Why is my cory acting like this?

[Wulfonce]

I have a 20g tank with 5 white cloud minnows, 4 neon tetras, 1 ghost shrimp (the other 5 died for some reason) 1 molly, 3 albino corys and 2 pepper corys.

One of the 3 albino corys spends 90% of his time at the surface while the other 4 spend their time on the bottom forging for food. When I say "at the surface" I dont mean just in the upper regions of the tank I mean hes compleatly vertical and swimming hard at the surface to get his mouth out of the water. At first I thought there wasn't enough oxygen in the water but non of the other fish stay at the surface. He goes up and swims hard at the surface for 10-15 seconds at a time then swims down and blows a few bubbles. He might forage for food for about 10 seconds every minuet but he'd much rather spend his time at the surface. I dont get it. Even at night when all the fish are sleeping he's the only one still moving around, swimming hard at the surface. Maybe he's trying to fly?

But in all seriousness why is he doing this?


This evening I moved him and the other 4 corys into my 90 to try and get rid of some of the algae, but his behavior hasn't changed at all. There's nothing wrong with him as far as I can tell. He doesn't seem to have anything wrong with his swim bladder. Why is he doing this?

 

[Itsadeepbluesea]

Well the one thing I can think of is that your school of corys isn't large enough. Contrary to what most think corys are a schooling fish. He may be exhibiting this odd behavior because he isn't comfortable in the tank due to the lack of other corys. Its odd that only one is exhibiting this behavior but it could still be the cause.

 

[GaViN]

i had a group of albino corys a few years back. i liked them because they were always active. one of mine as i remember used to dart up to top and down again all day long at one end of the tank and lived for years!

not sure about your problem, i would say that if he is eating and looks ok then let him get on with it.

sorry im not much help.

got any picks???

 

[BloodredOscar]

corys need to breathe air to supply the oxygen intake.

 

[octofasciatus]

You report that his swim bladder appears to be OK. How can you tell?

I would advise that your cory is displaying this behaviour due to a problem with the swim-bladder. i.e it's buoyancy is affected. Although I had a similar problem this week with a silver dollar eating too many floating pellets, this corrected itself after 12 hours or so. Try feeding peas or other high fibre foods to rid any blockages and see if this sorts it out.

 

[Lupin]

corys need to breathe air to supply the oxygen intake.

Yet the scenario below is unusual, isn't it?

One of the 3 albino corys spends 90% of his time at the surface while the other 4 spend their time on the bottom forging for food. When I say "at the surface" I dont mean just in the upper regions of the tank I mean hes compleatly vertical and swimming hard at the surface to get his mouth out of the water.

You report that his swim bladder appears to be OK. How can you tell?

I would advise that your cory is displaying this behaviour due to a problem with the swim-bladder. i.e it's buoyancy is affected. Although I had a similar problem this week with a silver dollar eating too many floating pellets, this corrected itself after 12 hours or so. Try feeding peas or other high fibre foods to rid any blockages and see if this sorts it out.

 

[Wulfonce]

You report that his swim bladder appears to be OK. How can you tell?

I would advise that your cory is displaying this behaviour due to a problem with the swim-bladder. i.e it's buoyancy is affected. Although I had a similar problem this week with a silver dollar eating too many floating pellets, this corrected itself after 12 hours or so. Try feeding peas or other high fibre foods to rid any blockages and see if this sorts it out.

Because he isn't floating up against his will. Is there more to it then that?

I'll give the pea idea a try.