Should I buy it?
Bronze corydoras
Corydoras aeneus
Also known as: bronze cory, green cory (line-bred forms)
The cory most beginners buy. Tolerates a wider pH, temperature, and hardness range than almost any other cory. A solid first bottom-dweller for a community tank, given six fish on smooth substrate.
Bronze corydoras tank mates · 100L tank size hub
peaceful · beginner care
Sources & confidencehigh · verified · beginner: excellent
Checked against several solid care sources that mostly agree. Numbers here are a careful starting point. Your tap water, tank size, and habits decide the rest. How we evaluate.
Best for: First bottom-dweller for any community tank 80L or more. Tolerant of varied water conditions, active in daylight, and reliably signals tank health by normal behaviour.
Avoid if: Your substrate is sharp gravel or coarse pebbles. Barbel damage from rough substrate is permanent.
Common mistakeBuying three bronze cories for a community expecting a school is how keepers invent shy, stressed bottom fish that hide all day. Six is the real start. Add the full group at once on soft sand — token trios never behave like the species you watched on video.
Top things that go wrong
- Group welfare — not a solo display fish. Plan at least **6** together for normal behaviour; smaller groups often mean stress, colour loss, or nipping depending on species.
- Shrimp & snails. Cherry shrimp and other dwarfs can coexist with peaceful small fish; baby shrimp are food for almost anything that finds them.
What most shops don't tell you
- 1.Myth: bronze corydoras are fine as a decorative trio that cleans the gravel in any community. Reality: they need a real school of six or more on soft sand, plus sinking food — three fish on sharp substrate is stress theatre, not a cleanup crew.
- 2.Sold singly or in pairs as a 'starter cleaner'. The fish hide in plants and never show shoal behaviour.
- 3.Dosed with copper or malachite-heavy meds without checking scaleless-fish safety. Bronze corys are sensitive.
- 4.Sand or smooth gravel for the barbels. Sharp crushed glass and jagged decor blunt them within weeks. Worm-based and varied sinking foods hold condition better than flakes alone landing on the bottom.
About this species
- Sterba's Corydoras100L min · same group, comparable tank size
- Upside-down Catfish100L min · same group, comparable tank size
- Adolfoi cory80L min · same group, comparable tank size
- Emerald catfish (Brochis)120L min · same group, comparable tank size
- Glass Catfish80L min · same group, comparable tank size
- Peppered Corydoras80L min · same group, comparable tank size
- Corydoras Catfish60L min · same group, similar adult size
- Julii Corydoras60L min · same group, similar adult size
- Beckford Pencilfishalso beginner peaceful, similar tank size
- Black Neon Tetraalso beginner peaceful, similar tank size
- Black phantom tetraalso beginner peaceful, similar tank size
- Bloodfin tetraalso beginner peaceful, similar tank size
- Bristlenose Plecoalso beginner peaceful, similar tank size
- Cherry Barbalso beginner peaceful, similar tank size
No reverse lookups listed yet.
Plan grid
Key limits are above. Here: pH band, swim level, bioload, and activity.
Swim zones
Care snapshot
Quick compare before you buy. Not a score of how “good” the fish is.
- Beginner ease85
- Peacefulness90
- Community fit86
- Small-tank fit100
- Hardiness79
- Energy24
Numbers are deterministic planning indices from Fishori fields — not a scientific score of your individual fish.
Example setups
Starting points only. Run the pair checker for every fish you add.
Rough 100L+ layout: one calm centrepiece, 8–12 small tetras/rasboras, 6–8 corydoras-type bottom fish — verify every name in the pair checker before buying.
Safer directions include: Dwarf Gourami, Ember Tetra, Guppy.
Prioritise 6+ of Bronze corydoras in 100L+ with filtration sized for messy feeding — add only mates that already pass pair checks with this species.
Compatibility
Tank mates for Bronze corydoras
Usually safer (engine GOOD): Dwarf Gourami, Ember Tetra, Guppy, Harlequin Rasbora, Neon Tetra. Conditional (CAUTION — read the pair page before buying): Angelfish, Corydoras Catfish, German Blue Ram, Tiger Barb. Avoid (RISKY): African Cichlid, Green Terror, Jack Dempsey, Oscar. Every name links to a live pair check — the lists are a shortlist, not a stocking plan.
Usually safer
Open a pair page with this fish as the starting point.
Needs planning
Read the blocking rule on each pair page before experimenting.
Usually avoid
Do-not-stock combinations on conservative hobby rules.
Compare with
Run a real pair check: Bronze corydoras + Dwarf Gourami
- Try Dwarf Gourami — open the pair check.
- Try Ember Tetra — open the pair check.
- Try Guppy — open the pair check.
- Try Harlequin Rasbora — open the pair check.
Behaviour and temperament
Bronze corydoras are peaceful schoolers that stay calmer in groups of six or more on open soft substrate. They do not bully robust neighbours. Stress shows as clamped fins, lost barbels, and daytime hiding when under-grouped or kept on gravel that shreds them.
What sets them off
- Sudden crowding
- Poor water quality
Fin nipping: Not a habitual fin-nipper; stressed or crowded individuals can still test fins.
