Crazy Cory's Gone Insane

[johnhutch2000]

Hi, I've had 5 corys now 3 Bronze and 2 albino Bronze from a spawn someone brought to my LFS about 8months ago. I moved the two Albinos into a smaller tank when they werent growing as fat as theyre bronze brothers/ sisters (is this normal?). This morning I woke up to find one Albino cory had jumped the tank and was all dried to one of my shirts which was sad, (never had a problem before though) So i moved his mate into the main tank to avoid it happening again.

After about 2 minutes his 3 Bronze siblings started going nuts, I thought maybe they were exited to have another to their little pack at first but then started to worry. They were all going about 30 ish mph doing laps and circles of the tank. Crashing into each other at speeds Im guessing arent so good for their small brains. Theyre still at it now 2 (ish) hours on. Only less violent but still being crazily active. Never seen anything like it before! Anyone had anything like this before or can explain what's their point? hehe
Thanks guys. - J

 

[Inchworm]

Hi johnhutch2000

Welcome to the forum!

Corys are active and playful little fish and the behavior you are seeing is quite normal. Be sure the tank is covered for their safety.

Here's a picture of some of mine playing together:

In their natural environment they live in very large schools and have the whole river to dart around in, so their behavior is normal. They will be fine unless your tank is very small. I think they were just happy to see an addition to their number.

With corys, the larger ones are usually females and the smaller ones males, so this might account for the difference in their sizes. If you look down on them from the top of the tank, the females will be wider across the chest area and usually longer too.

Both the bronze and the albino are C. aeneus species and will do fine together.

What are you feeding them?

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum John.
It may be that you have introduced a male cory to a group of 3 females. When viewed from the top, a male will just taper from front to back while a female will bulge outward near the middle of the body. When resting on the bottom, I know that doesn't happen much, the female will have her head held well off the bottom by her bulging belly while a male will have is head almost resting on the gravel.
Rapid swimming in a group is not at all unusual with happy healthy cories that I have had. If a female is head butting a male in his middle, look for her to go from there and press eggs to the aquarium glass. Breeders call it a T formation but the female will put her head into the middle of a male when she is ready to mate.

 

[johnhutch2000]

Hi Guys thanks for the advice! I think olman may be onto something, they were headbutting the albinos middle alot. Thats kind of one of the reasons I was worried (looked quite violent.) The bronze ones are quite fat bellied so I guess they will be females as per your advice, heres a picture of two of the bronzes. But although the albino is a little bit smaller she/he still seems to hold it's head off the ground a bit (sorry picture doesn't show the albino too well he/shes's hiding).

Thanks Oldman.


Hi Inchworm I feed them a mix of the below in a sort of rotation for the sinking foods (not the flakes) because they are in a comunity tank with an Amazon (sort of) theme, 2xbig common plecs, 1xbristlenose 4xdanios, 6xneon tetra, 4xharlequin tetra, 4xguppies, 1xsilver molly, and an apple snail.
I also put in slices of cucumber on alternate days for the plecs and they all have a good nose at that too.

So... if they are headbutting each other and ready to mate, how long should after should I be looking for cory eggs? hehe

Thanks again guys rsvp

 

[Inchworm]

Hi johnhutch2000

I knew I had a picture of a pair of C.aeneus somewhere! The male is on the left and the female is on the right. Albinos have the same shape.

If you see the head butting, they are actually mating and you should see eggs immediately. If not, they are only playing.

These are pictures of my black C. schultzei spawning. The C. aeneus will do the same.

The T position:

Female carrying eggs in her fins:

Female depositing eggs on the glass:

It looks like you are feeding them a good assortment of foods, but I would suggest that you add some live blackworms or frozen bloodworms too. Corys need some meaty food in their diet and it will also help the females develop eggs inside them. Your other fish will enjoy them too.

Early spawns are usually small, but larger ones will follow as the fish mature. If you see any sign of eggs being on the glass, I would suggest moving the corys to a tank of their own. Then, after they spawn again, you can easily remove them and let the eggs hatch safely. Depending on the size of the tank, the fry can then grow without being eaten.

BTW, is it the picture, or does your albino not have barbels?

 

[johnhutch2000]

Hi Inchworm, thanks for the pics, I'm pretty sure now my little albino is a male. But alas your right, I hadn't noticed but his little barbels are all stubby and gone!
He still feeding fine so can obviously still smell alright but does this mean he won't be able to bread? - the ones in the tank he is in now have strong barbels so it must have been something in his old tank.
I'll go get them bloodworms today

 

[Inchworm]

Hi johnhutch2000

Let's talk about the Cory without barbells first. This is usually seen in corys who have lived for a time on sharp edged gravel or sand. They have simply been sanded off. Or, the condition might also have come about as a result of bacterial infection from dirty conditions, overcrowding, fluctuating temperatures, ammonia or nitrite in the water, low oxygen content in the water, or uneaten food rotting in the substrate. Before you do anything, give him a good looking over to be sure the active infection has been cured. If so you will see no white or red spots on his barbels, nose, fins or tail. If not, he will need to be treated for this condition. If there is no sign of active infection, then it will be just a matter of watching to see if the barbells regrow. If the damage is not too severe they might grow out some, but they'll probably never reach the size the normally would be. Either way, as long as he can eat, he will make a fine addition to your tank.

Breeding is another matter. If you have the room for them in your tank, I would suggest that you try to get a few more males. Many breeders prefer to have at least 2 males per female since the females produce more eggs than the males can fertilize. I find 1 male to 1 female (in a school of several pairs) works out fine since the females do not all spawn at the same time.

 

[johnhutch2000]

Hmmm, The substrate is the same as in my main tank and the others in the main tank are ok, I think it may be a build up of uneaten rotting food in the substrate. I'm going to re-work that tank anyway now that it only has my baby Adonis plec in it (he's easily moved). I had a look at my albino earlier and other than sub stubby barbels he seems A-OK so I hope with a bit of time and a lot of female attention he will grow them back. He's not lost his appetite and thats the main thing. I may go get some more males after new year. I doubt anything will be open for a couple of days now. but I might wait until he shows some sign of regrowth before I'm not sure.

Thanks for all your help Inchworm - and others