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I originally posted this question in General Freshwater, but I haven't gotten any replies in nearly two days

I'm interested in the sterbai cory Corydoras sterbai. At my LFS they seem to shoal more tightly and to be more active than other types of cories. Does anyone have personal experience with Sterbai cories?

Thanx.

[edited to correct spelling]

I don't have any, but for sure, they like to stay in a school to be more active & happy, like all other Corydoras.


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I appreciate the response , but I guess I should word my post more clearly.

I realize that cories do best in schools. I intend to get a school of no less than six. My question is: how does their behavior compare to that of other cories?

I currently have a school of panda cories (x5) and a school of salt&pepper cories (x7). The pandas shoal very loosely and the salt&peppers barely shoal at all. At the LFS it seems like the sterbais shoal more closely than the cories I currently have.

Has anyone else found this to be true in a home aquarium after the cories have settled in?

I don't think that they are any more or less active than your typical cory cat. Often cories will be very "social" while in a store and stick together in pretty tight groups. However, you have to take into account that they may be doing so out of stress, because store fish have to deal with plenty of annoyances and even dangers. Once in a stable home aquarium, the fish discover that things are a bit more peaceful and don't feel as much of a need to stick together for safety.

Corydoras sterbai is not known for being active beyond what is normal for its kin. Usually the smaller species (any of the dwarfs, panda cories, guapores, and suchlike) are the ones people will tell you like to move about a lot. Compared to these, the larger species can seem pretty sedate.

I'll note that it is my experience that a group of cories does not necessarily behave like others of the species, and activity levels can vary from tank to tank. What I observe in a shoal may not be the same as what you see.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

IME c. sterbai are less active than c. panda, c. metae, or c. habrosus (salt-n-pepper), but more active than the other corys of comparable size (e.g. trilineatus, paleatus, caudimaculatus). As far as schooling, like most corys they will school more tightly in a large group (>10 individuals) than in smaller one (I would classify 6 as a small group in this case), especially when under stress. That's probably why you saw the nice schooling behavior in your LFS' tank. I almost never see my group of 3 sterbai school in my tank.

-P

One additional point to bear in mind - here in the UK at least, Sterbais are hideously expensive compared to other Corys, even Pandas. So if you want to avail yourself of a decent sized group of them, chances are you'll end up spending a fair amount of loot acquiring your shoal - here in the UK I've never seen them selling for less than £12 each (that's $22 US per fish).

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I kind of suspected that the behavior I observed in the LFS tank may be different than the way these cories behave once settled in a home aquarium.

I know these guys are generally more expensive than other cories. My LFS seems to have a pretty steady stock of them and they usually run around $11/each.

Still, I'm definitely considering a school of these little guys. based on upikabu's post I'll try to get 11-12 to encourage schooling.

Thanks to everyone who responded!

I've been spawning and raising sterbai for over a year now, and they, in nearly every respect, seem like just about any other corydoras one'd be able to get his or her hands on.