That Cory wants to fly

[Kaz]

I've noticed that during feeding time, while in their 'feeding frenzies' a cory will break of from the group and swim about half way up the tank at a normal speed, but then they will randomly shoot up to the top of the tank till they 'tag' the surface and then they'll rush back down at lightning speed.

It looks like they are attached to a string and they are suddenly being pulled to the surface.

it just seems so weird because it is like the cory is just swimming along decides to swim over an ordament or something and is suddenly pulled to the surface.

They then resume the frenzy like nothing happened.

Cory4: Woah what just happened?
Cory5: Oh I just got my horizontal and veritcal mixed up agin
Cory4: Oh I do that all the time.

Anybody know what this is or why it happens?

[Northernguy]

It sounds like it is getting some fresh air! lol
They do breath from the surface once in a while.

[rich311k]

Mine do that too. I think it must be programmed that when they go the surface for air to do it like a shot. Less chance of being dinner that way I guess.

[Kaz]

Mine do that too. I think it must be programmed that when they go the surface for air to do it like a shot. Less chance of being dinner that way I guess.

Makes sense, I never figured a catfish would take a breath of air though.

[Northernguy]

Corys need surface air once in a while.

[Kaz]

Corys need surface air once in a while.

Yes that makes sense now.

[Lab_Rat]

Northernguy is right, they're scrambling to the surface for a gulp of air. Make sense they do it rapidly so there is less of a chance of becoming someone's dinner.

[wolf_eyes]

i notice they go up for air a lot more when they're excited(feeding time, spawning). My group will be eating and then one will swim away from the group like he's too excited to even eat. Then two others will get distracted from the one swimming away and follow him around until he goes back to the food. They're such kooky little fish

[Lady Hobbs]

Mine do the same thing. They are filling up their little lungs and away they go. They really fly when doing that, I know.

[lahlumdi]

I just bought a book on Corys and have been reading up on them. My Corydoras, by Frank Schaeffer.

The book has a page titled, "Gut Breathers." Seems in the wild they often live in shallow waters. It sometimes gets muddied. So they have a special adaptation that allows them to cope with oxygen shortage in that natural environment. It seems in captivity, they do this more often than in the wild.

Here are a couple quotes from the book.

"At such times they rise to the surfave, gulp in air, and allow it to pass into the digestive tract. The mucus lining of the gut is well-endowed with blood vessels, allowing them to extract oxygen from the atmospheric air that they can utilize. However, this does not mean that in an aquarium context these fishes should be kept in the equivalent of a cess-pit."

"Observant aquarists will find in these catfishes a living barometer. Their behavior changes as atmospheric pressure falls, and the frequency of their air gulping increases. In this way they forcast periods of bad weather."

Curiously I was just reading this last night!

It is, I think, an endearing thing to watch them dart to the surface. I have never noticed more activity during a weather change, and don't know how much validity there is to this! However, I challenge you cory lovers to make note of this with me and see if this makes any difference!