My Cories have been spending to much time

[Polardbear]

I think my male swordtails have corrupted my normaly mild mannered cories. 2 smaller cories (males?) have been relentlessly pursuing a larger one (female?) all morning. The smaller ones have been getting on her back and practically riding her around the tank! Then they stop and the one of the ones I think is a male turns sideways and the one I think is the female seems to grab hold of the smaller one right in the center of his side. They stay that way for a little bit and then it starts over again. They're as bad as the swordies! I'm starting to feel sorry for the one I think is the female since she's got 2 of them after her. Is this spawning behaviour or have they gone nuts?

 

[WILDER]

I sorry but I couldn't help but laugh, sounds like you have some randy male corys.

 

[Polardbear]

They've been taking lessons from the swordies!

 

[WILDER]

I think they need some female corys.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Polardbear

It does sound like your corys are trying to spawn. The next time they do what we call the T position, watch what the female does afterward. If she is spawning, she will carry eggs between here ventral fins and press them onto the glass or a plan.

What kind of corys do you have? Are they mature?

 

[Polardbear]

They are peppered cories and I've had them for about 4 months. I didn't notice any eggs anywhere but they are in a tank full of swordies, would swordies eat the eggs? Also it didn't look like she had much of a chance of placing eggs anywhere, as soon as she would let go of the one little guy they would start chasing her relentlessly around the tank.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Polardbear

What you described does sound like spawning behavior, but if they are young and it's their first time, there might only have been a few eggs produced. There will be more in the future.

After they do the T position, she will come away with a few eggs clasped between her ventral fins. Since her fins are somewhat transparent, you can see her holding them.

As to what happened to the eggs, perhaps the swords ate them, perhaps the corys ate them themselves. This is not too common, but it does happen. My peppered corys do it, and I only have a few young fish from them that I am raising.

If this is the case, the only thing you can do is to remove the eggs as soon as they are laid, which is fairly difficult to do without damaging them. If they have a few hours to firm up, it's a lot safer. Alternately, if you see one of the males eating them, you could remove him and hope the remaining pair will not do the same.

 

[OoHeatheroO]

Sounds like what the others have said. I know for sure now what sexes my albino corys are, since one is really plump and the other never get that way. The plump female is pursued by the 2 males all the time nowadays lol I'm gonna have to seperate them one of these days. She produced 2 babys without me even knowing it. So now she and the 2 males are in a 20 gallon together to see if i can get any more baby fish

Keep us posted on if you get any babies!!!

 

[Polardbear]

Just noticed tonight that they are at it again! They are definately spawning and seem to have the hang of it a little better this time. I got to see the female carrying the eggs around and trying to stick them on places. I have also learned that cory eggs are considered to be a favorite treat by a couple of my piglet swordtails. One of the swordies was actually trying to snatch the eggs away from the mother cory while she was carrying them. Poor thing, it was a very rude swordtail. They would barely be finished doing their thing and the swordie had her nose under the cory trying to tip her over to get to the eggs. Since I had just freed up one of my 10 gallon tanks I removed that particularly obnoxious swordie from the tank so the cory could at least try to place her eggs without being attacked. I don't think I'll be getting any cory fry from this spawning though as the swordtails were doing a pretty darn good job of finding the eggs that she managed to stick on the glass.

An hour or so later when things had calmed down somewhat I noticed another new interesting development. One of the cory males seems to be acting quite territorial and is actually chasing swordtails out of his little area. It's pretty hilarious to see one of my swordies looking like he's swimming for his life with a tiny little cory in hot pursuit. I'm not sure what the cory thought he was going to do if he caught up with the swordie but he sure looked like he wasn't going to take any crap from the swordie. I've never seen a cory act as aggressively as this little guy - he looked like a little demon! Is this normal?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Polardbear

It sounds like you had quite an interesting time of it today!

I've never seen a cory chase another fish. That must have been quite a sight!

Why not move the corys into the 10 gallon tank by themselves. Over the next couple of weeks you can feed them well on live or frozen worms to condition them for breeding the next time. Then, after they spawn, you can move the adults back into the other tank, empty the tank of gravel, etc., and get it ready to raise the fry in it.

Also, if you get a starter culture of microworms now, they will be ready to feed to the young fry when they are ready to eat them. This is a very inexpensive way of getting high protien, live food to them.

 

[Polardbear]

If I hadn't seen him go after 3 different swordies I wouldn't have believed it myself! I don't know what was going on under those plants but they sure must have pushed Mr. Corys button. This tank is mostly teenager swords (so they aren't the brightest lot - but always having a good time) and they are easily intimidated. Half of them are now hanging out in a bunch in one corner at the top of the water and the other half are hiding in some trailing plant cover on a side wall. Normally they swarm the front of the tank when I come by in hopes of getting fed but right now they aren't taking their eyes off those scary corys down on the floor of the tank.

I was thinking about putting the corys in the 10 gallon and I may still do that. I didn't want to interrupt them though and it was a lot easier to catch the rude swordie (she'll swim into a container for me) than to try to catch the corys. There in my 75 gallon 26" deep corner tank, pretty much have to remove all plants and ornaments and drain half the water out to get the corys out of there.

For fry do they need microworms or would live baby brine shrimp work? Would the bbs be to difficult for them to catch? I'm just wondering because I've got my shrimp hatchery up and running for my swordie fry.

 

[Inchworm]

For fry do they need microworms or would live baby brine shrimp work? Would the bbs be to difficult for them to catch? I'm just wondering because I've got my shrimp hatchery up and running for my swordie fry.

Hi Polardbear

If the bbs sink, the cory fry should be able to eat them once they are big enough. They are very nutritious food.

I have never gone to the trouble to hatch them though. I started with microworms and have kept my original $5 starter culture going for over a year. They worked out well so continued using them.

If you move the corys to a breeding tank, I would suggest you remove the gravel/sand once they have spawned. This way it is much easier to tell what the fry are actually eating and you can keep it much cleaner for them too.

 

[Gill]

An hour or so later when things had calmed down somewhat I noticed another new interesting development. One of the cory males seems to be acting quite territorial and is actually chasing swordtails out of his little area. It's pretty hilarious to see one of my swordies looking like he's swimming for his life with a tiny little cory in hot pursuit. I'm not sure what the cory thought he was going to do if he caught up with the swordie but he sure looked like he wasn't going to take any crap from the swordie. I've never seen a cory act as aggressively as this little guy - he looked like a little demon! Is this normal?

OMG,

So Funny, But interesting.

My Pygmaes have been Chasing the Fish around, and they are all congregating in the front left corner of the tank.

It so funny watching the tiny Pygmaes bully the Rainbows and Other Fish.

 

[Polardbear]

He's still guarding his little corner, it's about an 8" x 8" square and about 12 inches up from the sand. He's not even letting the other corys in his square. He kind of body checks the other corys if they try to enter his area and he ignores the swordies as long as they stay at least 12 inches above him, but if they come any lower he charges up at them quite ferociously. He's just a little guy to, maybe just a little over an inch long and he's going after swordies that are 2-3 times his size.

 

[OohFeeshy]

OOI, how do you sex cories? Are females broader than the males?