Description
The panda cory earns its name: three black patches over a cream background, one covering the eye like a mask, one on the dorsal and one at the base of the tail. It reaches about 5 cm and is by far the most sought-after cory for looks.
It has one preference that sets it apart within the genus and that almost nobody takes into account: it prefers cool water, between 20 and 25 degrees. It comes from mountain tributaries, not the Amazon lowlands. In a tropical community at 27 it survives, but it lives noticeably less, and that is the quiet reason many people write it off as delicate.
It is also shyer and somewhat more fragile than its larger relatives, so it is not the cory to start with if you have never kept bottom fish. That is what the bronze is for.
Behavior
Peaceful and strictly gregarious. Six individuals is the real minimum, not a recommendation: below that it hides, stops feeding properly and spends the day under a log. With eight or ten the opposite happens, and you will see the group foraging the bottom in formation, all together.
It is not territorial and bothers nobody. It occupies the bottom, usually the emptiest band in the tank.
It occasionally dashes to the surface for a gulp of air. That is entirely normal: it has a modified intestine that lets it breathe atmospheric air. However, if it does so constantly and several at once, that is a warning sign: oxygen is short or there is a water quality problem.
It lives well with tetras, rasboras, gouramis, ram cichlids, bristlenose and other corys. It is one of the most compatible species there is.
Avoid housing it with large territorial cichlids that claim the bottom; adult angelfish, which can manage a small cory; and very warm-water fish, on the temperature question.
With shrimp: fully compatible, even with fry. It does not chase them.
Habitat
Corydoras panda is native to upper Amazon tributaries in Peru, in the Andean foothills. The water is cool, clear, moderately flowing, with fine sand and leaf litter on the bottom.
That temperature detail explains its behaviour in the aquarium, but there is another even more important one, and it is the substrate.
It needs sand, not gravel. The cory finds food by rooting through the bottom with sensitive barbels around its mouth. Over coarse or sharp gravel those barbels wear away completely, and without them the fish loses its main sense for locating food. It is a common injury, irreversible and entirely avoidable.
If you have gravel and want corys, switching to fine sand is the best investment you can make for them. And besides, watching them bury their snouts up to the eyes is half the fun of keeping them.
Corydoras panda 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 spawns in the so-called T position, one of the more curious reproductive behaviours in the aquarium: the male sits perpendicular to the female forming a T, she collects the eggs between her ventral fins and then sticks them one by one to the glass, the plants or the filter.
The trigger is easy to reproduce at home: a generous water change with water slightly cooler than the tank. You are imitating the arrival of the rainy season, and it usually works within hours.
The eggs must be separated, because the adults eat them without hesitation. The fry are tiny and rather delicate: they need very fine food and an immaculate bottom, since they are even more sensitive to water quality than the adults.
Diet
An omnivorous bottom feeder. And here the most widespread myth about this genus needs dismantling: the cory is not a cleaner fish and does not live on other fish's leftovers.
It is a very common belief and it kills many corys through slow starvation. It needs its own food, delivered so that it actually reaches it.
- Staple: quality sinking wafers, given at lights-out so mid-water fish do not take them.
- Supplement: frozen daphnia, brine shrimp and mosquito larvae, which it hunts through the substrate with enthusiasm.
- Fry: very fine food or brine shrimp nauplii.
A practical trick: feed the mid-water fish at the top and, while they are busy, drop the wafers at the other end of the tank. It is the simplest way to make sure the corys actually eat.
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 24–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 22–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 22–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 22–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 24–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7 and 22–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25 °C. They only meet at the very edge, so the tank has to hold that value.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 24–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 22–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 24–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 20–24 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 20–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 22–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 25 °C. They only meet at the very edge, so the tank has to hold that value.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 22–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 22–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 24–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 24–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7 and 24–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7 and 20–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.2 and 22–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 20–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 20–22 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 20–24 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 22–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7 and 22–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 22–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–6.5 and 24–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7 and 23–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 23–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 20–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 23–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–7.5 and 22–25 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 22–25 °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 7–7.5 and 20–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–6.5 and 20–24 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 20–25 °C.
They share water: pH 7.5 and 24–25 °C. They only meet at the very edge, so the tank has to hold that value.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 22–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 20–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6–6.8 and 20–24 °C.
They share water: pH 6–6.8 and 20–24 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 20–25 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 20–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 20–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 20–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 20–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 20–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 20–25 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 22–25 °C.
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They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 20–25 °C.
Sources
- FishBaseFroese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2026. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication.
- Seriously FishSeriously Fish. Corydoras panda. Ficha de especie; consultada 2026-08.
Discrepancy: FishBase lists it as Hoplisoma panda after the genus reassignment; the profile keeps Corydoras panda. Size: 3.8 cm SL in FishBase versus 5 cm in Seriously Fish.
Plan your next aquarium
Is this fish right for you? Plan a suitable aquarium before setting it up.