Hi! New member and new aquarium owner. I have 1 albino, 1 spotted, and 1 emerald cory alone in a 5 gallon tank. The tank has been set up for nearly a month now (with fish), and I'm a little concerned because in the beginning the albino and emerald were very active, mainly at night, swimming together back and forth and up to the surface of the tank, while the spotted just kind of hung out under the heater. A couple days ago I noticed they were being very squirmish during the day when I'd be sitting next to them at my desk. Currently, they hardly move at all, the emerald and spotted hardly move out from under the heater, the albino moves occasionally. I can't tell exactly how much they're eating, I assume enough because their food is gone in the morning. They used to be very interested in the food, especially the female, and would always be searching for scrapes, I know it takes a while for the fish and aquarium to adjust (tank was set up 2 weeks before adding fish), but I'm worried!
~Meredith~
Tank and Fish specifics (as suggested by pet store):
5 gallons
Whisper 10 gallon filter
Medium gravel
Set to 75-78 degrees
Hikari Tropical Algae Wafer fed 1 once nightly
Nitrites, Nitrates, ammonia and chlorine check out okay
Most likely 2 males and 1 female
Wellcome to New member, I see you have three cories one of each species in five Gal tank. Most people recommened to have same species at least 5 in the same kind. But your tank is small and can't possible to have 5 of each. So you have to deal with what you have right now. Mostly or many time cory will active in the evening and some of them during the day. Some cory during the day will laid infront of the tank [Beach style] and some will stay in hidding area. You don't have to worries about as long as they eat food and look healthy and no sign of sickness. I have cory will not move much until you drop a food infront of them[Semiaquilis][Lazy cory].
I would recommend if you want to keep more cory and possible to have 10g or larger would be good for larger groups.
P/S Emerald cory or [brochis splendens] will grow up to 3" size
I would like to ask what was the proceedure you used to set up the tank? Did you cycle it? Do you have any test kits? How often do you change the water? Do you have a thermometer to test the temperature? What temperature do you keep the water?
I know these are lots of questions, but a couple of things you said raised some red flags for me and I wanted to check on them. I know, after all, that's why you posted
Oops! I see in your sig that you have some of the information. Still can you answer the other questions? And what is "checked out ok?" Are you using a test kit or test strips?
Algae wafers are an incomplete food for Cories. They should have an omnivorus diet. Feed them sinking wafers or tropical flakes. Algae wafers are veggies only. Your Cories need some higher protien. This could well be the problem. If you can afford to get some freeze dried bloodworms or some live black worms, your Cories will love you lots!
Thank you both so much for your responses, I really appreciate it! It actually seems that they've started to perk up a little as I did a larger water change than I usually do (about 30%). Still my female is somewhat unactive and I've heard that can be true of females, but I still want to make sure I'm doing everything right by answering your questions. I did start cycling the tank fishless and do 10-15% changes about twice a week. I don't have any test kits because my local pet store was out of consumer ones, but I brought in a sample of my water and they told me that the levels were good, and that it was fine to add the fish. I do have a tank thermometer and keep the temperature between 74-77 degrees. I was told by the pet store I only needed the algae wafers, but as soon as I can make it back to the store I'm going to try and get some more protein-enriched foods. Though they've been perking up suddenly, searching for scrapes, and playing together again, I'll still purchase the additional food. Once again, I want to thank you for responding, I've haven't had an aqarium since I was young, so any advice is really appreciated!
