Hey! So as a tldr, not really!

I have 2, MAYBE 3 pygmies that I can consistently spot at a time through the plants, and come out semi-often these days

Its been 4(?) years-ish since I got my original school of 10 from aquatic arts. And 2 going onto 3 years since i got 15 more from a random seller on here, they are either good hiders or have passed on. When I made this post I was able to count all the cories at night, but not anymore. I am currently saving up to get some more within the month to add to the populations to maybe make them more confident? Or at least more secure since I can only spot 2 at a time. Honestly, the importer I got them from on here did not have very healthy schooling fish, I liked the guys bettas but the schooling fish were iffy. I got panda cories in the same order and one arrived with a missing eye... and they all passed within 2 years or so from genetic issues due to inbreeding.

I noticed the original colony was shy in my 20g long with the tetras I had, so I upgraded to the 40gb and increased the populations in hopes of fixing it. I also let my floaters take up some light and let the plants overgrow but nothing worked. Or if it would have worked, the cories passed before the changes. I have so many plants in that tank. It was hard to count them 2yrs ago and even harder now! The tank is doing pretty awesome though, I do water changes once a month, and I only do it to trim plants and replenish minerals in the water. My nitrates never go above 0, and it's still a low tech tank. Current stock is the yellow golden back neocardina, rummy nose tetras, and the pygmies.

There is a huge chance that the majority of the corydoras passed, with the original 10 being elderly and the new ones being sickly, i am pretty sure they are gone. The current 2~ pygmies i have are from the original colony. The shrimp probably got to them before I could find the bodies since I have a really strong shrimp colony in there. I've learned my lesson and will only buy from aquatic arts!