The Cory Catfish, also known as the "Spotted Cory" "Punctatus Cory" and "Corydoras", is an excellent fish and highly recommended for any non-aggressive community tank. They have a playful appearance and are quite fun to watch as they actively search gravel for food. They also do a great job in helping to keep a clean balanced ecosystem in your aquarium.

The Cory Catfish is a peaceful fish. It will usually not bother other fish in its tank. If kept in groups the Cory Catfish will tend to school. They make great additions to any community, as long as there aren't fish that will attack or eat it. The Cory Catfish will spend most if its time digging through up rocks and gravel looking for scraps of food, which makes it a fun fish to watch. Cory Catfish can be kept in any aquarium with moderate plant and rock decorations, but they should have plenty of gravel to dig in.

At maturity, the Cory Catfish will only grow to be two and a half inches. There are hundreds of species and color variants, such as brown, gray, and white albinos, which are the most popular. The majority of Cory Catfish are brown or gray with varying spots of black. Some will have a metallic shiny color. The Cory Catfish is a long-lived fish, with recorded life spans of 26 years. Males will be smaller than females.

Every species of Cory Catfish, or Corydoras punctatus, are from South America. Cory Catfish have a special ability to process atmospheric air. They will occasionally stick their mouth out of the water for a gulp of air.

The Cory Catfish is a very hardy fish, and can tolerate many water conditions. However, they prefer water temperatures between 73 and 81 degrees fahrenheit. The pH of their water should slightly acidic to neutral, with a level ranging from 6.5 to 7.2. Being a scavenger, the Cory Catfish will eat just about anything. Foods include live bloodworms, glass worms, brine shrimp, crustaceans, other invertebrates, and frozen, freeze dried and flake foods. Whatever they are fed, they should be fed at the bottom of the tank.

The requirements needed to encourage the Punctatus Cory to spawn are simple, and include a well-kept tank, well-fed healthy fish and a drop in atmospheric pressure of about 0.1 in water column in about an hour. A slow change does not stimulate spawning.

Prior to breeding they will exhibit a ritual display, which consists of rubbing their heads against each other's flanks, and engaging in near simultaneous breaching at a high velocity.

Fry can be grown easily in a tank with undergravel filtration. Be sure to remove the guards so the fry can escape from under the gravel. Heavy planting helps remove nitrogen compounds. Finely pulverized dry tropical fish food can be given to fry. Males tend to the spawn and clean out dead eggs, which prevents fungus infestations.