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Passport
- Family
- Corydoras Catfish
- Grows to
- 7.5 cm (3")
- Lives
- 10–15 years
- Temperament
- Peaceful
- Care
- Beginner
- Swims
- On the bottom
- Keep
- In a group of 4 or more
- Water
- 21–27 °C (70–81 °F)
Trinidad and Tobago
Care requirements
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On record for Bronze Cory: adult size, lifespan, minimum tank, temperature, ph, hardness, minimum group, diet, care level, swim level, tank length.
A figure that is not on record is left out rather than guessed. One marked Suggested comes from keeping knowledge rather than a page.
- Minimum tank 76 L / 20.0 US gal
- pH 6–8
- Hardness 2–15 dGH
- Diet omnivore
- Tank length 80 cm minimum
Care notes written from general aquarium knowledge, not from the cited sources.
About
The cory everyone starts with, and the one most often kept in threes. Corydoras are intensely social animals — a group of two or three sits under a plant all day, while a group of eight works the substrate out in the open, constantly. That difference is the biggest single thing you control about how they behave.
They've got a trick that catches new keepers out: they dart up to the surface, gulp air, and dash back down. That's normal, and they breathe atmospheric air through the gut as a supplement. A cory doing it *constantly* is telling you the water is short of oxygen or fouled, and that's worth acting on.
Their pectoral fin spines are mildly venomous and can lock. Don't net one if you can help it — use a container.
Tank setup
Give them sand. Not fine gravel, not "smooth" gravel — sand. Corydoras feed by pushing their barbels through the substrate, and anything sharp wears them back. Shortened barbels on a cory are worth taking seriously: sort out what they are digging in, and expect any regrowth to be slow and not guaranteed.
Floor space beats height for them. They live on the bottom and they use every inch of it.
Leave open sand and add shaded cover. They want somewhere to retreat to, but once they feel secure they'll spend most of their time foraging out in the open.
Keep the surface reachable. They come up for air, and a tank packed to the lid with floating plants makes that a struggle.
Feeding
Feed them sinking food, and enough of it. They're scavengers by design but they aren't a cleanup crew — a cory expected to live on what the other fish drop is an underfed cory, and you'll see it in a hollow belly.
Sinking pellets and wafers as the staple, with frozen bloodworm and daphnia alongside. They'll work the sand for hours after a feed.
Feed at lights-out if faster fish are clearing the bottom during the day.
Avoid: relying on leftovers, and floating foods they can't reach.
Filtration and flow
Good oxygenation will do more for them than strong flow. They're bottom-dwellers from well-oxygenated streams, and they'll use that air-gulping behaviour more often in a stagnant tank.
Keep the substrate clean. Debris trapped in sand is what turns a minor barbel abrasion into an infection, and they've got their faces in it all day.
Moderate flow suits them, and they'll play in an outflow.
With plants
Entirely safe. They forage between plants without uprooting anything, and heavy planting suits them well as long as you leave the sand open in places for them to work.
Their sifting keeps the top layer of substrate turned over, which planted tanks benefit from.
Health
Barbel erosion is the signature problem. Abrasive or dirty substrate is the usual starting point, and an abraded barbel can then become infected, so check both the substrate and the water rather than assuming you already know which it was.
Copper does them real harm. Past that, the answer is printed on the bottle rather than carried in a rule of thumb — some ich treatments list Corydoras and expect the normal amount, others should never go near them. Do what the one you have actually says.
Watch for rapid, repeated surfacing. Occasional gulping is normal behaviour; constant gulping is a water-quality signal.
Breeding
This happens readily, and often by accident after a big cool water change — it mimics the rainy season, and it's the standard trigger.
The female carries a few eggs in a pouch made by her pelvic fins and presses them onto glass, leaves and filter housings in small clutches. The adults will eat them, so either the eggs or the parents have to move.
The fry are easy by egg-layer standards and take powdered food and baby brine shrimp within days.
Tank mates
Avoid8
- Least Killifish Bronze Cory grows to 8 cm against Least Killifish at 2 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Scarlet Badis Bronze Cory grows to 8 cm against Scarlet Badis at 2 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Common Goldfish Common Goldfish is not safe with Bronze Cory: common goldfish and corydoras catfish are a bad pairing.
- Demasoni Cichlid Demasoni Cichlid is not safe with Bronze Cory: african cichlids and corydoras catfish are a bad pairing.
- Electric Yellow Lab Bronze Cory and Electric Yellow Lab do not mix: african cichlids and corydoras catfish are a bad pairing.
Only with care10
- Convict Cichlid Convict Cichlid is noticeably larger than Bronze Cory and may bully it or outcompete it at feeding time.
- Jewel Cichlid Jewel Cichlid is noticeably larger than Bronze Cory and may bully it or outcompete it at feeding time.
- Chinese Algae Eater Chinese Algae Eater is aggressive and Bronze Cory is peaceful.
- Clown Loach Clown Loach is a risk to Bronze Cory: corydoras catfish and loaches and botia are a pairing to watch.
- Dwarf Chain Loach Dwarf Chain Loach is a risk to Bronze Cory: corydoras catfish and loaches and botia are a pairing to watch.
No conflict is recorded with the other 88 species in the database, so nothing to flag. 2 species are not covered at all, so they could not be judged either way.