I woke around 8 and went to check on the fishies. I was worried about them and wanted to make sure everything was going well. I turned on some of the lights in the apartment before turning on the tank light, as to not spook them.
They were skittish, but when I sat down and didn't move, they began to settle down a bit. The Swordtail was exploring much more of the tank than he was yesterday. Also, the Barb's seemed to be schooling up nicely.
I looked around for the three Cory's. I saw two of them but the third was no where to be seen. I continued watching them for about 30 minutes and then spent some time with Mori. At that point Gabby was getting up and we had a few things to do before she went to hang out with her parents. I was going to stay home and look after the "kids" for the day.
After I had gotten ready but before Gabby had, I went back into the living room to check on the new comers. At the very front of the tank, upside down and obviously dead, was the missing Cory that I didn't see earlier.
I quickly got a net out of the cabinet and went into the water. I lightly moved the mesh of the net over him to make sure he wasn't just sleeping. He was not... He was truly dead. What a bummer. I guess the stress was just too much for him. I watched the other fish to make sure there were no signs of stress, and everything seemed fine. No "panting," no quick and jerky trips to the top of the tank, nothing out of the ordinary.
I put the poor guy into Mori's old container with some tank water. I told Gabby about it, but told her not to look. She doesn't have much of a stomach for such things. I can't even have her look too much at the Betta's when we go to the pet stores as she just cries and wants to buy them all. Best wife ever.
Anyway, I got the receipt for the fish and headed to Petsmart. As expected, they didn't care much about him dying, but were happy to replace him. This time, I wanted something a little bit different that I figured would work. I asked for one of the Emerald Green Cory's. They looked cool.
She bagged him (using two nets. Yay!) and off to home I went. Gabby had already left for her parents. I acclimated the new kid and into the tank he went. He settled to the bottom and quickly hid. He came out to scavenge a little while late, but hadn't interacted with the other Cory's yet.
Later in the day, the Emerald Green Cory started acting crazy! It would swim all over the tank! At the top, in the middle, along the bottom. Just acting crazy! He acted this way all day! When I fed them, the Emerald found the sinking wafers that the other two Cory's LOVE, but took a little nibble and kept on swimming! Not sure if that is normal behavior or not, but it acted crazy enough that I named the fish Delores and deemed it a woman. (Delores is the name of my Mother In Law, whom I love very much and has a great sense of humor. She thought this was all quite funny.)
I have sense learned that Delores is in fact not really a Cory, but a similar but different species called Brochis. I'm hoping she'll get along okay with the Cory's and that they can be buddies.
I did see them hanging out for short periods during the day, but for the most part the Cory's explored the bottom of the tank looking for food while Delores acts like a chiva loca!
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Great, can't wait!
