im needing some help with my cories- im not having the best luck with them :oops:

my questions are:

what kind of tank mates do they like?

what sort of tank do they like (plants? hiding places?)

what do they like to eat?

and any other info anyone can give me about them

from the info i have read so far about them i cant see what im doing wrong. i really like this little guys and am wanting to get more but not before i find out what the problem is

I know they should be in a tank with a fine, or rounded (in other words NOT sharp) gravel, because of their barbels they have around their mouths.

When I had corys, I had them with various Tetras, Zebra Loaches, a Rainbow Shark and Platies, and they seemed to get on just fine with all them. I had driftwood and plastic hollow log decoration things for them to hang out in, and they often did.

They are bottom feeders. Mine ate sinking shrimp pellets mainly, and probably bloodworm, if it managed to make it down that far.

What is your problem? Do they keep dying on you? It might help if you explain your current tank situation/conditions.

Yes, what is happening to them? They are usually easy to care for and get on with most tank mates. Southerrrngirl is right about smooth substrate.

They like to be in a group of 6 or more and you will find them a lot more active in a group than if you just have 2 or 3.

They do like plants and hiding places. It makes them feel more secure.

They will eat anything that drifts their way plus bottom feeder pellets.

yes they are dying on me. not in great numbers but very slowly. they were in a group of about 10 but that number is now down to about 6.

they are currently in a 200 litre tank with guppies. the tank has lots of plants and small gravel (that is not sharp) i feed them bottom feeder pellets and they seem to eat a little bit of the flake and bloodworms that the guppies get

they never have any marks on them at all and seem happy until i see them floating in the tank

would a fright kill them? i know that the cats like to jump on that tank and try to get their paws under the lids

By any chance do you treat for algae? I have used algae fix twice and each time lost a couple of cories over the next few days.

i have also heard of people losing them when they use flourish excel.

when was the last time you did a gravel vac?

because it is a planted tank it never gets a really good gravel vac but i did one about two weeks ago.

would it help if I gave the tank a good clean and also did a gravel vac?

i have also heard of people losing them when they use flourish excel.

I do a heavy dose of excell daily (10ml for a 200l) and have lost 1 cory in the 4 months I have been doing it.

because it is a planted tank it never gets a really good gravel vac but i did one about two weeks ago.

would it help if I gave the tank a good clean and also did a gravel vac?

My tanks are planted and I regularly vac my tanks once a week, not really deep into the gravel but just skimming the surface to pic up the fish waste.

Before you do a "good clean", I would suggest you test the water first for ph, nitrates ammonia & nitrite if you haven't done so already.

oeminx wrote:

i have also heard of people losing them when they use flourish excel.

simian wrote:

I do a heavy dose of excell daily (10ml for a 200l) and have lost 1 cory in the 4 months I have been doing it.

Hmm, this could be why I lost my corys. I was using Flourish at one stage. Never made a connection with the use of this and the loss of the corys though. Were there any visible symptoms or anything? I can remember one of mine had what looked like red coloured marks under the skin.

Dunno, if something dies in my community tank its stripped clean within an hour or so, greedy little buggers :roll:

i havn't used flourish excel but i have been using FloraPride- would this effect them?

flora pride does not have the same effect.

you will see burn like marks on them if you overdosed on flourish.

what kind of water flow do they like?

To figure out what waterflow fishies, look at where they come from. Corys usually live in shallow water that doesn't have much water flow. They need quiet areas of the tank, but do also do like to swim in the current as long as they have somewhere to rest.

im proud to report that all of my cories are still alive

i moved the wood round in the tank to make sure they had lots of places to hide and also did a really good gravel vac. i also moved some of the plants

i might even buy some more now :bounce: