Albino Cory Cat Behavior—Are mine normal?

[Melissa G]

My 6 cory cats (The Derpingtons) will swim like this for hours. They’re all juvenile. Not sure if the male-female ratio, but they’re just the most active goofs in the world. They’ll sometimes run into each other as they swim too and fro. It’s hilarious to watch. 
They eat fine and don’t seem to be stressed. I’m just new to the hobby and want to know if they’re ok. 

I have have 3 mollies, some tetras, and Big Man (honey red gourami). 

Water parameters:

temp: 73°-76°

ph: 7.0-7.6

no ammonia or nitrites

nitrates: about 25ppm (has been up to 30)

API master test kit

[Fish Folk]

Typically they’re more benthic. I’ve seen this behavior once before, but in a tank with loads of plants and flow. Can you post a 60-sec video, not time lapse?

[Patrick_G]

How long have they been in the tank? I’ve found they need a little time to settle down after being added to a new tank. 

[Melissa G]

On 6/26/2022 at 9:01 PM, Patrick_G said:

How long have they been in the tank? I’ve found they need a little time to settle down after being added to a new tank. 

Probably about 2 months. They’ve occasionally done this but never for these

long stretches. Everyone in there seems happy. It’s very strange. Just want to be sure they’re ok. 

On 6/26/2022 at 8:32 PM, Fish Folk said:

Typically they’re more benthic. I’ve seen this behavior once before, but in a tank with loads of plants and flow. Can you post a 60-sec video, not time lapse?

Here’s about 20 seconds from this morning. 
they’re still at it. I’ll clip and link that too. 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VnRp6XCTySKHTRHSS7RU749hhWpMp0JB/view?usp=drivesdk

[Melissa G]

On 6/26/2022 at 8:32 PM, Fish Folk said:

Typically they’re more benthic. I’ve seen this behavior once before, but in a tank with loads of plants and flow. Can you post a 60-sec video, not time lapse?

Here are some longer clips. 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/12ShxvbCb3ND8eiZ732d9dV98sDGPdvV2/view?usp=drivesdk

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19tG-2utWz4WpZaTbK2M1ePVCqzsaiaOR/view?usp=drivesdk

[Fish Folk]

Hmm . . . I've honestly never seen this. Nothing in your parameters sends up flags. Light is nice and bright, but they seem fine with it. Very interesting. Did you buy these from a breeder, or your LFS?

[Minanora]

Have you changed anything about your feeding schedule or what you're feeding?

[Melissa G]

On 6/26/2022 at 9:30 PM, Fish Folk said:

Hmm . . . I've honestly never seen this. Nothing in your parameters sends up flags. Light is nice and bright, but they seem fine with it. Very interesting. Did you buy these from a breeder, or your LFS?

LFS but not big box. 

The light is usually a little dimmer, but I wanted to get a good video. 

I originally got 4 a couple months back but then went back and got 2 more and they livened up a lot. They’re just super active. There is usually 1 or 2 chilling out or scavenging and the others swim. 

Everyone is super chill usually. The gourami is tank boss, but even at that he’s more of a tank “meh” and not at all territorial. I had moved the 2 female mollies to a QT because I thought they were pregnant (you helped me with that). They never dropped fry, so I moved them back (and are easily 2.5 times the size of the male). 

The cories seem happy, so I’m just going to assume that they are extra derpy and silly and just really love swimming Around. 😂

On 6/26/2022 at 9:41 PM, Minanora said:

Have you changed anything about your feeding schedule or what you're feeding?

I rotate/mix the following for the whole tank:

algae wafers (they love these)

repashy blobs (that I make and freeze) (they love it) 

extreme krill flakes (they don’t seem to like those)

aquarium co-op fish fry food 

 

[The Goatee]

I’ve seen this in my corys for the first couple of months when young and added to a new aquarium. I’ve also seen them get active when I fast them for 24 hours after feeding frozen foods. Once as well when I bumped the knob on my heater and it got up to 84 or 86 degrees. There was also one or two of them who would just randomly do this, especially after a water change.

[Melissa G]

On 6/26/2022 at 9:54 PM, The Goatee said:

I’ve seen this in my corys for the first couple of months when young and added to a new aquarium. I’ve also seen them get active when I fast them for 24 hours after feeding frozen foods. Once as well when I bumped the knob on my heater and it got up to 84 or 86 degrees. There was also one or two of them who would just randomly do this, especially after a water change.

YES! Did a 25% water change yesterday. 
So funny!!! 
Glad to know I’m not the only one.

I love these fish though. So much personality. So goofy and adorable. I just think they’re the best. 
thank you!! 
 

[Minanora]

My cories are super active after a water change. My water changes usually drop the temp from 79 to 75. I leave my spray bar on during the water change to simulate rain. My cories and my otos almost always spawn after.

 

[gardenman]

Cories often do glass surfing in my experience. I have a suspicion they're trying to swim upstream/downstream for migration and spawning. Mine typically surf the front glass of their tanks which in their case is the north facing glass. I think they're trying to find a route north to go spawn or migrate. Lots of animals migrate to breed and I have a suspicion Cories do also. Their internal compass tells them, "Go this way!" And they try and try and try only to find that invisible glass wall won't let them. For mine, it's almost always the north-facing glass they surf on. I suspect the migratory instinct is stronger in some than others, but when nature says, "Swim this way!" They try their darnedest to do just that. We see migration in lots of animals including some in the fish world, so I suspect something triggers them to migrate and then they find they can't. 

[Brandon p]

I would say very normal. Mostly my albinos act like that. 

[CorydorasEthan]

@Melissa G It looks like normal behavior. Cories, especially when younger, love to play around in the current! My peppered cories used to do it all the time!

 

[Odd Duck]

My bronzes - fairly likely same species since most albinos are Cory. aeneus morphs - will increase swimming when they are getting close to ready to spawn.  They also tend to swim more up into the water column than some other species.  Yours look like they’re goofing around, but may be approaching spawning readiness.  If the swimming gets faster, more intense, more like chasing - especially if it’s a couple smaller ones chasing a bigger, thicker looking one - spawning is eminent.