Freshwater Fish · Catfish
Panda Corydoras
Corydoras panda
Panda-masked shoaler from cool foothill streamsIntermediate
- Lifespan
- 5-10 years (shorter if kept too warm)
- Size
- Up to about 5 cm (2 in); females largest
- Social needs
- Highly social - keep 6+, ideally 10+
- Time
- Low-moderate (daily feed, weekly water changes)
- Cost
- Low-moderate
- Diet
- Omnivore (bottom-feeder)
Overview
What is this animal?
- The Panda Corydoras is a small armoured catfish from cool, clear foothill streams of the Peruvian upper Amazon, named for the black eye patches, dorsal blotch and tail spot that mark its pale, pinkish-cream body.
- At around 5 cm (2 in), with females the largest, it stays noticeably smaller than the Bronze Corydoras and shoals even more tightly.
- It is also the more delicate of the two.
- Tank-bred pandas fade fast in new, unstable or overly warm aquariums, so this is a fish for a mature setup rather than a first stocking choice.
- If your aquarium has been running for less than three months, the honest answer is not yet.
Temperament
- Panda Corydoras are completely peaceful and among the most tightly shoaling of all cories, often moving as a single coordinated group and sometimes rising to school with midwater fish.
- Keep at least six, and ideally ten or more, because small groups sit hidden and inactive.
- Choose calm tankmates that are happy at the cooler end of tropical, such as small rasboras, peaceful tetras, dwarf danios and Kuhli Loaches.
- Skip warmth-loving species like Discus and German Blue Rams, whose preferred temperatures are too high for pandas, and avoid anything boisterous enough to outcompete them at feeding time.
A good fit for
- Mature, established community tanks
- Keepers who run their tanks on the cool side
- Fans of tight, active shoaling behaviour
- Sand-bottomed, planted aquariums
- Hobbyists stepping up from Bronze Corydoras
Common mistakes to avoid
- Adding them to a tank under 3 months old
- Sustained temperatures above 26 C (79 F)
- Groups smaller than 6
- Sharp gravel eroding their barbels
- Expecting them to live on leftovers
- Salt and copper-based medications
Enclosure
Minimum 75 litres (20 US gallons) — for a group of 6
Cannot be kept alone. The minimum is 6, and the space above is for that group.
- House a shoal in at least 20 gallons (75 L), with as much open floor as you can give them; a 30 in (75 cm) long footprint suits a group of six, and ten or more want more than that.
- Cover the base with soft sand or very smooth, rounded fine gravel to protect their delicate barbels, and keep the water soft to moderately hard (about 2-15 dGH) at pH 6.0-7.5, well oxygenated with a gentle current.
- Temperature matters more here than for most cories.
- Aim for 20-25 C (68-77 F): the species comes from cool, fast foothill streams that run several degrees below a typical tropical tank, and sustained temperatures above about 26 C (79 F) stress it, lower dissolved oxygen and shorten its life.
- Do not pair pandas with heat-loving species and then split the difference on the thermostat.
- The tank must be fully cycled and mature, with zero ammonia and nitrite and nitrate held under 20 ppm.
- Provide shade, plants and driftwood for security, and leave an air gap under the lid, because they dart to the surface to gulp air through the gut.
Supplies
Setup
- Tank and stand
- Filter
- Heater and thermometer
- Substrate, plants and decor
- Liquid test kit
- Dechlorinator and starter supplies
Ongoing
- Sinking wafers or tablets for bottom-feeders
- Algae or spirulina wafers
- Frozen bloodworm, daphnia and brine shrimp
- Untreated aquarium driftwood (essential for clown plecos)
- Courgette, cucumber and spinach for blanching
- Veg clip or a stainless veg skewer
- Feeding tongs or a pipette for target-feeding
- Fine sand substrate for corydoras foraging
Safe substrate: Inert aquarium gravel · Fine, smooth sand · Aquasoil for planted tanks
Care routine
Daily
- Check temperature and equipment
- Head-count and look everyone over
- Sinking food at lights-out
Weekly
- Top up evaporationevery 3 days
- Check belly profiles
- Clean glass and clear algae
- Test the water
- Water change and gravel vacuum
Monthly
- Trim and thin the plantsevery 2 weeks
- Check supplies and reagent dates
- Check the driftwood
- Rinse the filter media
Less often
- Replace chemical filter media (Carbon/Purigen)every 2 months
Vet: Quarterly bottom-dweller review — every 3 months
Top resources for more info
Independent creators and organisations we would send a friend to. We have no affiliation with any of them, and nothing here is sponsored. Links checked 2026-09-19.
YouTubers
Girl Talks FishCare how-tos by fish type, tank setup and beginner mistakesAquarium Co-OpSpecies care guides, filtration and fish health (run by a retailer)Prime Time AquaticsSpecies profiles, stocking and water chemistry explained plainly
Sites
Go deeper
Diet
- Panda Corydoras are omnivores that must be fed deliberately with sinking foods, not left to scavenge leftovers.
