We've had our 2 cory cats for a good few weeks now and they've always stayed around the bottom of the tank, occassionally going on a plant or stone every now and then.

The last two days they've been doing a sort of synchronised swim at the front glass of the tank for aaages and then settle down to the bottom again, looking like they've had a good playtime! They look happy and healthy and its like they're just having a good time.

We're hoping its that they're now settled and happy that they're coming off the bottom now and then, but thought I'd best check from you experienced folks please. LFS led us to believe they'd not come off the bottom?

Is it normal for a bottom feeder to behave like this?

Many thanks in advance to anyone who replies.

Yeah my panda cories do that, they go mental doing circuits for hours.

well my ones do it. My bronze sorys even shoal with my other fish!! That makes a wierd shoal

Mine are also hyperactive and they never stop moving to lay down. Great little fish

Will

Thanks Mermaid Mel, that is reassuring ) I'll relax more now and just enjoy watching their 'maddie!!!'

Fergie
X




Cheers Will! That must be so funny to see. Hope mine start doing that!!!

Fergie
X

I use to have a tank with about 30 cories in it. Not only did a lot of them like to swim up and down the glass but usually once a day one of them would swim straight up and break the surface of the water, then come back down to the substrate and let out a big air bubble. Fun stuff to watch.

My 2 are at it again right now! Having a great time by the looks of it. At least now I'm re assured its perfectly normal. Thank you.

It's what makes them fun and almost compulsory for any sandy bottomed set-up

Hi fergiesek

Corys are schooling fish and this is normal behavior for them. In nature, hundreds of them will swim in unison the way yours are doing. It's amazing to see them.



It's also similar to the way corys act when they are spawining or getting ready to. If you have a mature pair of corys, don't be surprised to find patches of eggs on the glass.

What kind of corys do you have?

Hiya,

We've got 2 sterbai cory cats. They're lovely. Seeing a school of corys in nature would be amazing. I think they swim kinda funny. Like they shake their entire body! (ha ha)

I wouldn't have a clue how to sex them but I'll keep a look out for anything on the glass - thanks for the tip!
( waters dead cloudy at the moment - got a separate post on that so I only hope we can see somethinmg if its there!!)

Fergie
X

that does sound normal to me, too. I have 3 cory cats, melanistius. Im still learning their behavior, but one of them loves to go up and down with the bubbles that are produced by the bubble wand in the back of the tank.

I love to watch my cories go all over the tank. The 9 in my endlers tank are the small habrosus type so they are not much different in size to the endlers. They swim around as if they were part of the group of endlers, just no breeding displays like the endlers. The 11 I have in another tank form groups of 6 or more and swim all over the tank including near the top, the 6 in a fry tank don't really shoal together but use up the whole tank with their antics. Sometimes I think the other fish are only there to keep the cories company and lend some movement to the top of the tank but the cories are the real show.

mine do it do - have 6 corydoras julii, its great fun to watch them! as Evad said, they occasionally rush to the surface then back to the bottom to release a big air bubble!