Corydoras are one of the most non-aggressive fish that can be placed in a community fish tank. They have a peaceful nature. They do have deffense spines in dorsal fin. If you push your hand against one the wrong, you will remember it. They like to school in group of six or more. The absolute minium is three. They have a way of moving their eyes that looks like a wink. They need to have access to the surface. They gulp air every one so often, if they can't get to air they will drown. I have seen it happen if they get tangled in plants.

There are over one hundred and fifty species presently. They keep finding new varities. Some of the species are very similar looking. The difference being the shape of the mouth, placement of spots or marking, and size of the fish.

Temperature. This can vary with species but most like the mid-seventies. You should do research on the species that you bought.

Water. Most do well  with pH 6.5 - 7.5.

Food. Wild specimens will appreciate live foods. blood or black worms, grindal worms. daphnia, and brine shrimp. Fish that have been raised in an aquarium will eat any flake food. They are not vegetarian but need protein in their diet. They like shrimp pellets. They go crazy for any worms that are small enough for they to swallow. The food must be small to get into their mouths. If you look closely they will can not bite into things. In the wild they for small organism in the mud, leaves and gravel in the bottom of the their streams or rivers.

Breeding. Not all species breed easily in captuvity. It is always easier to breed fish that grew in an aquarium. The two species that are consider the easiest to breed are C. aenus and C. paletus. Both have an albino form. If you see albino cories in the fish store there 90% of the time C. aenus. The fish need to be mature. You can tend because the females will be pump with eggs. They tend to be larger than the males which are more slighter. It hard to tell in young fish but the difference will become more apparent with maturity. I would say that fish a year old will try to spawn. They are several things that will trigger them. A sudden water change with a drop in temperature of 4 or 5 degrees is one. Feeding with worms a couple of times a week. Barometeric drops and stormy weather will help too. In the Amazon the rainy season is the perfect time to spawn since more food is available and the water is deeper so there is more habitat. These two species will lay eggs on the glass or in plants if available. Also lower the mineral content of the water can trigger them. The large amount of rain would lower the mineral content in the wild. You can do the same thing with distilled water.

After you have eggs, there two ways to handle it. You can remove the parents and let the eggs hatched on their own. You can remove the eggs into another small tank. If they are on the sides of the tank you can gently remove them with your fingernail or a razor blade.If there are a large group I will catch them in a fish net. The plants can be moved easily. I use Java Moss as a spawning mop. You can also make one with acrylic yarn. They seem to like dark green the best. You tie it to a cork or stryofoam to make it float. Put a air stone in the smaller tank. You want to go fast enough to keep the dust and debry off the eggs but not so fast that the eggs are rounding around. It usually takes two or three days depending on the temperture. The higher the temperature the faster the eggs will hatch. You will see little wiggler on the bottom of the tank. It will take a day or two for the egg yolk to be absorbed. You will want to have brine shrimp ready to feed them. I have another guide on raising brine shrimp on Ebay. You want to put enough so the babies can eat with none left. You will have to experiment to add the right amount. It depends on the number of the fish and their size. It will change over time.  The babies will have different marking than the parents unless they are albino.

At about a month of age they will start to look like miniature copies of their parents. They grow fairly slowly. At two months they might to close to an inch long. You should gradually move them to larger tanks. I would say no more than forty in a ten gallon tank for the first couple of months. It is important to do water changes. You will need to do partial water changes almost daily the first month. You should take aged water from the parent tank. In a small tank the water can change quality rapidly. You never want to add untreated water from the tap to your baby tank. I use brine shrimp for the first week or two and use Tabimin tablets. I dive the tablet into small pieces. It will break up into tiny pieces in the water. You can also you regular flake food but you must grind into almost dust for the fish to be able to eat. You must be very careful to not add too much. It will foul the water. Flake food start to rot the second it hits the water. This produces ammonia which has the potential to kill the fry.  Live food produces less pollution. The fry eat the food hopefully before it dies.

You sell your fish to the local pet store or fish clubs. It may take you a few trys to raise fish to adulthood.

Some of the species that I have personally raised are C. aenus, C. paletus, C. panda, C. metae, C. trilineatus, C. sterbai, and  C. habrosus.

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