False bandit cory

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep false bandit cories in a group of six or more over smooth sand at 22 to 26 C in soft, acidic water. They spawn readily and are peaceful in a settled community. Feed sinking pellets and small frozen foods such as bloodworm.

In the wild

The false bandit cory lives in soft, acidic blackwater tributaries of the upper Rio Negro and Orinoco systems. It forages over sand among leaf litter and roots. Groups gather in slow, shaded water.

Good to know

It wears a black bandit band through the eye plus a dark stripe that runs diagonally from the dorsal fin back toward the tail. That diagonal stripe running well down the body separates it from the true bandit cory, whose dark saddle stays near the dorsal fin. The 2024 revision placed it in the genus Hoplisoma as Hoplisoma melini.

Common questions

Related species

• 

  Blackstripe cory

  Hoplisoma bondi

  2 in (5 cm) · 15 gal (55 L)

  2 in (5 cm)15 gal (55 L)70–79°F (21–26°C)

• 

  Dirty bandit cory

  Hoplisoma loxozonum

  2 in (5 cm) · 16 gal (60 L)

  2 in (5 cm)16 gal (60 L)70–75°F (21–24°C)

• 

  Duplicate cory

  Hoplisoma duplicareum

  2 in (5 cm) · 20 gal (75 L)

  2 in (5 cm)20 gal (75 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Ehrhardt's cory

  Hoplisoma ehrhardti

  2 in (5 cm) · 16 gal (60 L)

  2 in (5 cm)16 gal (60 L)66–77°F (19–25°C)

• 

  Fairy cory

  Hoplisoma atropersonatum

  2 in (5 cm) · 16 gal (60 L)

  2 in (5 cm)16 gal (60 L)70–81°F (21–27°C)

• 

  Loreto cory

  Hoplisoma loretoense

  2 in (5 cm) · 16 gal (60 L)

  2 in (5 cm)16 gal (60 L)72–77°F (22–25°C)