jb1rd55 Posted June 20, 2022 Share Posted June 20, 2022 Hey Im new to fish keeping and was wondering if my Cory's not being active is normal. I've had them for 5 days now and they were only swimming around for one day out of the five. Other than that they just lay at the bottom chilling. They don't look stressed and they aren't breathing hard. My ammonia is 0, Nitrite is 0, and Nitrate 5. The only thing I can think of is that I don't have a sand substrate but I thought smooth pebbles would work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted June 20, 2022 Share Posted June 20, 2022 (edited) Pebbles should be fine. Corydoras like a lot of flow. I’ve used a small Hydor circular before to move water around a small tank… I also really enjoy the ACO powerhead set up on a coarse ACO sponge filter… But my absolute favorite adaptation is the ACO Powerhead + Sponge filter + DIY Spraybar. I built this recently for some US Natives I keep. You can follow the build if you scroll through my journal here… Additionally, bear in mind that nearly all catfish are nocturnal feeders. They’re often quite active at night. Not sure what you’re feeding them, but they do well with some quality frozen bloodworms. Healthy live black worms will bring out a side of them you’ve never seen before! Not sure what species you’re working with, but here’s a breeding journal my son made for Corydoras aeneus (Bronze Corys) a while ago. Lots of interesting videos here… Edited June 20, 2022 by Fish Folk 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Mollusk Posted June 20, 2022 Share Posted June 20, 2022 I have corys on gravel and they do fine. They do spend a fair amount of time chillaxing on the bottom. Spit-balling for more info here: Have they been eating so far as you can see? What else do you have in your tank? How small are they? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jb1rd55 Posted June 21, 2022 Author Share Posted June 21, 2022 On 6/20/2022 at 6:47 PM, DarthMollusk said: I have corys on gravel and they do fine. They do spend a fair amount of time chillaxing on the bottom. Spit-balling for more info here: Have they been eating so far as you can see? What else do you have in your tank? How small are they? They'll eat but it's not every time I put food in there. Like today they could care less about the food they just stayed still. And I have 12 Harlequin Rasboras, 1 Bolivian and 3 nerite snails. On 6/20/2022 at 6:46 PM, Fish Folk said: Pebbles should be fine. Corydoras like a lot of flow. I’ve used a small Hydor circular before to move water around a small tank… I also really enjoy the ACO powerhead set up on a coarse ACO sponge filter… But my absolute favorite adaptation is the ACO Powerhead + Sponge filter + DIY Spraybar. I built this recently for some US Natives I keep. You can follow the build if you scroll through my journal here… Additionally, bear in mind that nearly all catfish are nocturnal feeders. They’re often quite active at night. Not sure what you’re feeding them, but they do well with some quality frozen bloodworms. Healthy live black worms will bring out a side of them you’ve never seen before! Not sure what species you’re working with, but here’s a breeding journal my son made for Corydoras aeneus (Bronze Corys) a while ago. Lots of interesting videos here… So should I feed them the bloodworms at night? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardedbillygoat1975 Posted June 21, 2022 Share Posted June 21, 2022 Water movement as @Fish Folksuggested along with a high protein diet agree that worms of any kind are a favorite, frequent water changes cooler water preferred say 3-5 degrees, and other fish breeding can trigger them to be more active. I would wait until lights are out and just hang out and watch to see if they are just going off at night. Are they in a high traffic area - they can be jittery? How many of them are there? If their numbers aren't high enough they will not demonstrate behaviors associated with them. I also agree with @DarthMollusk(awesome name bye the bye) and @Coryand others have commented that they can be found on gravel, smooth pebbles and sand, mine do great on aquasoil - they love rummaging through it. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Mollusk Posted June 21, 2022 Share Posted June 21, 2022 Would be typical for them to be more active at night. What are you feeding them? @Beardedbillygoat1975The numbers is a good point. I find they do best with at least four in a group. Also second (third?) water movement suggestion from @Fish Folk. Mine love to swim around in the current. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jb1rd55 Posted June 21, 2022 Author Share Posted June 21, 2022 On 6/20/2022 at 7:04 PM, DarthMollusk said: Would be typical for them to be more active at night. What are you feeding them? I switch between Flakes(I get them to the ground), Nano Pellets, Harkari Vibra Bites, and once a week I do blood worms. They got the blood worms once and I didn't see them eat them but they were really fat when I got back home so I assumed they ate them and that was yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Mollusk Posted June 21, 2022 Share Posted June 21, 2022 Okay, first things first: I'd do as @Beardedbillygoat1975suggested and observe them at night after the lights go off (and just to check; you don't have blue light running at night, do you? I know some lights do that). It sounds like they likely ate those bloodworms, which is good. I've never fed corys the other foods you mentioned, but I also don't know that they wouldn't take to it. Personally, I feed my bottom dwellers about ten minutes after the lights go off. Good luck! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jb1rd55 Posted June 21, 2022 Author Share Posted June 21, 2022 On 6/20/2022 at 7:28 PM, DarthMollusk said: Okay, first things first: I'd do as @Beardedbillygoat1975suggested and observe them at night after the lights go off (and just to check; you don't have blue light running at night, do you? I know some lights do that). It sounds like they likely ate those bloodworms, which is good. I've never fed corys the other foods you mentioned, but I also don't know that they wouldn't take to it. Personally, I feed my bottom dwellers about ten minutes after the lights go off. Good luck! I use a 24/7 setting which goes completely off at 10:50pm. Been thinking about just setting it to a 10 hr timer instead. Thanks for all the help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavdad45 Posted June 21, 2022 Share Posted June 21, 2022 Do you have enough in your albino school? They like groups of atleast 6-8 for comfort Second, do you have other groups of smaller fish schooling in the upper portions of the aquarium. Seeing smaller fish allieves them of the threat of predators. Give them live worms so that they ferret around the substrate on a treasure hunt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jb1rd55 Posted June 21, 2022 Author Share Posted June 21, 2022 I have 6 Cory's and 12 harlequin rasboras that school On 6/20/2022 at 7:59 PM, cavdad45 said: Do you have enough in your albino school? They like groups of atleast 6-8 for comfort Second, do you have other groups of smaller fish schooling in the upper portions of the aquarium. Seeing smaller fish allieves them of the threat of predators. Give them live worms so that they ferret around the substrate on a treasure hunt I have 6 Cory's and 12 harlequin rasboras that school 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrey Posted June 21, 2022 Share Posted June 21, 2022 You already got a lot of great advice. I don't know what your work schedule is, but one of the appeals of a siesta schedule on the programmable lights ( @Streetwise started a great thread) is manipulating the on/off times so we can observe our fish more in their ultimate environment... which includes lighting. If you aren't running CO2, I strongly recommend for a wide variety of reasons. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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