bullying cory and injured cory

[Dennis Fox]

I two problems with corydoras at the moment, any help much appreciated.

1) Yesterday a small (~1" SL) spotted cory did one of those "dart to the
surface and back down" runs that corys seem fond of ... problem is it
ran hard into a large rock with its head. I saw it happen, and it
seemed to me that the cory was actually dazed for a few minutes.

Last night the cory seemed abnormally quiet. Today the cory is still
very quiet, not feeding, and has an obvious injury just approve its left
eye ... the spot is beginning to look almost white.

Question is: how do I treat the injury?

2) My bronze cory (~1.5" SL) is bullying my albino cory (~1" SL), by
getting under the its tail and then pushing the albino cory around the
bottom or up toward the surface. The bronze cory has been in the tank
several weeks longer than the albino (and my injured spotted cory) that
has been a resident for about a week now. There are 17 fish total in
this tank: those not yet mentioned: 3 Julii corys, 4 zebra danios, 5
Pristella tetras, 1 CAE and one male Betta Splendens. The bronze cory
bullies ONLY the albino cory.

Question: Is there anything I can do to stop the bullying?


-Dennis

[Jim Brown]

Dennis Fox > wrote in message
...
> I two problems with corydoras at the moment, any help much appreciated.
>
> 1) Yesterday a small (~1" SL) spotted cory did one of those "dart to the
> surface and back down" runs that corys seem fond of ... problem is it
> ran hard into a large rock with its head. I saw it happen, and it
> seemed to me that the cory was actually dazed for a few minutes.
>
> Last night the cory seemed abnormally quiet. Today the cory is still
> very quiet, not feeding, and has an obvious injury just approve its left
> eye ... the spot is beginning to look almost white.
>
> Question is: how do I treat the injury?
>
> 2) My bronze cory (~1.5" SL) is bullying my albino cory (~1" SL), by
> getting under the its tail and then pushing the albino cory around the
> bottom or up toward the surface. The bronze cory has been in the tank
> several weeks longer than the albino (and my injured spotted cory) that
> has been a resident for about a week now. There are 17 fish total in
> this tank: those not yet mentioned: 3 Julii corys, 4 zebra danios, 5
> Pristella tetras, 1 CAE and one male Betta Splendens. The bronze cory
> bullies ONLY the albino cory.
>
> Question: Is there anything I can do to stop the bullying?
>
>
> -Dennis
>

Corydoras are famous for their totally non-aggressive behaviour. As I read
somewhere, "There is no such thing as a mean Corydoras." What you perceive
as bullying may be spawning/courtship behaviour. It could just be a display
of normal behaviour at having another of its own species to school with.
As for the head injury, I can't imagine a Corydoras swimming fast enough to
damage its plated head. More likely some sort of other health problem
starting to show itself at the same time as the head bang. It sounds like
the new one didn't get a quarantine period so we'll likely never be sure.

Jim

[Dennis Fox]

Jim Brown wrote:
> Dennis Fox > wrote in message
>
>>I two problems with corydoras at the moment, any help much appreciated.
>>
>>1) Yesterday a small (~1" SL) spotted cory did one of those "dart to the
>>surface and back down" runs that corys seem fond of ... problem is it
>>ran hard into a large rock with its head. I saw it happen, and it
>>seemed to me that the cory was actually dazed for a few minutes.
>>
>>Last night the cory seemed abnormally quiet. Today the cory is still
>>very quiet, not feeding, and has an obvious injury just approve its left
>>eye ... the spot is beginning to look almost white.
>>
>>Question is: how do I treat the injury?
>>
>>2) My bronze cory (~1.5" SL) is bullying my albino cory (~1" SL), by
>>getting under the its tail and then pushing the albino cory around the
>>bottom or up toward the surface. The bronze cory has been in the tank
>>several weeks longer than the albino (and my injured spotted cory) that
>>has been a resident for about a week now. There are 17 fish total in
>>this tank: those not yet mentioned: 3 Julii corys, 4 zebra danios, 5
>>Pristella tetras, 1 CAE and one male Betta Splendens. The bronze cory
>>bullies ONLY the albino cory.
>>
>>Question: Is there anything I can do to stop the bullying?
>>
>>-Dennis
>
> Corydoras are famous for their totally non-aggressive behaviour. As I read
> somewhere, "There is no such thing as a mean Corydoras." What you perceive
> as bullying may be spawning/courtship behaviour. It could just be a display
> of normal behaviour at having another of its own species to school with.
> As for the head injury, I can't imagine a Corydoras swimming fast enough to
> damage its plated head. More likely some sort of other health problem
> starting to show itself at the same time as the head bang. It sounds like
> the new one didn't get a quarantine period so we'll likely never be sure.
>
> Jim
>

On 1)
Not saying it broke its skull ... but I saw it hit the sharp rock (one
of those humanmade "lava rocks") very hard ... it was definitely
momentarily dazed ... and the (growing) white spot is exactly at the
point of impact.

On 2)
Had not thought of the courting behaviour explanation ... makes sense.

Any other ideas on the injured/sick spotted cory?

-Dennis

[Rick]

"Dennis Fox" > wrote in message
...
> Dennis Fox wrote:
> > I two problems with corydoras at the moment, any help much appreciated.
> >
> > 1) Yesterday a small (~1" SL) spotted cory did one of those "dart to the
> > surface and back down" runs that corys seem fond of ... problem is it
> > ran hard into a large rock with its head. I saw it happen, and it
> > seemed to me that the cory was actually dazed for a few minutes.
> >
> > Last night the cory seemed abnormally quiet. Today the cory is still
> > very quiet, not feeding, and has an obvious injury just approve its left
> > eye ... the spot is beginning to look almost white.
> >
> > Question is: how do I treat the injury?
> >
> > -Dennis
> >
> Good news! I have been out of town the last 24 hours. Upon my return,
> the spotted cory is swimming about and feeding; and the white spot that
> was growing noticeably yesterday has almost disappeared!
>
> --Dennis
>


darting to the surface is usually a sign that breeding is about to take
place. Glad to hear your fish is o.k.

Rick