Peppered Cory

[smegforbrains]

My wife picked up 6 peppered Corys at the weekend to go in with her Guppies.


The other day we noticed one of the Peppers has only one eye. He is only about 6-8 weeks old and there are no signs of damage. There is no eye socket at all on his left hand side, just normal skin.

I will try and get a picture when he sits still for long enough.


I'm just wondering how common this sort of defect is?


I'm glad the LFS didn't know about it otherwise the little chap would probably have been culled.

 

[drewry]

hi smegforbrains

chances are it damaged its eye wilest it was very young and the skin covered it when it was growing

 

[callichthyid]

It's not very common as far as I know; when a fish is missing an eye, it's usually due to damage, being attacked or disease (like pop-eye). But your corydoras will still be able to lead a very normal life as you probably know. I think fish can adapt to having no eyes at all, they just have to rely more heavily on their auditory areas, lateral line, taste buds etc. The good thing about corydoras is that they have barbels to taste/search for food and feel with. By the way, great choice of fish by your wife, I think peppered corys and guppies are both fantastic species with lots of character and beautiful colouration/markings.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi smegforbrains

If your corys are only two months old, they are still rather small. Guppies can be aggressive with small fish so if it's a possibility that one of them caused the damage, quickly separate them until the corys grow larger.

As long as it is in good health otherwise, your little fish will do just fine without its eye.