Imitator cory

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep imitator cories in a group of six or more over soft sand in soft, acidic water around 22 to 26 C. They do best in a calm tank with plenty of shade and tannin stained water. Feed sinking pellets and small frozen foods that reach the bottom.

In the wild

The imitator cory comes from blackwater tributaries of the upper Rio Negro, where the water is very soft, acidic and stained brown by tannins. It forages over sand among leaf litter and submerged wood. Groups often mix with the short nosed cories it resembles.

Good to know

This is a long snouted mimic of the short snouted adolfoi and duplicate cories, wearing the same black cap and orange shoulder pattern. The two forms even school together in the wild. The 2024 revision placed the imitator in the genus Brochis as Brochis imitator.

Did you know

The long nosed imitator copies the color pattern of the short nosed adolfoi cory so closely that the two shoal together in the same rivers.

Related species

• 

  Black band cory

  Corydoras zygatus

  2.6 in (6.5 cm)21 gal (80 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Blue cory

  Corydoras nattereri

  2.6 in (6.5 cm)20 gal (75 L)68–73°F (20–23°C)

• 

  Peru black cory

  Corydoras semiaquilus

  2.6 in (6.5 cm)24 gal (90 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Spotted cory

  Corydoras ambiacus

  2.6 in (6.5 cm)20 gal (75 L)70–81°F (21–27°C)

• 

  Sterba's cory

  Corydoras sterbai

  2.6 in (6.5 cm)20 gal (75 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)
• Bannertail cory

  Corydoras robineae

  2.6 in (6.5 cm)20 gal (75 L)73–79°F (23–26°C)