# Corry Cats for a betta. 10 gals



## Joey Fish (Jan 26, 2014)

I have been wanting a tank mate(s) lately, and I have not been able to find otos anywhere. Does anybody know how to care for/ feed cories and/or shrimp? THanks!


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## eatmice2010 (Jan 1, 2013)

Cories really like shrimp pellets, you can feed them zucchini and letus. They need to eat the food on the ground. They are great with bettas and good for NPTs. They need to be in a shoal of 4+.

Shrimp are just as easily to take care of. They need heavily populated plants and a lot of hiding spots. They will usually feed off of algae, you also eat some type of pellets.


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

I have albino cory catfish with my betta and they get along great. My betta pecked at each one at first since he wasn't too excited about sharing his tank, but after that, they seem to be pals. My betta often checks out what the cories are eating and "shares" with them. They are very active fish, when they are not scavenging for food or taking a nap, they skitter all over the tank.
I buy mine sinking wafers that have shrimp and krill in them, made for bottom feeders. Just watch that your betta doesn't try to eat all the wafers. Bettas are pigs after all 
Like eatmice said, they should be in a school of 4+ unless they are pygmy cories, those need to be in shoals of 6+.

I find cories are a lot more active/visible than shrimp are and I find them much cuter too


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## Joey Fish (Jan 26, 2014)

Wow this is really helpful, does anyone have any pics of theirs?


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## Joey Fish (Jan 26, 2014)

I just went to AqAdvisor, and with a betta and 5 albino cories they said I was at 92 percent stocked. This is great, although they advised a warning for aggressiveness between the two, is this true, or should I get a different version of cories? I went back, and did black fin cories, it said even better filtration capacity, and 83 percent stocked, but then stated that they would outgrow the tank, does anyone know which variation of cory I should use?


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## n25philly (Dec 5, 2013)

in a 10 gallon I wouldn't use any cory cat other than the dwarf cory cats (Corydoras hastatus, habrosus, and one other kind I can't remember) as full sized cory cats would be really cramped in a 10. You could maybe get away with a small group of albinos or Pandas though.


Cories are super peaceful, and the worse they ever do is they don't seem to look where they are going as mine will crash into anyone in their way. I doubt all but the most aggressive bettas would have an issue with them. I might worry a little with the dwarfs though. I picked up 6 habrosus last night and they are tiny.


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

I don't have any issues with aggressiveness with my albinos. They don't bother my betta, but they don't let him push them around either. When they're not scrounging around for food, they either sit on the bottom resting or skitter all over the tank. Like n25philly stated, they often crash into each other or sometimes crash into Gray since they don't seem to watch where they are swimming. Gray spooks a bit, then keeps on doing what ever he was doing.

Again, I often catch them "sharing" a wafer with my betta. Due to the betta's pig-ish nature, I often have to monitor how many wafers I drop and when it's time to clean up the scraps so that my betta doesn't get bloated.
I swear sometimes he steals the wafer from them just as a game. He only picks up the ones the cories are munching on. Once the cories leave it alone, he loses interest in it.

Here is one of my albinos. They do prefer a sand-like substrate, so I may upgrade to sand once money isn't so tight. It's not available in my area, so I'd have to either order it online or drive 2hrs to get it.








And just for fun, here's Gray stealing one of the wafers from the cories. He spat it out right after the picture.








They're poor quality due to my iPhone being zoomed in and already loaded with pictures lol...
Since I have gravel instead of sand, I use a gravel vacuum every week to suck up all the left over food that has fallen between the gravel that the cories cannot reach. With sand, it is easier for them to get a majority of the left over food. It's harder with gravel.


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## n25philly (Dec 5, 2013)

lol, with aggression I figured you were talking about the betta being the issue. Cory cats are not even the slightest bit aggressive. I've seen mine crash head first into my rcs and the shrimps just move to the side and continue on their way. The shrimps have no fear of them. 

I don't think my MTS like them though as when they start burrowing into the ground my cories tend to knock them over like bowling pins. They tend to be oblivious to everyone and everything that isn't a wafer/pellet. As long as the betta isn't the type that is aggressive to everything there shouldn't be any issues. I don't have any with my betta though so I can't speak from experience.

I do have one cory that thinks he is a zebra danio. (For around a week he was the only cory cat in the tank as when I felt bad when I saw him alone at the lfs) so he will occasionally chase them, but in the same playful way they chase each other.


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## G26okie (Jan 16, 2014)

Hahahah the wafer stealing. My betta "picky" will steal wafers from the ghost shrimp, which he cares nothing about, he just wants their food. Of course he will keep eating it and spiting it out.


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## Joey Fish (Jan 26, 2014)

Wow they sound like a joy. I love the betta stealing the wafer, they are just like kids!


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## SeaCity (Jan 22, 2014)

*Cories are great pals*

I have an adorable Julli Cory Cat, Watson, in with my female betta and they are great buddies.


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## jlllm (May 11, 2013)

They sound wonderful. I wouldn't mind the peppered cories. But do they require sand as the gravel might be too rough on their bodies??


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## SeaCity (Jan 22, 2014)

*Watson*



Joey Fish said:


> Wow this is really helpful, does anyone have any pics of theirs?


I have a darling Julli Cory Cat - Watson, who is a perfect companion for my young female betta.


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## SeaCity (Jan 22, 2014)

jlllm said:


> They sound wonderful. I wouldn't mind the peppered cories. But do they require sand as the gravel might be too rough on their bodies??


I have gravel and it doesn't seem to be a problem.


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## SeaCity (Jan 22, 2014)

BTW - I just realized I've been spelling it wrong. It should be Julii. LOL


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

You want to make sure if you do have gravel, it is a smooth gravel (no rough edges). Generally most generic aquarium gravels are smooth, but I would double check just in case. When rinsing new gravel, I always stick my hand in the pile to make sure there are no sharp/rough rocks in there.

Gravel can be a bit of a pain however, as I find I'm gravel vacuuming at LEAST once a week, sometimes twice to get all the stuff out of the gravel. My corydoras get sinking wafers at the end of the day (giving them the rest of the day to clean up any left overs from the tetras). As the sinking wafer softens, it falls in between the gravel where the corys cannot reach it. Then I end up having to gravel vacuum it up.

I'm looking into switching to sand for the sake of easier clean up - the corys love rooting around in sand and can reach all the crumbs of food. I'm told you just need to rake the sand about once a week to make sure it gets rotated so that no bacteria builds up on the bottom.


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## SeaCity (Jan 22, 2014)

Thanks. My gravel is smooth.


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## kodawg9 (Dec 25, 2013)

I have fluorite substrate, which can be a little rough in some sections, with my habrosus cories and they're fine with that. I find the idea of cories needing sand or smooth gravel to be overblown to be frank (what matters most is the water quality on their barbels, not the substrate), but you'll hear different people with different theories on this. The smooth gravel you have will be perfectly fine.


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## eatmice2010 (Jan 1, 2013)

I got a Cat today, he is very very very nocturnal. He's a bumblebee catfish.








I also got a Chinese algae eatter, they are like ninjas in my tank, I can never find them.


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## n25philly (Dec 5, 2013)

That's a south american bumblebee catfish. You want to be careful with it depending on what's in your tank. They have big mouths and can swallow small fish. They are nocturnal by nature but will come out during the day if they come to associate daytime with food.


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## eatmice2010 (Jan 1, 2013)

Ya I went around and read a bunch of Bios on them. But if anything the most problem I'm having is that my girl is nipping and chasing the algae eater.


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## n25philly (Dec 5, 2013)

Good to hear you are researching, so I guess you're prepared for when the algae eater starts getting aggressive


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## eatmice2010 (Jan 1, 2013)

Yes, he's about 2cm, and I wish he would stand his ground with my girl, she is such a but head, he never gets any rest with her. I literally have to put her in time out because she HATES him. But ya I'm prepared with him, I just want him to eat the algae (if she lets him) until he gets 3in or before then I'm going to give him to my friend for his 50g NPT. Right know I'm just trying to get a lot of algea eaters and waste cleaners, any ideas?


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## n25philly (Dec 5, 2013)

eatmice2010 said:


> Yes, he's about 2cm, and I wish he would stand his ground with my girl, she is such a but head, he never gets any rest with her. I literally have to put her in time out because she HATES him. But ya I'm prepared with him, I just want him to eat the algae (if she lets him) until he gets 3in or before then I'm going to give him to my friend for his 50g NPT. Right know I'm just trying to get a lot of algea eaters and waste cleaners, any ideas?



The thing with Chinese algae eaters is that they don't really like to eat algae and when they get older they likely won't even tough the stuff. They have more of a taste for the slime coats on other fish which is very bad for them if he gets to them.

