that combo though as they like open sand to play in and feed from.

Basically unless you have a carpet plant or something very delicate (like unestablished grass or HC) / insecure you will be fine. I have one large cory (2.5" +) and she doesn't screw anything up.


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## jpena1157 (Sep 11, 2016)

I plan on eventually having a carpeted area in my tank but good to know that they like an open area


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

6 Cory's in a 10gal is pushing it bioload wise, I know because I do this myself (technically it is a 12g). I've been keeping fish for the best part of 30 years so I know what I'm doing.
Just how many fish is in that tank... I would get them a 20 or 26 gal if you want to do lots of cory's together. I prefer not doing that as they hybridize with other cory's quite easily, and that is never a good thing.


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## AlfonsoS12 (Aug 17, 2016)

I have had corydoras habrosus uproot patches of dwarf hairgrass in the past, but it didn't happen that often.


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## Tazalanche (Apr 8, 2013)

Over the last 5 years, we have 6 "Black Venezuela" (schultzei), 20+ sterbai, 6 panda, 20+ pygmaeus, and 20+ habrosus in separate planted tanks that contain plants ranging from microswords, amazon swords, dwarf sagittaria, ocelot swords, vallisneria, vesuvius, crypts, dwarf hairgrass, anubias barteri, anubias nana & anubias nana petite. While we have had plants uprooted by other fish (mainly angels, raphael cats and ancistrus), we've never witnessed the cories uprooting plants.


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## Rinfish (Aug 16, 2015)

Never had an issue with my cory's in my planted tank. they love to forage and explore. =)


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## jpena1157 (Sep 11, 2016)

Thanks for all of the info, everyone! This will potentially be their new home(still a work in progress). I figured they might enjoy this a little bit more than a 10G. Just wanted to make sure they weren't going to terrorize my plants


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## cookie91 (Sep 13, 2016)

*hybridize?*

What do you mean when you say hybridize?


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

Where possible corydoras will avoid planted bits, other than using it as cover or resting spots. They love a big flat rock to hang out on when they are not busy digging in the sand.


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## Tessa (Dec 8, 2015)

Rinfish said:


> Never had an issue with my cory's in my planted tank. they love to forage and explore. =)


Same here - my cories love the crypt forest in my sand bottom 33g.


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## Tazalanche (Apr 8, 2013)

cookie91 said:


> What do you mean when you say hybridize?


cross breeding
The "six different species" mentioned by the OP could easily spawn and result in mixed breed "mutt" cory babies, which are highly frowned upon in this hobby.


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## Shortstack_bri (Aug 27, 2021)

Tazalanche said:


> cross breeding
> The "six different species" mentioned by the OP could easily spawn and result in mixed breed "mutt" cory babies, which are highly frowned upon in this hobby.


Why are they frowned upon? I would think that cross breeding would result in more genetic variation and therefore a more hardy and healthy fish. Is that not the case?


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## FallenLeif (Aug 27, 2021)

Shortstack_bri said:


> Why are they frowned upon? I would think that cross breeding would result in more genetic variation and therefore a more hardy and healthy fish. Is that not the case?


People tend to like to keep a more pure bloodline especially when it affects the phenotypes of the fish and the following generations of fish.


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## jake21 (Aug 11, 2019)

Most mutts are not viable. If a particular combination is viable it is likely to happen in nature assuming the cory species in question are from the same region.


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## Triport (Sep 3, 2017)

They are fine in planted tanks. As others have said they may be a problem for carpet plants or newly planted stem plants. Also a lot of species are pretty shy and you won't see them much in a densely planted tank. In my picture below you would never know that there are 60+ Corydoras in the tank. 
As for hybridizing only fish from the same lineage can cross breed and if you have enough of each species that isn't too likely. As far as I have seen when a specific species is breeding in my aquarium I haven't noticed other species participating. Also in high population aquarium if the eggs aren't eaten before they hatch the newly hatched fry are likely to be eaten. They are very tiny and defenseless when they first hatch and even though Corydoras aren't the most predatory fish they will slurp up any tiny thing they encounter. I have had hundreds of eggs laid in my aquarium and only a single gold laser baby has survived to adulthood. Definitely is something to be aware of and keep an eye on though if your fish are all of the same lineage.
Also just FYI it is always Corydoras never Corydora. Even when talking about a singular fish. 

100 gallon aquarium by Kaveh Maguire, on Flickr


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