Grieving Corys

[Crab Paste]

One of my five Corys has died. I noticed this because the other four all seemed to be gathered around the one that died, not moving at all.

I've never, ever, seen them all in the same place at any one time, in almost two years of them living in the aquarium. The tank is 4 foot long so there's always plenty of room for them, and they're always apart or in their pairs at the most.

I just thought it was very sad that the other four Corys appeared to be 'grieving'. The Cory on the left, and the one that's just died were a 'pair'.

 

[~T~]

Fish dont grieve and corys dont form bonded pairs im afraid.

 

[Crab Paste]

Fish dont grieve and corys dont form bonded pairs im afraid.

There was originally two Albino, two Paleatus and two Agassizii. They all stuck together in their same pairs. Both Albinos together etc. They didn't intermingle.

I merely said "I just thought it was very sad that the other four Corys appeared to be 'grieving'." Dolphins don't smile, they just appear to smile.

Pardon me for posting

 

[Barracuda518]

Fish dont grieve and corys dont form bonded pairs im afraid.

I dont agree with that. Cories like to be in groups and if you dont keep them that way you will notice a difference in their behavior. Have you ever added a group of fish to tank where there was only one and once they found each other, they all go crazy? I dont know if cories "grieve," but they are very social.

 

[sic0198]

How do you know the don't grieve. Granted they don't grieve like people, but I really think animals have a sense of companionship when they're with other animals and will "miss" them when they're not there.

 

[Crab Paste]

I can only speak for my Corys, but neither the Albinos, the Paleatus, or the Agassizii mix with each other. They do stick with their own, particularly when resting. As I said in my original post, I've never seen them all together at once except for today, as in the picture in the first post.

I wasn't making out that they were all distraught. Just that it seemed odd that they were all 'sat' around the one that died.

 

[TolkienGeek]

When my cories gather around a dead fish, be it another cory or something else, it's to eat it.

 

[Slayer]

When my cories gather around a dead fish, be it another cory or something else, it's to eat it.

hmm i was gonna say the same thing... lol and yes they do bond, how do they breed if they don't bond, fish wanna get it on too lol

 

[Rhiannon]

I believe fish grieve and have emotions. They do have brains you know, and anything with brains has emotions.

 

[qoftheq]

How do you know they don't grieve? For all we know corys could be doing calculus in their heads. We really know nothing about the emotions or states of mind of fish. I believe they can grieve, I know a horse who stopped eating when his pasture buddy died. I believe any animal that bonds can be sad when that bond is broken.

 

[jollysue]

Emotions/feelings (not touch) are created in an organism by chemicals. If the living thing has the chemicals, they can experience the emotions. What they don't do in my opinion, is worry about heaven and hell and other esoteric concepts. My dog gets stressed if I am not home on time. What he "thinks" I don't know.

I have seen many Betta get depressed, stop eating, sit on the bottom of the tank and appear unhappy (or whatever we would call the feeling if we were experiencing it.) I have seen their recovery when I found what they were distraught over and fixed it.

I watched a clown loach lay beside and stay beside a clown companion that was dying from ich.

Thinking that an animal that is hardwired as a social animal would not experience "loss" if a member stopped their groug membership is naive and inexperienced and/or unobservant.

Animals "feel" the things they are programed to feel. That includes humans. I do not feel the need to hunt down prey for the king of my jungle. I am not programed like a lion. What I can do that the lion cannot do is reason it out. If my situation calls for me to hunt prey for the family, I can work that out and do it.

By the way, I have 2 C. lecomelas that were my first 2 Cories. They experienced many things together growing up. I got a group of lecomelas from Bryan thinking that they would make my first 2 happy. My first 2 still hang together "bonded," and while they mix with other cories in the tank, they are a pair.

 

[TolkienGeek]

We're talking about a creature that will gladly eat its own eggs and young. Now that's bonding.

 

[jollysue]

programing

 

[joeyoii]

one of my peppered died yesterday and was stuck to the side of the filter because of the current in the water.
the other 5 just sat there around the one that passed away and watched and it i took it out and flushed it down the toilet bowl(p.s. my tank was near the door of the toilet.)

a few hours later i found the cories were still at the filter and even my endlers and plecs gathered around the filter and 'grieve'.
i tried to feed them with live tubifex worm and they just ignored it, so i believe that they hemselves hav feelings too.

R.I.P. my little buddy,

J'rey

 

[t.ropical_m.istx3]

How do you know they don't grieve? For all we know corys could be doing calculus in their heads.

remind me to take mine to pre-calc next year .
i do think animals, even fish, grieve. i recently seperated my female guppies into the "nursery" because they should be having their fry soon and the male has been swimming everywhere looking for these two, showing no interest in the other two. i know this is kind of off the fish subject, but what about animals, such as horses, that are weaned when they reach a certain age? both dam and foal are constantly calling for each other and both are kind of dejected for a while. even puppies whine when they're seperated from their mother, and then again when they're seperated from their siblings. i do think they have emotions.