Corries

[Scott MacAdam]

Well on my latest trip to walmart I picked up some cories! The people working there couldn't know less, so i didn't bother to try to explain which ones i wanted in particular, i simply said, "see those there? those are corydoras! I'll take 4 or 5..." she replied "those jiggers there!?" I said "SURE....." and tried to keep my cool.... hahahahah!

so i come home with 2 bronze, 2 spotted, and one albino.....

They go in the tank and group up somewhat..... what i expected.....

a few hours later i had found that the 2 spotted ones had gone to a corner together, the to bronze were on top of a rock together and the albino has been alone .....
A few days have passed now and they have grouped a few more times, but after 5 minuites always group off with the one like themselves......

this leads me to believe that they have the mental capacity to differentiate between the others and themselves!!!! This is Amasing!!!


I have a Shoal of danios at home that consists of Longfinned, spotted, zebra, and giant danios! all together in the same shoal not knowing the difference in the others near them!!!

Can anyone shine some light on this one for me? i'm baffled at how well they can tell eachother apart!

 

[Breeze7050]

Im no expert, but there are some on here! You may get better info posting on the cory board. But, my guys are the same way. I have 2 peppered and 3 green mysterious that only occasionally shoal together. Ive also noticed my peppers are much more people oriented, not scared ect. The green guys tend to hide anytime Im near the tank and only come out for feeding time and after lights out!
Good pick up though

 

[oddball_lover]

My *guess* would be (and I am indeed guessing! ).... i'm taking it from a predator/prey perspective, can't think of any other at the moment....

The danios, being midwater/upper swimmers (and thus likely a more common prey item) shoal together for protection...the bigger the shoal, the less likely they will be picked off by a predator (particularly if fish predator is coming from below...colour/pattern not important, all the predator will see is a shoal of shadows).

Yes, they have different patterns...but from a predators point of view, they're basically all similiar colours and shiny so, if they shoal together they will probably blend together fairly well, whether their patterning is different or not.

However, with the Corys, colour will be quite important, as potential predators are more likely to come from above. A shoal of different colour Corys will stand out a lot more than a shoal of Corys of the same colour, because light is being shone on them from above and so colour and patterning is much more visible to the predator.

It would therefore make sense to split into the appropriate colour groups, to make sure that it is harder to pick out an individual fish from the group


I may be talking absolute rubbish, but it makes sense to me!

 

[Breeze7050]

Good answer, good answer No clue if it is correct or not, but it makes sense to me too!

 

[wally6346]

i have two bronze and two sterbai and they group in pairs, clever fish lol!!

 

[Scott MacAdam]

wow! interesting stuff! good thinking with the predator ideas!

Is there any other answers as to what is going on with them?

 

[afishdude]

corys group with there own kind. example: albino w/ albino--- pepperd w/ pepperd. you should have atleast 3 of each kind.

 

[Scott MacAdam]

well then, that is what I shall do!

although it is interesting that they know what they look like themselves and can differentiate between the rest

 

[oddball_lover]

One would assume that reason of separation is due to colouring, rather than chemical signalling between species - because if the Albino cory you have is aeneus, i.e. same species as the bronze, they would likely group up if the grouping was down to anything other than colour.

One would assume

 

[StuCarr]

how do they know their own colour? how does the peppered cory know he's peppered and to chill with his peppered friends? maybe they see the reflection in the glass.

 

[Scott MacAdam]

my point exactally!!!! lmao!

 

[NatKing]

my point exactally!!!! lmao!

In line with the Daniois, my Rosy and Black tetras all shoal together too.

 

[keeperofsecrets]

Fish can communicate by squeaks and squeals outwith our hearing capacity - they do give off scent chemicals too - just a thought.