Oiapoque cory

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep them in a group of six or more over smooth sand at 23 to 26 C in soft, slightly acidic water. They are peaceful and suit a quiet planted community. Feed sinking pellets and small frozen foods such as bloodworm.

In the wild

The Oiapoque cory lives in soft, slightly acidic streams of the Oyapock basin on the border of French Guiana and Brazil. It forages over sand among leaf litter and wood. Groups gather in slow, shaded water.

Good to know

It looks like a panda cory, with a black eye mask and a dark shoulder blotch, but it also carries wavy dark bars across the tail and has no spot on the tail base. The 2024 revision placed it in the genus Hoplisoma as Hoplisoma oiapoquense. The striped tail is why it is sometimes called the flagtail panda cory.

Did you know

The striped flag tail and the missing tail base spot separate this fish from the true panda cory it otherwise resembles.

Related species

• 

  Julii cory

  Corydoras julii

  2.2 in (5.5 cm)20 gal (75 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)

• 

  Skunk cory

  Corydoras arcuatus

  2.2 in (5.5 cm)20 gal (75 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Spotted cory

  Corydoras melanistius

  2.2 in (5.5 cm)16 gal (60 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Threestripe cory

  Corydoras trilineatus

  2.2 in (5.5 cm)16 gal (60 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)

• 

  Violet cory

  Corydoras similis

  2.2 in (5.5 cm)12 gal (45 L)70–81°F (21–27°C)
• Burgess's cory

  Corydoras burgessi

  2.2 in (5.5 cm)20 gal (75 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)