Rust cory

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep rust cories in a group of six or more over smooth sand, which protects their barbels while they forage. They want soft to medium water around 22 to 26 C and calm tankmates. Feed sinking pellets, frozen bloodworm and other small foods that reach the bottom.

In the wild

Rust cories live in shallow, slow stretches and flooded margins of small tributaries across the upper Amazon. The water is warm, soft and slightly acidic, running over sand and leaf litter. Adults sift the top layer of sand for food during the day and gather in loose groups near cover.

Good to know

The 2024 revision of the group moved this species to the resurrected genus Osteogaster, so it now appears in scientific writing as Osteogaster rabauti, though the trade still sells it as Corydoras rabauti. Juveniles wear a bold black stripe on a pale body and look so different from the rust colored adults that they were once taken for another species. The dark band running onto the lower part of the tail base separates it from the near identical black band cory.

Did you know

Young rust cories are patterned nothing like the adults, wearing a stark black on white stripe that fades into coppery rust as they grow.

Related species

• 

  Adolfo's cory

  Corydoras adolfoi

  2.4 in (6 cm)20 gal (75 L)70–79°F (21–26°C)

• 

  False blochi cory

  Corydoras delphax

  2.4 in (6 cm)20 gal (75 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Gold laser cory

  Corydoras melanotaenia

  2.4 in (6 cm)17 gal (65 L)68–73°F (20–23°C)

• 

  Miguelito cory

  Corydoras virginiae

  2.4 in (6 cm)20 gal (75 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Reticulated cory

  Corydoras reticulatus

  2.4 in (6 cm)20 gal (75 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Sands cory

  Corydoras davidsandsi

  2.4 in (6 cm)21 gal (80 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)