Description

Sterbai are the corydoras to choose when the tank runs warm. Most cory species struggle above 27 °C; sterbai are comfortable up to 30 °C, which makes them the standard bottom-dweller for discus tanks.

They are white-spotted over a dark body with bright orange pectoral spines. Kept as a group of six or more they forage as a shoal, and they will happily take food from the surface as well as the substrate.

Keeping notes

• Sand or smooth rounded gravel only. Sharp gravel wears down their barbels and leads to infection.
• Corydoras are shoaling fish. Six is the minimum; ten looks far better.
• They need sinking food of their own – they will not survive on leftovers from mid-water fish.
• Cories gulp air from the surface occasionally. This is normal behaviour, not a sign of poor water quality.