Different types cories/ schooling behaviour

[ArkD'Julie]

I have 2 peppered cories and if I were to get any more, to make them happy in regards to schooling together, would I need to get the same... peppered cories? Or, could I get several pygmy cories...... would that satisfy the peppered cories desires to have several cories around them? Make sense? lol

I think I'd prefer to get several smaller guys than another peppered cory, just due to their adult size being a bit larger.

Although, I have read several times that the peppered cories don't really have a strong schooling behaviour, which I have noticed with my peppered guys. I had 3, but, just the other day with a sad heart I had to euthanize one of my guys, Ziggy. He was my favourite of the 3. In the morning when I turned on the tank light, I found him slooowly swimming at the top, and occasionally stopping and sort of starting to float on his side. This went on for a couple hours. He slowly got worse, to where he looked dead for a few minutes... then I swooshed the water and he'd swim a bit... then back to floating. I couldn't leave him go on like this, I was certain he was dying. No marks on him or anything. Poor little Ziggy.

Here's the little fella:

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/fishpictures/data/507/IMGP1794_-_Copy.JPG

[TazManiac]

They generally only school with their own kind in my experience.

[Cliff]

+1 to that

I would go with either peppered cories, or, pygmy cories

When I had 7 peppered cories, they all hung out together. They were never too far apart from each other

Is this the same tank you had troubles with your neon tetras ? Personally, I would want to know why I lost a fish before adding any more to one of my tanks

[DrNic]

From my experience corries only tend to school with their own types, or sometimes similar looking ones. Peppered corries can be really hit or miss regarding schooling though. I had a school of 8 of them that very rarely schooled together, instead each fish just kind of did its own thing.

[ArkD'Julie]

Is this the same tank you had troubles with your neon tetras ? Personally, I would want to know why I lost a fish before adding any more to one of my tanks

Thank you Cliff, but you're implying I don't want to know before I get more fish. And yes, the same tank as the one neon tetra you're referring to, which has cleared up and is doing well, as are the other fish. And I now have a pretty good idea as to why my cory wasn't doing well. I asked a few questions on this forum, I did a great deal of reading books and information on the internet, asked the 3 lfs's staff (who have a great deal of experience), so I did want to know what happened to both my tetra and my cory, and I'm satisfied with what I discovered.

If you were to read my original post again, you'll find that I did not specify when I would be getting any more fish, if I even do. I actually said "I have 2 peppered cories and if I were to get any more......"

So please don't jump to conslusions, in this case assuming that I'm getting more fish in a hurry. Nothing was said to give you that idea and I'm just doing a bit of homework and checking on possibilities before I get any more fish, if I do. So, again, thank you for your input and I'm sure you're just putting in your 2 cents out of concern for the welfare of the fish, and I appreciate that. That's why I am involved in this forum, to get ideas and information from people more experienced than myself, and I take things with a grain of salt as well.

[ArkD'Julie]

Thanks, DrNic. My cories seem to not be very concerned that any of their type is around. lol But, occasionally I will see them "cuddling" up to each other briefly, then go their own ways. Maybe they're just content in knowing that "one of them" is out there.

[DrNic]

Thanks, DrNic. My cories seem to not be very concerned that any of their type is around. lol But, occasionally I will see them "cuddling" up to each other briefly, then go their own ways. Maybe they're just content in knowing that "one of them" is out there.

Yeah mine will do that too. The peppered corries never really schooled together much but they were almost always within sight of each other. The pandas and bronze corries always made a really tight school though. I still have 3 or 4 peppereds in my 75G tank and might try to find some bronze/green ones to add in.

[ArkD'Julie]

DrNic, my 2 cories I have remaining (and even when there were 3) don't seem phased by any of the other fish in the tank. They just go about their usual business, appear to be relaxed, don't hide or shy away from anything, and in my limited knowledge of cories, seem to be acting fine and are not stressed.

So, if they seem ok with just the 2 of them, would it still be a good idea to get another one in the future, or would 2 of them be ok without any more? I obviously don't know for sure how they're feeling, so don't want to base it on just my observations, but I still go back to all the info I've come across about them doing best in groups.

Julie

[Cliff]

Thank you Cliff, but you're implying I don't want to know before I get more fish. .

I apologize if I have accidently offended you. I was not tryiong to imply anything, maybe I should have worded my orginal post better I can be too blunt at times.

I only read your thread about the neon (link below). After reading it I did not see any that there was any conclusion to what happened. This thread is what lead me to believe you might still be working on that. But I am glad to hear you have figured it out. That’s not always a easy thing to accomplish.

Good luck with your cories should you get more, They are great fish

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquariumforum/showthread.php?t=77185

[ArkD'Julie]

No problem, Cliff, and I wasn't offended at all... I just wanted to clarify things and I can get a bit carried away at times.

The neon improved with the treatments I had given it, and no other fish in the tank were affected in any way that I could tell. I still spend quite a bit of time watching them, trying to spot anything that doesn't look right. The spots just sort of faded away and as of a couple days ago they appear to be mostly gone... just hadn't posted anything on that. I'm not satisfied yet that he's past it, but keeping my fingers crossed.

And the cory.... the "evidence" points to an accident. Earlier in the week, when I was doing a water change, a younger visitor that was here thought he was being helpful in trying to catch a fish, thinking I needed to remove the fish in order to do the water change. He later admitted to me that he tried to catch one of the cories and might have hurt it. I didn't think he did anything as I only thought he just was holding the net "ready to help".

So, one cory down, and if I get any more I'd like to go for the ones that have a smaller adult size, unless another peppered would be best for the group.