- Offer small sinking granules, pellets and wafers sized for their small mouths, plus frozen or live bloodworm, daphnia and brine shrimp several times a week.
- Make sure the food actually reaches the bottom past faster midwater fish, or add a portion after lights-out, when the pandas forage most confidently.
- Gradual starvation of the supposed clean-up crew is one of the most common ways this species is lost.
- They eat almost no algae, so they are not a substitute for tank maintenance.
Health
- The two biggest killers of Panda Corydoras are immature tanks and chronic heat.
- New-tank instability causes rapid losses in the first weeks, while sustained warmth above about 26 C (79 F) lowers oxygen and slowly wears them down; fast gill movement and constant trips to the surface are warning signs.
- Watch for barbel erosion from sharp or dirty substrate, and for red blotch disease, which shows as reddish sores on the belly and flanks and is linked to stress and poor substrate hygiene.
- Like all cories they tolerate salt and copper-based medications poorly, so dose cautiously at reduced strength and quarantine every new fish.
Is your enclosure big enough?
Minimum volume75 litres (20 US gallons)
Swimming length76 cm minimum. A tall tank of the right volume is still the wrong shape.
CompanyCannot be kept alone. The minimum is 6, and the space above is for that group.
Is this urgent?
In a fish tank the patient is usually the water. Test before you treat — dosing a healthy tank for a disease it does not have makes things worse.
Go now
Any detectable ammonia or nitrite in a stocked tankLarge water change now with dechlorinated, temperature-matched water. Stop feeding. Test again in 12 hours. Both are directly toxic. How toxic the ammonia reading is depends on pH and temperature, so the same number can be harmless or lethal.
NowFish gasping at the surface, or crowding the filter outflowIncrease surface agitation immediately, then test the water. Either the oxygen has crashed or the gills are being chemically burned. Both are hours-scale problems.
NowSudden deaths, more than one fish in a dayTest ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and temperature before doing anything else. Do not add medication yet. Multiple simultaneous deaths point at the water or the equipment, not at a pathogen.
NowToday
Flashing — repeatedly scraping against decor or substrateTest the water, then look closely for parasites. Irritation is either chemical or parasitic; the test tells you which before you medicate.
TodayWhite salt-grain spots over the body and finsBegin the appropriate treatment today and check the temperature. The parasite's life cycle is temperature-driven, and it multiplies with every cycle you wait.
TodaySoon
Clamped fins, hiding, or refusing food for more than two daysTest the water and review recent changes. Usually the earliest visible sign of a parameter drifting.
A few daysNever add a new fish to a tank that is not fully cycled, and never treat blind. A test kit is cheaper than the fish.
This is general guidance for a healthy adult, not a diagnosis. An exotics vet who knows your animal always overrides it — and the time to find one is before you need one.
What it really costs
Setup, monthly, first year and across a whole life, itemised and with the electricity worked out from the actual wattage. Published figures for the same animal disagree by a factor of four, so the calculator shows ranges rather than picking one.
Bedding and substrate
Substrate in an aquarium is a filter as much as a floor. Most of the biology lives in and on it.
Safe
Inert aquarium gravelRinse thoroughly before use. Grain size should be too large to swallow and too small to trap food.
safeFine, smooth sandCorrect for corydoras, kuhli loaches and anything that sifts. Their barbels wear away on sharp gravel.
safeAquasoil for planted tanksExcellent for plants, but it leaches ammonia for the first weeks. Cycle around it; do not stock into it.
safeBare bottomLegitimate for quarantine and grow-out tanks. Easy to clean, but it holds far less biological filtration.
safeWith a caveat
Crushed coral or aragoniteDeliberately raises hardness and pH. Correct for rift-lake cichlids, wrong for soft-water species.
with a caveatVery deep sand bedsAnaerobic pockets form below about 5 cm in still sand. Either keep it shallow or keep it stirred.
with a caveatPainted or coated gravelUsually fine, but coatings chip. Test a handful in a jar for a week first.
with a caveatNever
Sharp or angular gravel with bottom-dwellersWears down barbels and leads to infection in corydoras and loaches.
neverAnything containing metal, limestone of unknown origin, or shells in a soft-water tankSlowly alters chemistry in ways that are hard to diagnose later.
neverThis is our general list for freshwater fish. We have not built one specific to Catfish yet.
My kit says 0.25 ppm. Is that dangerous?
A liquid kit measures total ammonia, but only the un-ionised fraction is really toxic, and that fraction is governed by pH and temperature — each whole pH unit multiplies it roughly tenfold. So the same reading can be nearly harmless in one tank and lethal in another; this works out which one you are in.
Compare with other animals
The same axes for every animal, side by side — the way the guides are written makes that a fair comparison rather than two articles.
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Catfish, side by side
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