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Cory Fever

CSnyder00

Bearded Wonder
After talking back and forth with several people, looking online, and with my wife on my case (yes, she does like some of my fish), it will soon be time to get some cories for my 30 gallon tank. It will be basically a tank for just cories and plecos, and the plecos tend to keep to themselves in their breeding hotel. I am currently considering Gold, Green, and Orange Laser cories, as well as Sterbai and a few others. What I want to know is what cories are in the most demand. I don't usually push my fish to breed (except my Jacks, which was another story), but I also tend to keep fish very happy to the point where they are breeding for me anyway (which should be the goal of every fish keeper, NATURAL BEHAVIOR), so I always plan ahead for fry. I've bred cories before, so this is not an issue. I want to know what species I can move the easiest once they start laying eggs. If any of you have any suggestions or want me to try to breed some rare species, I'm all ears. I have yet to keep a fish species other than my red-finned sharks long ago that hasn't at least spawned once. This is not to sound cocky, I'm just rather picky about the habitat they are in and I do everything in my power to keep them VERY happy all of the time. Again, I'm open to suggestions. Something with some color would be nice, but it must be a corydoras species, it must be a fish I can get my hands on relatively quickly, and I must be able to get them for less than $15-20 per fish (I want a group of 6-8 so I don't want to be spending an arm and a leg). Those are my rules. Suggest away.
 

jonclark96

Past CCA President
Check out what Frank Cowherd has for sale. He has several species for usually less than $10 a piece.
 

CSnyder00

Bearded Wonder
I've already contacted Frank and he gave me a list of what he has. This is more of a "planning/think tank" post than a "where to get them" post. But I appreciate the heads up.
 
I've seen green lasers, and gold lasers "fly off the shelves" at some local auctions. Panda corys also usually fetch a decent price. I'm talking $4-8 a piece for all of the above.
 

mchambers

Former CCA member
It's hard to say at any particular point in time. Whether you can "move" a fish depends on both the demand and the supply. Gold and green lasers are both very popular, but there's a pretty big supply around here right now. Guess I'd say green lasers are the most likely to move quickly, but there are a couple of folks breeding them locally, so you'd have competition. They are harder to breed than gold lasers, at least in my experience.
 

b considine

a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude
The cop out answer-keep what you enjoy.
The pragmatic answer-keep something that no one else currently offers, so that when they spawn, you can "corner the market".
Spawn these (CW111) and I'll look into a second mortgage.

Blaise
 

finzz

Members
The cop out answer-keep what you enjoy.
The pragmatic answer-keep something that no one else currently offers, so that when they spawn, you can "corner the market".
Spawn these (CW111) and I'll look into a second mortgage.

Blaise
Me, too. I've heard rumors of these fish selling in Japan for the equivalent of $500+, so naturally all the wild caught fish were headed for Japan. This one's special- hope they import them to the US soon, but it's doubtful.
 

finzz

Members
I'd keep watch of Aquabid and see what's available and at what prices they sell (and IF they sell). There are some importers that bring in unusual fish that would most likely bring a decent price if you could get them to spawn. Corydoras can vary from the super easy to the "not-yet-captive-bred species that many have tried and failed to breed. Alloddballaquatics sells some rare and harder to breed fish that have been going for very high bids. One thing to remember is that if you don't want to travel or ship fish, you'll easily saturate your home market and prices drop dramatically. Good Luck!
 

mchambers

Former CCA member
Don's advice is great, as usual. I know you've bred Corydoras, Cory, and you've got the name for it, but it can be surprisingly hard to breed some species and very easy to breed others.

Adolfoi would be cool, as would duplicareus. I've got some duplicareus (at least that's what I think they are), but they only breed occasionally, and not in great quantities. Adolfoi and duplicareus, like sterbai and gossei, like warm water, so they can be popular with folks who keep angels or discus.

On the less serious side, if you want to really make $, get some Corydoras aneus "true" Suriname blue laser:



I don't have any idea if they are real.
 

zendog

Active Member
You've gotten a lot of good advice and I would definitely look into the many varieties suggested above. Cories are like cookies, so you may find it is hard to stop at one.

The lasers have the "cool" factor going for them and we benefit from the local breeders by getting them at lower prices than most places. I expect that you could probably sell them to one of the local fish stories (or trade for store credit) besides being able to sell them through the club, since people seem to love all those glow fish, etc. Lasers are a bit like that, but just naturally so.

But for sheer enjoyment, besides looks, you may want to consider the behavior or different types as well if you are looking for the cories to add some entertainment value to the tank. I keep green lasers, C. Trilineatus, C. Conclour, C. Matea, C. Leopardus, C. Virginiae, and I just splurged on some C. Eversi from Jeff Rapps. I'm done now, really! ... well, hopefully. And it seems to me activity levels, shyness, etc. vary by species.

Of all those, the Virginiae are the most enjoyable for me to watch by far. They are a long nose variety and bigger fish than the others, but the best thing about them is they are constantly on the move and will go up and down in the water column and even feed from the surface when their is food caught in the duck weed at the top of their 20 long. Because long nose fish root around in the sand more, they're also constantly stuffing their faces down into the sand looking for food particles. The downside is that Virginiae are very hard to breed. C. Leopardus has a similar body type as Virginiae, and, although I only have 1 in a mixed group, he does seem to be more adventurous like the Virginiae. My daughter previously had Pygmaeus, which were cool since they'd school in the midwater like tetras. Anyway, all that is really just to point out that depending on what you're looking for, behavior might be important to consider.

Tell us what you decide. How about you get the real C. Parallelus and flood the club with fry!
 

b considine

a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude
Nice list, Walter. Corydoras concolor are currently among my favorites.

Cory-don't forget the "old favorites", which are due for a comeback. I was admiring my C. zygatus during my Wednesday water change last night. Basically brown, but with a nice metallic shoulder stripe in the right lighting.

Blaise
 

CSnyder00

Bearded Wonder
So I like activity, but don't need absolutely bonkers, because they don't have a 55 or 75 gallon to go running around in. It's a semi planted 30 gallon tank. I also cannot go huge, so the 2-3" variety or so would be my max, something in the size of the standard c. Aneus or something like that would be fine. I do want color, so that may help narrow the search a bit. The orange underside of the Sterbai keep them in play.

I understand that some are easier to breed than others. I will refer to my first post which states that while I don't push my fish to breed, it is a rather common occurance for me. I will also point to the comment about not spending more than $15-20 per fish, which puts a few of the suggestions out of reach. If I want to splurge on a bottom dweller, I'm going for L046. They're on my bucket list.

I like the Aquabid idea, and I'm not opposed to shipping fish if I can have a brief tutorial from someone in the group. I've bought fish from all over and I've seen how they come, but where do you buy the thick bags and styrofoam and stuff to ship them? Then comes the debate of whether or not to use polyfilter and so on.

As it sits right now, I'm leaning towards the Adolfoi, but I also like the looks of the Green lasers, as do most people. I also like the CW61 blue face, but I'm not sold on any of them just yet.

Keep the suggestions and thread going. I love and appreciate all the comments so far. The fact that I'm going and looking up half of the fish suggested tells me I asked the right people.
 

CSnyder00

Bearded Wonder
BY the way... I had no idea alloddball was Eric Bodrock, I could just drive to his place when I go to see my friends in Pittsburgh! But right now he doesn't have much that strike my fancy. I'll keep an eye out for stuff from him. He's a cool guy. Plus he's a Stillers fan like me!
 

b considine

a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude
When my son was at Pitt, I stopped by Eric and Regina's old place on a couple of occasions. Haven't been out that way since they moved. Nice folks. Nice fishroom.

If you want "activity" without destruction, you may want to look into Aspidoras. My CW052s (aka, black fin) came from Eric in '08/9 and have been spawning and rumbling around my planted 65 since then, Bonus: they top out at around 2". They don't school, per se, but they're always out and about.

$15-20 per fish goes pretty far in the cory world. They're cheap compared to the L numbers. Currently, my most expensive cory is C. hastatus, which came in at $8 each.

Blaise
 

CSnyder00

Bearded Wonder
I'm starting to shop for c. duplicareus. They passed the wife test with flying colors and fit my qualifications. They are slightly more colorful than their close relatives, the c. adolfoi. I'm starting to get excited. Can't wait to get back into the corie game!
 

FishEggs

Well-Known Member
+1 on aspidoras. I loved mine. They have a more slender body and we're always super active and fun to watch all day long. Might not be one for the popular masses like the lasers but always a winner in my book.
 

CSnyder00

Bearded Wonder
I saw that, but with my pH being really 7.0-7.6, should I worry wild caught fish would have trouble acclimating?
 

b considine

a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude
PlanetCatfish lists their pH as 6.4-7.4, so you may be ok. However, "getting by" and achieving spawning conditions are two different things. I'll leave a more definitive answer to others on the board.

Blaise
 
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