[YarnLass]

I'd like to try to home five or six cories with my female betta in my 10 gallon tank.

I've been doing some reading, and I've narrowed it down to either panda cories, or pepper cories. I keep seeing different information, though, so I'm really not sure what the best set up would be.

My current set up is a 10 gallon, heavily decorated with black aquarium sand, a whisper 10i filter, and no live plants. (The tank currently doesn't get the sort of light needed to support live plants.) Our room temperature water does not go below 78F.

I seem to be getting the impression that panda cories would be the better option in terms of having that group of six, but I feel like pepper cories would do better with the temperature of the water. It seems that the recommended water temperature for panda cories is lower than what would be best for my betta, and below what's possible for my home.

All of that said, I have an overall concern about the water quality. While my water is fine for bettas, the hardness of the water seems to be slightly higher than what's recommended for cories. (pH ~7.5; Hardness ~ 300ppm) If I wanted to create a nice tank for some cories, is there a recommendation on ways to improve the quality of the water?

Thanks in advance for any useful information.

 

[Sheldon31]

I personally prefer peppered because they are more hardy. Some people here have had pandas died before getting them home with them being so sensitive. I would make sure you have excellent water condition to make sure they survive the first month or so. You can get water softeners. Not sure on their success though.

Either way corydoras are such rewarding little fish in a group I like peppered and panda and was going to get panda myself but I was paranoid about water quality with me being a newbie.

 

[Mo]

I would recommend a dwarf species instead. Peppered Corydoras get a bit to large for a full group on a 10 gallon IMO. Ad pandas are much too sensitive. Corydoras pygmaeus, Corydoras Habrosus, and Corydoras Hastatus

 

[Sheldon31]

I agree with mo. Pygmy would be better because of the size. What is the footprint of your tank? When it comes to bottom dwellers, footprint is just as important as water volume.

 

[BeckyFish97]

I found my panda's were prone to illness, they lasted a couple of months, but had ich every other week!Never had peppered cory's but have had and bred bandits

 

[registereduser]

I would recommend a dwarf species instead. Peppered Corydoras get a bit to large for a full group on a 10 gallon IMO. Ad pandas are much too sensitive. Corydoras pygmaeus, Corydoras Habrosus, and Corydoras Hastatus

yup, my very little peppered grew very large very fast. He's in a 20 gallon now and will be getting a few friends but a 10 gallon would definitely be too small for him and 3 friends!

 

[YarnLass]

This is my exact tank here. http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11164156

The issue with the pygmy cories (I've looked into them) is that they are not available at any of the stores within reasonable distance of where I live. I haven't made any inquiries about trying to order pygmy cories, but that would probably be the only option.