How many should be kept?

[angelminx]

Once upon a time, I mentioned my idea of phasing over to a catfish tank; seeing as how I have to move the 55G so that the plumbing in the wall behind it can be fixed, I was thinking that when I put it back together, I might start on that process.

Currently I have 6 Banjo Catfish, and 3 Cories (as well as 2 SAEs, and a 3-year-old angel--The bristlenose pleco will stay in the 10G when all is said and done), and am planning on getting more Cories.  I have some Zamora Wood Cats on order.  I am also thinking of getting some Debauwie Cats, and Spotted Raphaels.  I haven't made up my mind yet on the final setup, and "contents may change".  At this point I plan on another 6-8 Cories (I'd like to get C. sterbai for the new ones, but at $8.99 each, I'm not sure), and 8 Debauwie Glass Catfish (I'd like more, but I'm trying to keep the total fish count down). Does anyone know how many Zamoras, and how many Spotted Raphaels should be kept in a group? I haven't really heard on the Zamoras, and when it comes to the Raphaels I've heard conflicting info:  some say one (or, better, 2) is okay, and others say you should keep a group.  At this point I'm starting with the Zamoras , because they are not as common/readily available, and one of my "contacts" at Petco, said that they aren't on the order list right now, but that she was told that they are available.

One of the reasons for the choice of Sterbai Cories is that previously I had black substrate (I've decided to change that over to Caribsea's Torpedo Beach Sand), so the lighter colored fish stood out better, but these others have a dark base color, and the sand is kind of an off-white color; my Ambiacus and Paleatus kind of fade out against it.  Also, the sizes listed for the 3 new species are listed at a different size for each one's maximum:  the Spotted Raphaels have been listed at 4", 4.5", 5.25", and 6"; the Zamoras at 4-5", and the Debauwies from 3.3 to 4". Anyone know the "real" answer to what sizes to expect (from what I've read, none should be a problem for the Cories)?  Does anyone have any experience with any of these?

Thanks,

Angelmin

[childofiam]

I am not familiar with Caribsea's Torpedo Beach Sand. Have you looked at it with a magnifying glass to see it the sand is like round pebbles? I purchased some of their black sand and had to remove it because my Cory's where loosing their barbels.
Sterbai Cory's are my favorite Cory's. Mine are about a year old and they are only about 1 in long. I have 5 of them and they stay together all the time. In my soft water their colors really come out, Bottom fins are Orange with yellow bottoms and a Aqua color around their gill plates. I try to take pictures of them all the time but they are so shy that any movement to close to the glass makes them run and hide. I'm not really sure how many cats you can have per square foot of substrate but I do know that the cat fish like to dig in the sand and the bigger the cat the more they like to dig. I had a Eclipse cat that grew to about 6 inches and he dug up all my plant every night.
Cory's don't dig that deep but they will work the sand out from around the plants to bare the roots after about a week. I can live with that... My Cory's are very active early in the morning and after sunset for a time. This is when I like to watch them...

Richard

PS. I use Quickright White Play sand in my tank. It is extremely fine sand pebbles. When I wash it, all the fines float away leaving the heaver sand particles and if they get kicked up in the water they will fall just as fast. I don't have any problems with the sand getting on my plants.

[childofiam]

Here is on of my Sterbai Cory's


Richard

[coco]

Jul 10, 2016 18:51:21 GMT -5 childofiam said:

Here is on of my Sterbai Cory's


Richard

Oooohhhh. So pretty.