Monday 22 October 2007

Pygmy corys

We took a trip to Houston this weekend, and I visited the most amazing fish store I have ever seen. Granted, that isn't all that difficult (given the selection where I am). The selection of fish and plants was amazing.

If I had that money (and tank space) I could have brought home dozens of cool fish. One of hte most remarkable fish I came across was Polypterus, a somewhat ugly, but truly fascinating-looking fish. But I really fell in love with the Pygmy corys. A little over a centrimetre long, they are very cory-like in their bahaviour, schooling around the tank, foraging along the bottom. The great thing about them is their size - I bought 10 of them, put them in my plant tank (which is only a 10-gallon tank) and I have a school of corys. I'd like to put them in the main tank eventually, but I am a little concerned that the angels might see them as food. The only problem with them is that they are similarly patterned to Otocinclus, and they don't seem to be good at telling the difference. The result in that they try to school with the Otocinclus. Since Otocinclus is a sucker-mouthed catfish, they prefer to hang onto the glass, not be harassed by smaller fish. (It's pretty remarkable to find yourself thinking of Otocinclus as "the bigger fish").

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