# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Catfishes >  Questions about Corydoras panda

## choen

Hi, 

My wife really likes how this fish looks and behaves at the LFS.
I have a few questions about them:

1. Are they ok with a substrate fully covered with hair grass? I googled and found that almost all the pix and videos are of them having a great time sniffing and burrowing out the bare sand or mud surfaces.

2. The tank I am planning to place them in (all HG carpeted) is fluctuates at temperatures between 26 and 28C. Will this be too warm for them? I do not wish to bring the temp down any further as this may disrupt other things.

3. Are they territorial in any way?

thanks.

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## EvolutionZ

1. i have 2 panda cories in my 2ft tank.. i noticed that most of the time they stay at the area which i left it bare with just my subsrate there.

2. my tank's temperature is around 27C. so far been in my tanks a few months. no problem at all.

3. don't think so.. best to keep them in group of 6. but im keeping only 2 and they do seems fine.

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## choen

Thanks for the reply.

One more question: Do they dig up the substrate?

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## celticfish

Most of the points you brought up are okay for them.
But I would worry about point (2) on the HG part.
You can get away by providing a bare patch as a playground/feeding area for them.
Also, you should add them in the tank after your plants have some time to take root.
Otherwise their "sniffing" will make waste your back-breaking effort to plant them by causing the HG to float in your tank.

An "ideal setup" like so. Nice? 
Just don't crowd them like the picture.
They were all there for the family photo.  :Grin: 
But you can just imagine how the tank would look with just 6 to 8 pandas.
A simple "fish only" tank can look nice and cater to the fishs' needs too when thought out carefully.




More pictures in the AQ Gallery ---> here

More information and the fish at Planet Catfish ---> here

And a whole lot of cory going on ---> here  :Evil:

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## EvolutionZ

wow... that is indeed overcrowding though.. im thinking of adding 4 more more C.panda.. but worried about my bioload.. as i have another 4 oto, a few apistogramma(babies) and 20 halerquin rasbora.

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## choen

Hmm, looks like I might have to set up another tank for these guys. I don't want to endure tearing up HG (who does?) only to see them reclaiming the bare spots a few weeks later. Looks like what pleases them are heavy rooted stems with bare sand or soil bottom huh.

celticfish - whoah, that is one big family. Was it christmas, chinese new year or deepavali reunion?  :Wink: 

evo- let me know how it goes. I'd add them just to see a substrate surfing school of cories. :P

Thanks guys!

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## EvolutionZ

sure choen =)

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## Quixotic

_Corydoras_ sift through or forage in sand for food, but doesn't burrow. Burrow is to dig and hide in a hole.

As such, they will cause some disturbances to the substrate. If plants aren't rooted properly prior to introducing the fish, they _may_ be dislodged. Fine leaved plants that are fragile (e.g. HC, riccia) _may_ also be uprooted. This can be minimised by providing a bare area of substrate for them to forage, and introducing fish after plants are established in the tank.

FYI, _Corydoras_ is always spelt with an "s" at the end. The "s" is not to denote singular or plural. Etymology of the name is as of below:

_Corydoras_ - _kory_ (helmet) and _doras_ (skin) [Greek]
_panda_ - refers to the pattern which resembles the Giant Panda of China

Do take some time to read the sticky at the top of the Catfish forum to learn more about _Corydoras_ in general.

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## jetset

I find Panda Corydoras difficult to keep. I've had 5 in a matured community tank... never seems to last past 6 months. No problems with other inhabitants although with the demise of the pandas, I've been experiencing missing ottos.

I think the Pandas are more susceptible to nitrates than other species of fish. In the comm tank are neon tetras, cpds, salt & pepper corydoras, ottos, espeis, malayan & cherry shrimps, cherry barbs.

I lost 2 pandas to swim-bladder problems and the other 3 just died overnight over a space of time without symptoms. The deaths were spaced out and other fish are fine so I guess it was not anything contagious. The pandas only died after about 4-6 months after introduction to the comm tank.

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## EvolutionZ

my C.pandas are very hardy.. as im using ada, shifting of plants make my whole tank cloudy.. and my 2 C.panda are still alive and healthy now.. growing big too!

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## d2sign

Hi EvolutionZ, how big is your C.panda? I though they will remain to 1" size? Mine with me for for 5 months and they never grow, cute little fellow  :Grin:

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## jetset

> my C.pandas are very hardy.. as im using ada, shifting of plants make my whole tank cloudy.. and my 2 C.panda are still alive and healthy now.. growing big too!


How long have you had them? Mine was hardy for 6 months! :Wink:

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## choen

I acquired four of them about 2 weeks back.
One has since made a fatal leap out of the tank- I suspect that it happened while they were playing swim-up-swim-down-as-fast-as-possible.

Spoke to one of the LFS staff where I acquired them and he said that these fishes are tough and will survive in bad water conditions. Hmm.

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## EvolutionZ

i had mine for almost 3 months.
bought them while they are around 1.5cm.. now they are easily 3 - 4cm.. but today just sold them to aother bro...

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## raglan

my couple of tries with them were not good. don't know why.

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## illumnae

same here, i find them alot less hardy than other corydoras species, though they aren't weak per se. they did really well till i did a massive rescape of my tank and only 1 out of 6 survived the transition 3 week period in my large ceramic jars with my discus and tetras....all 6 leopard cories survived though

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## jetset

A LFS Owner has told me that they are the least hardy of all the corydoras. He told me to watch nitrates in particular.

Mine is a heavily planted tank with 20% wc weekly but it is densely populated. I noticed that casualties happen when I'm about 2 days late for wc. Suspect may need twice weekly wc or a heavily planted plus sparsely populated tank.

Anyway, have not tried them again... find the pygmy corydoras cuter and hardier.

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## luenny

Just saw this and was quite surprised to know that panda corys are so hard to keep. I bought around 6 a few months to a year ago, 1 died due to unknown reason but I have had 4 babies - 2 got move to another tank accidentally and never seen since but the other 2 babies are grown up already. I always thought they're the hardier of the fishes I keep.

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## Quixotic

There are two things that I am speculating...

Perhaps there is a difference between buying adult and young juvenile _C. panda_. Some of the _C. panda_ being sold are very young juveniles. As with young fish, they need very good water quality and are susceptible to poor water conditions. How big is the _C. panda_ at the time you guys bought them?

Another nagging doubt in my mind is that it may have something to do with genetics, i.e. inbreeding. As very young juvenile _C. panda_ are being sold, it seems very likely that they are aquarium bred. The genetic pool may have been too diluted, thus compromising the immunity.

Just some 2 cents worth of thought...

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## luenny

I bought mine about 2 cm long. That's not really adult right? I've seen one in the fish shop once that is 1.5 to 2 inches long and it's marked as Corydoras Panda XL.

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## jetset

Got mine young as well. However they seemed to be growing well for about 6 months before they perished. Other cories, barbs, tetras, cpds all doing well in the same tank past a year already.

Anyway, stopped keeping pandas for now. I'm into pygmy cories now and they seem much more hardier... the better part is that more can be kept in a smaller tank.

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## Quixotic

The fish at around 2 cm is about 2 months old. Their average lifespan *seems* to be around 5 years, and living up to 10 years is not unheard of, 6 months is quite short lived.

Oh well, one thing for sure is that the temperature preferred should be between 22 to 25 degrees Celsius. If it gets too hot, like how our weather can get at certain times, it may be detrimental to the fish.

Anyway, that's the thing about fish-keeping, mileage may vary.  :Laughing:

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## luenny

Oh, did I mention that I keep my pandas with discus and rummy nose. They must like the same conditions as discus because they're both doing well.

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