Freshwater Fish · Catfish

Panda Corydoras

Hoplisoma panda

Panda-masked shoaler from cool foothill streamsIntermediate

Lifespan: 5-10 years (shorter if kept too warm)
Size: Up to about 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 2 in, with females the largest, it stays noticeably smaller than the Bronze Corydoras and shoals even more tightly.
Since a 2024 revision of the corydoras group it is classed as Hoplisoma panda, though it is still sold as Corydoras panda.

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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.

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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 79°F
Groups smaller than 6
Sharp gravel eroding their barbels
Expecting them to live on leftovers
Salt and copper-based medications

Enclosure

Minimum 20 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, with as much open floor as you can give them; a 30 in 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.

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Aim for 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 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.

Check your enclosure

Supplies

Setup

Tank and stand
Filter
Heater and thermometer
Substrate, plants and decor
Liquid test kit
Dechlorinator and starter supplies

Ongoing

Sinking pellets, wafers or tablets (corydoras)
Algae or spirulina wafers (bristlenose and otocinclus)
Frozen bloodworm, daphnia and brine shrimp (corydoras)
Untreated aquarium driftwood (for bristlenose plecos to rasp)
Courgette, cucumber and spinach for blanching (bristlenose and otocinclus)

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Veg clip or a stainless veg skewer (bristlenose and otocinclus)
Feeding tongs or a pipette for target-feeding
Fine sand substrate for corydoras foraging

Safe substrate: Fine, smooth sand · Smooth, rounded fine gravel (not for loaches or sand-sifting cichlids; sand is better for corydoras) · Bare bottom (quarantine and grow-out only)

Work out the cost

Care routine

Daily

Check temperature and equipment
Head-count and look everyone over
Sinking food at lights-out

Every few days

Top up evaporationevery 3 days

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Weekly

Check belly profiles
Test the water
Water change and gravel vacuum
Wipe the front glass only

Every few weeks

Trim and thin the plantsevery 2 weeks

Monthly

Check supplies and reagent dates
Check the driftwood
Replace or recharge chemical media, if you use any (skip it in a blackwater tank)
Rinse the filter media

Health review: Quarterly bottom-dweller review, every 3 months

Tools

Is your enclosure big enough?Check your measurements against the recommended size What will it cost?Setup, monthly and over its whole life, itemised Is this ammonia reading dangerous?Works out the toxic part from your pH and temperature

Care in depth

Diet

Omnivore (bottom-feeder)

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

Signs of good health, and the common problems

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 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 this urgent?

6 warning signs and how fast to act, 3 of them right away

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.

Now

Fish gasping at the surface with fast gill movement, or crowding the filter outflowIncrease surface movement now (gently in a betta or gourami tank, without creating a strong current), then test the water. Either the oxygen has crashed or the gills are being chemically burned. Both are hours-scale problems. Bettas, gouramis and corydoras rise to gulp air as part of normal breathing; the warning is constant gulping, fast gill movement, or the whole group hanging at the top.

Now

Sudden 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 usually point at the water or the equipment rather than a pathogen, so rule those out first.

Now

Today

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.

Today

White 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.

Today

Soon

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 days

Never 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.

Bedding and substrate

3 safe, 4 with a caveat, 2 to avoid

Substrate in an aquarium is a filter as much as a floor. Most of the biology lives in and on it.

Safe

Fine, smooth sandCorrect for corydoras, kuhli loaches, eartheaters such as rams and acaras, and anything else that sifts or burrows. Barbels wear away on sharp gravel.

safe

Smooth, rounded fine gravel (not for loaches or sand-sifting cichlids; sand is better for corydoras)Rinse thoroughly before use. Grain size should be too large to swallow and too small to trap food. Kuhli loaches need sand to burrow into and rams and acaras sift mouthfuls of it; bronze and panda corydoras manage on smooth fine gravel, but sterbai corydoras need sand.

safe

Bare bottom (quarantine and grow-out only)Legitimate for quarantine and grow-out tanks. Easy to clean, but it holds far less biological filtration, and it is no long-term home for burrowing loaches or sand-sifters.

safe

With a caveat

Crushed coral or aragoniteDeliberately raises hardness and pH. Correct for rift-lake cichlids, wrong for soft-water species.

with a caveat

Aquasoil for planted tanksExcellent for plants, but most active soils soften the water and pull pH and KH down for months, and many leach ammonia for the first weeks. Right for soft-water species; wrong for hard-water animals (livebearers, rainbowfish, goldfish, and snails, whose shells erode in soft, acidic water) unless you test GH and KH and remineralise. Cycle around it; do not stock into it.

with a caveat

Very deep sand bedsAnaerobic pockets form below about 2 inches in still sand. Either keep it shallow or keep it stirred.

with a caveat

Painted or coated gravelUsually fine, but coatings chip. Test a handful in a jar for a week first.

with a caveat

Never

Sharp or angular gravel with bottom-dwellersWears down barbels and leads to infection in corydoras and loaches.

never

Anything containing metal, limestone of unknown origin, or shells in a soft-water tankSlowly alters chemistry in ways that are hard to diagnose later.

never

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