cory cat vs guppies

[balski911]

Hi.
I made something stupid.....
I keep only guppies and plecos in my tanks. Approximately one month ago I was at my friends house and saw this cat fish. I liked it so much that he gave it to me.

He didn't know the exact species nor do I but I assume its some sort of cory cat. The problem is my guppies started missing big chunks of their tails. I lost one female yesterday and another male today and 2 more are on their way to join them :shrug:
My question is, is this species aggressive towards other fish especially guppies or I am dealing with something else here? Also i do know that he chases the guppies occasionally, but quickly gives up and loses interest. I also suspect that if he is attacking he is doing it at night.


Here is the cat fish
http://symbianmkd.googlepages.com/cc2.JPG

And here is the last victim:
http://symbianmkd.googlepages.com/cc1.JPG

[MChambers]

That is some sort of cory, I think, but I don't think it would have hurt your guppies. In my experience, corys only attack food. They are very gentle fish.

[Cristoff]

It would surprise me greatly if the Cory was the aggressor here. I have a small school in a tank with tetras and rasboras and have never seen any sign of aggression.

Is he getting enough to eat?

[balski911]

Well he is on th same diet as the guppies, dried baked tubifex, chopped liver and herbal vitamine food.
He usually dwells the bottom and rushes up as soon as I open the hatch.

I will make a topic in livebearers to see if this might be a case of tail rot disease, although there are no other symptoms.

[Wild Turkey]

Looks like a pepper cory. Virtually no chance of him being aggressive towards a guppy

They should really be in schools of 6+ if you want them to be happy/active

[Gramazing]

Nah, corys wouldn't hurt a fly. Apart from anything I don't think their mouths are shaped for attack. They are very small and point down. They're evolved to suck up stuff from the bottom. It's more likely it brought fin rot or something with it. Ask your friend if his fish are sick. Also as Wild Turkey said you need to get him some tank mates. It is cruel to keep them on their own.

[MrJim]

I kept guppies in my peppered cory tank for many weeks and there was absolutely no evidence of aggression...in fact for a few weeks I had the female alone with 4 corys and she would hang down in the lower part of the tank with them and hide with them in the cave; they were all buddies.

[balski911]

Thanks all. After all I am going to give him to another friend that keeps them in larger community. I just need to see if this is not a disease first.

[Sarkazmo]

There are cotton balls that are more deadly than a cory cat...

Sark

[Chrisinator]

Definetely not the cory. That's a Pepper Cory (Corydoras paleatus) and they would not harm anything. What are the other fish in your tank? If you have more guppies, my guppies have killed each other to death at one time.

[Northernguy]

Pepper corys are extremely gentle and need to be kept in shools of at least 6. They are awesome fish that will not even harm a fry.
It does look like fin rot that your guppies have.
How much water do you change how often?
Is there any other fish besides guppies and cories?

[HorrorShowRot]

If it is the cory I will personaly like stuff the fish and hang him up on the wall. But I think if theres other guppies its them. My guppies would kill each other once and a while. Hell I have a single guppy who was the last survivor and he is beating up my long finned barbs. Like excuse me? Tried nipping the parrot fish but didnt turn out well. My parrot is MEAN.