Predation: Not a predator toward similarly sized community fish; fry and dwarf shrimp are still fair game for most species.
Territory: Not strongly territorial, but still needs room so its working space does not overlap the next fish.
Planted tanks: excellent — easy plant ideas
In the glass: typical and warning signs
- Six or more forage the sand together after lights soften and rest in a loose huddle.
- Occasional dash to the surface for a gulp is normal ownership, not instant oxygen failure alone.
- Daytime hiding of a lonely trio usually means group size failed before diet.
- Frayed barbels on sharp gravel mean substrate choice failed first.
- Low listed malice toward peaceful community fish.
- Large cichlids and aggressive diggers are the usual failure modes — not cory spite.
- Grow the school to six before adding another bottom species to 'fix loneliness.'
- Swap sharp gravel for soft sand the same week barbels look damaged.
Fish behaviour can vary between individuals and tank setups. Always observe new fish closely after introduction.
Water, food, and grouping
Hardness
medium
Diet
omnivore
Bronze corydoras are bottom-feeding omnivores that need sinking wafers, frozen bloodworm or daphnia, and leftover midwater food that actually reaches the sand. A flake-only surface feed leaves them thin while the school looks busy upstairs. Offer sinking food after lights soften, keep a group of six or more, and never treat them as unpaid glass cleaners.
Shrimp & snails
Cherry shrimp and other dwarfs can coexist with peaceful small fish; baby shrimp are food for almost anything that finds them.
Schooling species — buy 6+ together. Smaller groups stress and lose colour.
- Hold 20 to 28 °C steadily on a real thermometer, not the dial on the heater.
- Aim for pH 6 to 7.5 and a hardness you can re-test in two weeks. A one-time strip in the shop car park is not a water test.
- Schooling species. Buy 6 or more from the same tank on the same day before adding any centrepiece fish.
- Tank volume meets or exceeds 100L published minimum for adults.
- You can stock at least 6 individuals (group welfare).
- Heater can hold 20–28°C without cooking cooler-water tank mates.
Explore and stocking hubs
Tank-mates hub, matching guides, category peers, and litre stocking lists around this species’ minimum tank.
Plan with tools
Check mates as pairs first, then add this fish in the tank builder for the full stocking.
Filtration & heating
A 100L minimum tank needs a filter rated for at least 400L/hr turnover and a heater to hold 20–28°C reliably.
Plant suggestions
Bronze corydoras does well in planted tanks. Plants compatible with 20–28°C and pH 6–7.5:
Research: verified · Confidence: high · 3 linked source(s). We do not invent citations.
How Fishori evaluates compatibility (same logic as pair and tank tools).
- Seriously Fish. Corydoras aeneus
Primary: aquarium size, water chemistry, behaviour, and compatibility (URL verified in upgrade script; recheck if site content changes).
- FishBase. Corydoras aeneus
Secondary: taxonomy, distribution, and maximum length in nature; cross-check with aquarium import lines and measured tank parameters.
- Wikipedia. Corydoras aeneus
Secondary: general species context; verify all husbandry numbers against a dedicated aquarium care sheet and your test kit, not a single table row.
Evidence notes
- The Seriously Fish profile for the binomial in this record was successfully reached as the primary aquarium reference.
- FishBase contributes natural-range size and habitat context. Translate those numbers through your heater, your water report, and your tank footprint before stocking.
- Wikipedia is only cited if the article URL returned OK. Use it for orientation, not as the only care sheet for an import.
- All compatibility text reflects typical hobby experience and the Fishori model. Individual fish, shop stress, and the order tank mates are added in can still defy a single-paragraph label.
Featured compatibility checks
Curated pair pages for Bronze corydoras. Each opens a full verdict — not just a list label.
Common questions about Bronze corydoras
- How big do Bronze corydoras get?
- Bronze corydoras adults reach about 6 cm. Shop fish look smaller; stock for the adult length.
- What size tank does Bronze corydoras need?
- 100L is the planning floor for adult swimming space and bioload. A 122L+ tank is the more comfortable long-term footprint. Length and depth matter as much as raw litres for active or territorial fish.
- Are Bronze corydoras aggressive?
- Bronze corydoras are peaceful schoolers that stay calmer in groups of six or more on open soft substrate. They do not bully robust neighbours. Stress shows as clamped fins, lost barbels, and daytime hiding when under-grouped or kept on gravel that shreds them.
- Do Bronze corydoras need to be kept in a group?
- Schooling species — buy 6+ together. Smaller groups stress and lose colour.
- What is the most common mistake with Bronze corydoras?
- Buying three bronze cories for a community expecting a school is how keepers invent shy, stressed bottom fish that hide all day. Six is the real start. Add the full group at once on soft sand — token trios never behave like the species you watched on video.
- What fish can live with Bronze corydoras?
- The Bronze corydoras profile lists Dwarf Gourami, Ember Tetra, Guppy, Harlequin Rasbora among its safer pairings (engine-checked GOOD). Angelfish, Corydoras Catfish, German Blue Ram, Tiger Barb are conditional (CAUTION): workable only with the specific conditions on each pair page. Avoid African Cichlid, Green Terror, Jack Dempsey, Oscar (RISKY). Run the pair checker for your exact water and tank size before stocking.