Brochis splendens
| Difficulty | Easy |
| Minimum Tank Size | 30 Gallons |
| Diet | Omnivore |
| Water Parameters | 72-78 F, pH 8-8.4, Salinity 1.020-1.025 |
| Aggression | Peaceful |
| Size | 3.5" |
Cory Catfish bring a lot of activity to their tanks. They hide for some portions of the day and swim actively around the tank the rest of the day. Combine that with the beautiful emerald green bodies of the Emerald Green Cory Catfish and it’s clear why so many people keep corys.
Cory Catfish do enjoy swimming in schools but can do fine with just one partner or in small groups. Corydoras are social fish and will spend a lot of the day playing with each other. They spend most of their time near the bottom of the tank, making short but long breeding tanks exceptional for keeping corys.
Cory Catfish can live for quite a long time, and the emerald green is no exception. In fact they are likely to live longer than albino cory catfish due to their stronger, less tampered with genetics. When well cared for they can easily live over ten years. Keep this in mind when you pick them out, as you will need to care for them for quite awhile.
Corydoras rarely get sick, making them great hardy fish. The only times when cory catfish tend to get sick is when there are dramatic swings in their water parameters. This mostly only happens when introducing them to new tanks, but it can also happen if you forget to clean out the filter regularly.
One final note is that Cory Catfish do best when added to a mature tank. They tend to pick at the built up bacteria and algae hidden in the tank, which can help keep your tank looking clean.
Behavior & Aggression
Cory Catfish have no aggression even among their own kind, making them really one of the most easy to keep fish of all time. The are very social and are best paired with other social fish.
They are so passive that they are prime targets for other fish, so be sure to only pair them with other peaceful fish. Even some semi aggressive fish will give the Emerald Green Cory Catfish a hard time. If you see your corys getting bullied add plants and rocks to the tank. These give the corys more hiding spots, which they are very adapt at using. Be warned, once you add rocks to the tank your catfish will go missing several times each day. They really enjoy hiding underneath rocks, completely hidden from sight.
Diet & Feeding
Cory Catfish are interesting in that they can pick foods from the substrate and holes in the rock while also accepting prepared foods such as flakes or pellets. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that they spend a lot of time at the bottom of the tank. As such they will need quick sinking foods if they have many other free swimming tankmates. Otherwise they will rarely get any of the food you put in the tank.
Additionally the Emerald Green Cory Catfish is an omnivore, so be sure to switch up their diets. Many quick sinking pellets are made especially for corys and are perfect for their diet.
If you have trouble getting your cory to eat you can try using seaweed sheets. These are often sold in international food sections as ‘nori’ for fairly cheap. While seaweed may not be native to freshwater fish, they are quick to eat it even if they are ignoring other foods. This is why many high quality foods, such as spirulina use seaweed as a large part of their mixture.
Breeding & Sex Differences
It is hard to spot the difference in genders of cory catfish. The females will usually be longer and wider than males, however this is difficult to judge on such small fish. Even if you can tell which is bigger it could simply mean they are more mature/older.
Cory Catfish do not breed in the tank too often, but it can be seen when the tank is kept comfortable with consistent lighting. Warmer waters will also encourage breeding. When they feel the tank is suitable to breed in they will be much more active. The males will chase around the females and swim circles around them while the females will clean multiple spots in the tank. These spots are where she can lay eggs in the future.
Despite the floor cleaning, their eggs will typically be stuck to the aquarium glass in multiple batches. They will usually only do this at night. To encourage the females to lay eggs you can slowly increase the amount of dark time the tank has each day. If you change this too quickly the fish may not appreciate the change in lighting. Adding five or ten minutes a day is slow enough to not bother the fish and still adds up quick enough to encourage breeding without taking too long.
Unlike most fish eggs you can remove the cory eggs from the tank and keep them in a different tank to spawn the baby fish if you plan on raising them. If you do not remove the eggs it is unlikely that they will survive into maturity, as most fish will target the new, slow moving larva.