Description
If you want corys and it is your first time, this is the one. The bronze cory is the commonest, hardiest and most tolerant of the genus: a coppery body with a greenish sheen along the flank, around 7 cm, and an ability to cope with widely varying parameters that its more selective relatives lack.
It also comes in an albino form, white with red eyes, which is the same species with the same care. It is one of the best-selling corys in the world.
But what really sets it apart is longevity. Over ten years is not unusual, and there are documented individuals reaching fifteen. That makes buying one a serious commitment: it will likely outlast several tanks and more than one house move. Think of it the way you think about a dog, not the way you think about a guppy.
Behavior
Peaceful and gregarious like the whole family: six minimum, and the more the better they behave.
Against the panda it has one notable practical advantage: it is more active and less shy. It forages the bottom with the lights on too and does not spend the day hidden, which makes it far more rewarding to watch. If a cory once disappointed you because you never saw it, try this one.
It surfaces for air like the rest of the genus. Normal in occasional bursts, a warning sign if it is constant and collective.
It lives well with practically any community fish: tetras, rasboras, livebearers, gouramis, bristlenose. Its parameter tolerance makes it compatible even with hard-water species, which not every cory allows.
Avoid housing it with large cichlids that claim the bottom, and aggressive fish generally. Little else.
With shrimp: fully compatible, fry included.
Habitat
Corydoras aeneus has an extremely wide distribution across South America, from Colombia and Trinidad to the Plata basin. It lives in slow, often turbid, oxygen-poor water over soft beds of sand and silt.
That geographic breadth is the key to its character: a species occupying half a continent and very different environments necessarily tolerates a lot. Hence it copes with hardness, temperatures and pH values that other corys find impossible.
What it does not negotiate is the substrate. Like the whole family it finds food by rooting with its barbels, and coarse gravel wears them away completely. Without barbels it cannot locate food, and the damage is permanent. Fine sand, always.
And the oxygen-poor waters it comes from explain its air breathing: not a curiosity, but an adaptation to its home pool.
Corydoras aeneus is a schooling species, which means that in the wild it lives and moves in large, coordinated groups.
Keep at least 6 individuals so they feel comfortable and their stress level stays low.
Habitats
Fish sharing this habitat
These fish appear in one or more habitats linked to this profile. It doesn't mean they are directly compatible in an aquarium.
Details
🌊 Water parameters
🐠 Minimum tank size
Breeding
It is the easiest cory to breed, and one of the best species to learn on if you want fish that tend their spawn at least a little.
It spawns in the T position like the rest of the genus: the male sits perpendicular, the female collects the eggs between her ventral fins and sticks them one by one to the glass, plants or filter.
The classic trigger almost always works: feed well on frozen food for a few days, then make a large water change with slightly cooler water. That is the rainy-season signal, and the response usually comes within hours.
Remove the eggs, because the adults eat them. The fry of this species are larger and sturdier than panda fry, and take powdered food and brine shrimp nauplii sooner, so raising them is quite manageable.
Diet
An omnivorous bottom feeder and fairly voracious, the most competitive feeder in the genus.
- Staple: quality sinking wafers, best at lights-out.
- Supplement: frozen daphnia, brine shrimp and mosquito larvae.
- Fry: powdered food and brine shrimp nauplii, which they take early.
Being quicker than other corys it competes better for food, but that does not change the underlying myth: it is still not a cleaner fish and does not live on leftovers. It needs its own ration reaching the substrate.
And one caution that applies especially to this species given how much it eats: do not mistake voracity for need. It is easy to overfeed because it always looks hungry, and excess food on the bottom is precisely what degrades the tank water.
What about your tank?
Enter your tank's values to see only the compatible species that fit them. Litres apply to fish.
Compatible fish
General guidance based on water parameters, behaviour and known exceptions; always review the individual animals' and aquarium's specific needs.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 24–26 °C.
They share water: pH 7–8 and 26 °C. They only meet at the very edge, so the tank has to hold that value.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 24–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–8 and 24–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 22–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 24–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 22–24 °C.
They share water: pH 7–8 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–8 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–8 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 24–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 24–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7 and 24–26 °C.
They share water: pH 7.5–8 and 24–26 °C.
They share water: pH 7.5–8 and 24–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.2 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–8 and 22 °C. They only meet at the very edge, so the tank has to hold that value.
They share water: pH 6.5–8 and 22–24 °C.
They share water: pH 7–8 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7 and 26 °C. They only meet at the very edge, so the tank has to hold that value.
They share water: pH 6–7 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–6.5 and 24–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7 and 23–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 23–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 23–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 7–8 and 22–26 °C.
Compatible invertebrates
General guidance based on water parameters, behaviour and known exceptions; always review the individual animals' and aquarium's specific needs.
They share water: pH 7–8 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–6.5 and 22–24 °C.
They share water: pH 7–8 and 22–25 °C.
They share water: pH 7.5–8 and 24–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6–6.8 and 22–24 °C.
They share water: pH 6–6.8 and 22–24 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 7–8 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 7–8 and 22–26 °C.
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They share water: pH 7–8 and 22–26 °C.
Sources
- FishBaseFroese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2026. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication.
- Seriously FishSeriously Fish. Corydoras aeneus. Ficha de especie; consultada 2026-08.
Discrepancy: FishBase has moved the species to the genus Osteogaster and lists it as Osteogaster aenea; the profile keeps Corydoras aeneus, the name in common use. Temperature: FishBase, 25-28 °C, and Seriously Fish, 21-27 °C.
Plan your next aquarium
Is this fish right for you? Plan a suitable aquarium before setting it up.