Do you have an algae problem? There are a number of different options that are good for cleanup. I'm just going to suggest what I'm familiar with. Shrimp can be good cleaners but depending on what kind you get you might need a lot to get much done. Amanos are the best algae eaters and can't breed in freshwater. RCS are good breeders, are smaller than Amanos and have almost no bioload but you would need a decent colony if you get a lot of algae.

I've never been the biggest fan of the suckermouth catfish but I do have an Oto in my 20 gallon npt. I didn't really plan on him but when I got my powerful light I set my timer up wrong and ended up with it running 24/7 for 4 days and had a huge algae outbreak. He's done a good job and has made the tank viewable again but the algae still grows faster than her can eat it and that is pretty much all he does. They are one of the best algae eater options out there if not the best, but you have to be careful as most are wild caught and starving at the store so if you aren't careful on what you get they can be delicate during acclimation. If they are still alive after a few days though they will likely be fine as long as there is algae/blanched vegetables for them to eat.


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## eatmice2010 (Jan 1, 2013)

Yes I have tons of algae, had two pond snails which died, few weeks went by and know it's a gleen landscape, so I got 20 pond snails to replace the others, but with in the first night my betta whipped them all out -.-
I've had cherry shrimp when I set up my 10g. What do you think of ghost shrimp.
I'm deff. Getting an Oto.


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## n25philly (Dec 5, 2013)

Well, like I said I am going by what I know and I've never owned ghost shrimp. If you are getting that much algae, perhaps it might be better to see if we can cut down on the cause then just throwing in algae eaters (not to say there is anything wrong with algae eaters)

What kind of algae are you getting? What kind of light to you run and for how long? What is the ph reading for your tank? Does your water ever get a greenish hue to it?


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## eatmice2010 (Jan 1, 2013)

It's green and flowy..... I asume normal tank algae. My light is a grow bulb 115 vac. 60Hz 26W. It's on a light setting that it gets 12 hours of light. PH: 6.6-6.8 (but I did just feed them an hour ago). No the water doesn't have a green hue.


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## BluFish (Feb 19, 2014)

Cory cats are perfect for betta! I have a 30G community with 3 girls and 10 Cory cats along with some other fish, and they get along just fine!
Peppered cost cats are fairly small, so they would do well in a 10 gallon in a group of probably 4 or 5.
Mine eat the flakes that float down along with algae wafers and veggies.


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## JDragon (Jan 28, 2014)

I have personally found cories to be good tankmates. I have 4 in one of my ten gallons as my husband's betta does not like them. They've even (unsuccessfully)spawned twice in the tank. They seem to be a lot cleaner than plecos in my experience... But maybe that's just me.
I feed them algae wafers and peas(leftover from bettas)


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## n25philly (Dec 5, 2013)

eatmice2010 said:


> It's green and flowy..... I asume normal tank algae. My light is a grow bulb 115 vac. 60Hz 26W. It's on a light setting that it gets 12 hours of light. PH: 6.6-6.8 (but I did just feed them an hour ago). No the water doesn't have a green hue.


Doesn't sound too bad actually, you should see my 20 gallon. Sounds like you have green hair algae. Here are some suggestions I found, I don't know you're tank so it's up to you to figure out which apply and which don't.

1) There are excess nutrients in the water, either nitrates or phosphates.

2) It's more likely to grow in areas with low water flow, so more waterflow might help

3) an inbalance between light and co2. Maybe try lowering your lights to 10 hrs and see if it helps.

4) Green hair algae apparently is prominent with excess iron in the water, so check to make sure your water source isn't iron heavy

5) Sounds like American Flagfish and Amano shrimp are the best choices for livestock that eat that type of algae. From what I've heard the flagfish can get aggressive if they aren't kept well fed, but the Amano shrimp might be a good choice as they can't reproduce in freshwater.


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## n25philly (Dec 5, 2013)

JDragon said:


> I have personally found cories to be good tankmates. I have 4 in one of my ten gallons as my husband's betta does not like them. They've even (unsuccessfully)spawned twice in the tank. They seem to be a lot cleaner than plecos in my experience... But maybe that's just me.
> I feed them algae wafers and peas(leftover from bettas)



Cories are more carnevour than herbivore, so you should feed bottom feeder wafers or shrimp pellets as well. I typically do algae wafers every other day with either wafers or shrimp pellets the other day.


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