# Salt and Pepper Cory Catfish



## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

Would look to pygmy cory's for tanks smaller than 20 gal.


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

What size tank? With appropriate filtration, a heavily planted 10 would be ok if you're on top of the maintenance. 


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## Redneck tenner (Aug 21, 2016)

Shoals should be 5 or greater. Obviously more is better. Thus a 20g footprint and up would be ideal imo. 

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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

agree, groups should be IMO six or greater. And yes a larger tank for those the better.


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## klibs (May 1, 2014)

agree with other posts... corys should be in larger groups and you should have a bigger tank

they swim around and mingle with each other all the time


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## KayakJimW (Aug 12, 2016)

Are you referring to C. habrosus or C. paleatus? I am used to hearing the paleatus called Salt and Pepper locally(or just Peppered), but it's a very common name for the habrosus as well. Darn those common names!

You can keep almost twice as many habrosus since they're about half the size of non dwarf corys, and all corys will prefer a higher protein diet than algae wafers. I'd go with an omnivorous bottom feeder pellet/wafer and supplement with bloodworms for high protein snacks. I'm not sure how their bioload compares to say, tetras, but I'll assume its higher since they always seem to be scavenging and grazing


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## landonnap (Mar 31, 2017)

Ok thanks, the tank is a 5 gallon so I guess they are a bit large what about C. Pygmaeus? They only get 3/4"


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## KayakJimW (Aug 12, 2016)

Even though they are tiny fish, 5 gallons is a bit small considering how active they are and how they like to be in groups. How about a Nerite snail


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

I basically recommend some shrimp, maybe CPD's, chli rasboras. Something smaller, and not so much of a schooling fish even though CPD's and rasboras school, they are very small. (cpds so so)


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## Fishbeard (Aug 20, 2016)

I feed my pygmy cories shrimp pellets primarily, in addition to what I feed my ember tetras (I crush em and sprinkle them right on the sand). I only do this every few days though, they'll eat until their bellies are super full and are happy scavenging around in between feedings!

I know that many people wouldn't keep dwarf cories in a 5 gallon, but a smaller group in a tank with lots of open spaces for feeding would probably be fine! Are these going to be the only fish in the tank or nah?


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## landonnap (Mar 31, 2017)

No, a colony of Neocaridina will be in it. Really liked the colors of the salt and pepper tho


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

To answer that exact question "will they eat baby shrimp" I have numerous shrimp tanks and have never seen one of my corys (they are in all the shrimp tanks) hurt or chase after a shrimp, adult or fry. My experience with the two in my opinion is that they are meant to be, they both benefit from eachother so much. But I still don't recommend any cory for your size tank


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## landonnap (Mar 31, 2017)

Even these dwarf ones that only grow to 3/4" max?


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

I still don't recommend them


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## Corydoradaxplora (Mar 31, 2017)

Bettabettas and others are giving you some really good advice here ladonnap. I keep two kinds of corydora species and am currently preparing a 40 breeder to replace the 20 long they are in as I feel its too small and they are the only fish in the tank, not even shrimp in there. They need a good tank footprint. Places to play, hide, lay eggs, fast current and slow current areas. Maybe researching fish you could go to youtube and find a video of the fish you want in its natural habitat. This will give you an idea if this is something you can recreate in your tank. To mention as well, after you have added substrate, plants and decor you are only working with 3.5 to 4 gallons of actual water. Small tanks are a bit more fragile than bigger ones. I didn't even get 10 gallon tanks for breeding shrimp until after I was comfortable with the 20, just to give an example.


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## landonnap (Mar 31, 2017)

Ok thanks for the info


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