Don't Want To Sound Stupid..

[xamy_valox]

..but are cories air breathers? My new black and White cories keep dashing to the top and then back down to the bottom..why?
Thanks, Amy xx

 

[fluttermoth]

Cories do get some of their air through their gut (quite a lot of catfish and loaches do), so as long as everything else is in order (water stats, temp etc) and the fish look well and are eating, there's nothing to worry about.

 

[Tizer]

Dont worry Amy, they do that a lot.

 

[xamy_valox]

Ahh, ok thanks. I'm new to keeping cories and they are lovely fish, just getting to grips with their behaviour! I seem to have some that are out all day and very active, then quiter at night, and others that I hardly see in the day but come out more at night!
Amy xx

 

[Geoff-]

If the other behaviour is normal then no need for concern. You mentioned they were new, they are probably still adapting to the tank.

I notice my BN catfish air breathes after a major water change. I'm not sure why this is, but the only time I ever see it is when I do a change. So give the Corys time and they might stop doing it, but air breathing is an evolutionary advantage to them and it's natural behaviour in their native environment (oxygen starved water). In the aquarium it *may*... *may*... be a sign that something is not right but only if it's a change in usual behaviour. If everything else seems normal then it's just what they do

I bought a trio of bronze corys on the weekend, they did air breathe at first but then again, they were also gleefully shovelling their snouts into the sand up to their eyeballs!! I am sure they would have preferred to be swimming in the sand if they could, they couldn't get enough of it and as a result probably not breathing enough through the water hence the air gulping.

 

[xamy_valox]

Well they only seemed to do it within the first couple of hours of putting them in. They do swim up and down the glass but they are no longer gulping air.
Is it weird that two of them hide for the majority of the day, when the others are swimming about? Then they change round?
Amy xx

 

[Tizer]

If they start to breed you will see them shoot to the surface quite a bit to snatch some air, its just something they do, this is why when people with Fluval Edge tanks ask if they can have corys, the advice is no. They would knock themselves stupid on the glass

Corys act in many different ways and those that are chilling in the day will often go bananas at night time. Sneek down an hour after lights out and you will see them all over the tank in places you rarely see them in the daytime.

 

[Hoppo]

Mine are out about all the time, but I have noticed they only feed at night or when the light is off. Mine also shoot to the top and grab some air and then back down, and they swim up the glass like their looking for a way out.

 

[xamy_valox]

Yeah two of mine do that all the time.
Unfortunately I lost one of my trills yesterday =[ I was so upset. I'm not sure what was wrong, but now I have noticed White spot on my neons so I'm wondering wether the cory introduced it to the tank and died of it as it was never very active. I'm currently treating the tank after checking my water stats (all fine) and will get another cory to replace the lost one so that I keep the numbers up.

 

[iownupkr66]

completly normal