My emerald Cory's are extremely skittish. Anything that could help?

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owencasey1

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Hello! I have a 20 long with 8 emerald corydoras. Every time I walk by the tank, they go flying to the back of the tank and hide. Is this something I should worry about, and is there a way to make them less skittish? All help is appreciated, thanks!
 
Hello! I have a 20 long with 8 emerald corydoras. Every time I walk by the tank, they go flying to the back of the tank and hide. Is this something I should worry about, and is there a way to make them less skittish? All help is appreciated, thanks!
That kinda sounds like corydoras to me. How long have you had them? Are they the only things in the tank?
 
When I got them, they were friendly. Speaking of, I only originally adopted 4. The babies at first weren't skittish at all but quickly adopted their parent's habits.
 
Are they in a quiet spot where movement is unusual? If so you could put a fan near the tank with streamers. Just to get them used to the idea that movement is not threatening.
 
Densely plant the tank, maybe also put some visual block on the sides of the tank too, like black poster board as if you would for the background too. Dim the lighting if you can.

Some dither fish would be helpful too. A nice shoal of ember tetras would work very well
 
Check the water quality. Poor water quality is the most common cause of stress, nervous and skittish behaviour in fish.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week and see if it helps.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

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Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.

In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.

At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.

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Make sure nobody is tapping the tank when your not there.

Make sure the tank is in an area where lots of people move around. Fish get used to movement around them and calm down quicker, and stress less in areas with lots of people or animals moving around them.
 

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