pygmy cory question

[davcheng]

i have 9 pygmy cories in a 10g planted tank. They are ALWAYS hiding in one back corner by a large sword plant and rarely move at all during the day/night. Is this normal? I was under the impression they would go around all over the tank, but they seem to hide out, unless scared by my hand going in (to move plants/prune) and then they will quickly dart around the tank and settle in some other corner where I can't see them well. I was just wondering if this was normal and if there's any way for me to get them to come out. They do not seem to seek food when I toss down either an algae wafer or the wafers made for catfish (hikari brand for both), and I never see them eat.

[Lupin]

When did you buy them? It's really unusual for cories to be like that. What are your water parameters? Did you acclimate them and if so, how?

[davcheng]

I got them about 3 months ago, and I don't know about the water parameters. I figure it would be ok since I do weekly water changes (about 20-25%), and I have a canister filter rated for 30g (marineland c-130 I think) going on it and also a whisper 10 HOB. They used to be more active when I only had 3 of them (thats all the LFS had when I first got them), and then I figured they'd be happier with more, so I got more of them, but then they got less active.

[NeonFlux]

Thats rather odd... I would suggest checking up your water parameters even though you think the water's okay... better safe than sorry dav. And who knows, maybe they may need some time to adjust to your tank?

[davcheng]

Yeah true. I'll have to go out and get a test kit some time. I was just hoping there was some trick to make them act more like the cories I saw at the LFS instead of the hiding ones I have.

[tanker]

??? Is there other fishes in the tank?? (something harassing them). Lights too bright and not enough places to hide?? Which pygmy cory?? Hastatus or Pygmyous (hope I spelled that right).

[equus_peduus]

My pygmy cories seem to care about the size of the tank (bigger is more likely to make them visible), hiding spaces (only one is more likely to make them invisible), other plants (some small foreground plants are more likely to make them visible). Other inhabitants don't seem to matter (alone vs with one or two other peaceful fish in a small tank), since like most cories, they mostly ignore everyone else.

I have about 15 in a 10gal with a betta, and I see them a lot.

[Lupin]

??? Is there other fishes in the tank?? (something harassing them). Lights too bright and not enough places to hide?? Which pygmy cory?? Hastatus or Pygmyous (hope I spelled that right).
Hi tanker,

It's C. pygmaeus.:)

[tanker]

Thanks Lupin. Was never good at spelling.

[davcheng]

Yeah I have C. Pygmaeus the lights are pretty bright (40 w) for the plants. I have some type of grass plant (Sagittaria subulata?) growing in the foreground, and a bit of glosso. There's one large sword in one corner, and another one in the other corner (with a small piece of pvc and a piece of upright driftwood on a slate). They tend to stay away from the side with the pvc. They are with four harlequin rasboras and four glowlight tetras and a female betta. There's also a few cherry shrimp in the tank. Temperature is at 75 degrees fahrenheit.

[-KT-]

When I had one corner of my tank full of swords I almost never saw my cories but after spreading out the plants they are much more visible and are very active. My Dwarf Gourami has made them even more active since I got him, they go out of their way to follow him around.

[davcheng]

Maybe I'll move the plants around. I just redid my 10g shrimp tank (got rid of like 200+ shrimps), and cleaned the substrate (seachem onyx sand) and was thinking about moving the cories into the newly set up tank when its cycled. Would there be any problem with their barbels and the onyx sand? I'm hoping to get them to breed... I heard it wasn't that hard, so I wanted to try and see if I could get more of them!

[Brian Bivens]

Well, There are 18 fish in your 10 gallon tank... I would get a test kit!

You could have very high nitrAtes, which many cories are sensitive to. You may have to increase the frequency of water changes, depending on where you are at, but get the test kit first.

[davcheng]

I've moved my cories to their own 10g tank, and now they are active! but I'm feeding them hikari sinking wafers and also hikari algae wafers, and they don't really seem to take to either one. What else should I try? I'd feed them the frozen blood worms, but each of the cubes are way to large, and I'm afraid would foul up the tank really fast. I'd prefer to feed them flakes or other sinking wafers, if anyone has any suggestions.

[zachjohnson65]

I use HBH Super soft mini pellets for my cories. Along with flake, shirmp pellets, algae tabs, frozen mysis shrimp. Make sure to get a test kit. The cories are at the bottom they will feel the affects of 'bad' water first. i also have had a horrible time keeping pygmy cories. I feel your pain.

[davcheng]

Ok, I got a test kit.

PH: 7.6 (or above, the kit only reads to 7.6)
AM: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5 ppm

Thats for my new cory tank.

[OldMan47]

Sounds like you have good water for your cories. I feed my habrosus, also a pygmy, with flake food and sometimes give them frozen daphnia. A block of the daphnia is too much just for them but I thaw it in a drinking glass half full of tank water from a healthy tank. Then I swish out enough for each tank for the fish that are in that tank. This means that my endler fry get a good growth food and my cories get a good conditioning food without overfeeding either one.

[davcheng]

Thats a good idea... has anyone gotten them to spawn successfully?

[tanker]

Thats a good idea... has anyone gotten them to spawn successfully?

I have spawned some of the bigger corys but neither of the dwarfs. I think they about all the same.

[cheeseb0y]

Omega One Veggie Rounds and New Life Spectrum Community food both go over well with the corys in my household.