Sulking Cory

[eowyn]

I bought my first albino cory (Chowder) about 8 weeks ago. He started out very active...swimming like a mad and now he rests under a plant or in the cave. I added another albino (Buttercup) about two weeks ago so he'd have a friend. This one is small compared to Chowder. The new one is a crazy swimmer and never rests. At feeding she gets to the algae wafer first and nibbles and pushes it around until it is gone. I see little pieces break off but I think she gets most of it. Could the other cory (Chowder) be pouting because the new one is such a pig about food? They spend some time together swimming and bumping into each other but mostly he hides. I've noticed he's more active in the morning and when the aquarium lights are off. He has moments where he swims like a rocket to the surface and then back to the bottom again. Sometimes he looks like he's rolling in the sand when he reaches the bottom. Very strange and erratic swimming but I love to watch them.

 

[Cory_Dad]

I bought my first albino cory (Chowder) about 8 weeks ago. He started out very active...swimming like a mad and now he rests under a plant or in the cave. I added another albino (Buttercup) about two weeks ago so he'd have a friend. This one is small compared to Chowder. The new one is a crazy swimmer and never rests. At feeding she gets to the algae wafer first and nibbles and pushes it around until it is gone. I see little pieces break off but I think she gets most of it. Could the other cory (Chowder) be pouting because the new one is such a pig about food? They spend some time together swimming and bumping into each other but mostly he hides. I've noticed he's more active in the morning and when the aquarium lights are off. He has moments where he swims like a rocket to the surface and then back to the bottom again. Sometimes he looks like he's rolling in the sand when he reaches the bottom. Very strange and erratic swimming but I love to watch them.

Could you describe this 'rolling' a bit better. Is it like a slow roll or like a flick, sort of like he's trying to rub something off? If it's like a flick you may want to check your water parameters as that can be a sign of high levels of ammonia or nitrites. How often do you do a water change?

 

[fishes1995]

my cories sit on the floor all day and swim about at night
do both the cories get a bit of the algae wafer because if they don't i would suggest putting two in

 

[Shummy]

Cory's are also schooling fish and do best in groups of three or more. I have two peppered and 1 unknown and they do just fine, but when I had only the two peppered, they just stayed in the corner of the tank all day except to eat. When I put them in with the unknown, they all became quite active.

 

[eowyn]

Was away for weekend ...water is changed weekly and my ammonia and nitrites are 0. I think it's just a burst of energy he has while slowly making his way around the tank. I'll try adding two algae wafers at a time so he's sure to get food. I'm cautious about overfeeding because of the mess it makes. I'm going to get another fish this week so I'll get another cory.

Thanks for the advice.