My new corys are getting bullied....

[kalika]

I am not sure what to do. I introduced two corys to my 10 gallon tank a few days ago and they seem to be doing fine except that I have one Platy who follows them around and then pushes or nips them out of the way when they are digging in the rocks to eat whatever they were digging at. I made a mistake the first time I fed them and gave it to them during the day and the platy ate nearly all of the pellet and her stomach blew up like a balloon. She is fine now but she is pretty consistently harassing them. I also have a Zebra Danio that will take time off of the other 2 zebras to chase one of the corys around. I am concerned. Is thee anything I can do or do I need to just wait this out? I am picking up a 33 gallon long tank this weekend and will get it up and running which will be the corys, zebras and platies new home but in the meantime I am worried they will get nothing to eat and if I try to feed them extra and some food falls to the bottom, my platy tends to get to it first. So it seems that the corys aren't eating and the platy is getting too much. I also didn't realize when I put the corys in that my gravel is a little too large for them so finding food is tricky because it falls in the cracks where they can't get it. I did put some handfulls of smaller gravel in there that I will try to stick a pellet in tonight after it has been dark for a while but I am still worried that the darn platy will still sniff this out. Is there anything I can do and will this behavior subside once they are in a bigger tank. I currently do 30% pwc once a week and monitor my ammonia and nitrites/nitrates pretty closely. There are only the 2 cories, 3 zebras and 2 platies in the tank now. One platy is older (over a year) and is now kind of getting skinnier and skinnier so I don't believe he will last much longer. I know platies school more loosely but when they are in the bigger tank and I can add some more platy friends will this help? I know this was lengthy but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[wolfman21]

The others might just be trying to establish their dominance, showing each other whose boss, especially the pleco, who may want the bottom of the tank all to herself, not wanting cories in there. As for the Danio-that is wierd, I've never heard of that. Probably trying to do the same thing. Give it some time and hopefully it will get better. For feeding, try dropping in a couple algae wafers. The pleco will probably take one and then the cories can take the other one while the pleco is eating its wafer. The smaller gravel should help-it will be better for the cories to get food and also easier on their barbels. Good luck!

 

[kalika]

Thanks Wolfman21! I appreciate your insight! Did I say I have a pleco? Mybe the spellcheck changed it. I have a Platy that is doing this. I've been reading some other older posts here and in other species forums and it sounds like that is partly what is going on and also I need more zebras and platys for the others to hang out with and then thyey may not bug my cutest ever little cories. That unfortunately will just have to wait until I get my bigger tank set up and can move them. I don't want to over croud them and the tank is already overly full as is. Thank goodness for the pwc's! I guess I will just have to wait and hope everyone makes it until the bigger tank is up and cycled. That shouldn't take long since I have added an extra sponge filter to the 10 gallon and will be using my filter pad from my Penguin filter to start the new tank as well as taking some of the gravel out and adding it to the new, smaller gravel I will put in the 33 gallon. Anyway, more than you probably needed to know but again, thanks for your help and advice. I have to say, again, this is the best forum. I love it here!

 

[wolfman21]

yes you did say Platy's, my mistake. Hope they won't pick on the poor thing. Cories are so cool, and the smaller gravel substrate will help them not only find food, but will help their barbels, which are sensitive. Make sure the small gravel isn't rough, but is more smooth rocks so they don't damage those barbels, because that's how they find their food. This forum is cool, has helped me a lot.

 

[Butterfly]

Are there any visible signs that the platy is hurting the corys? They are pretty tough little fellas being armored as they are and you wouldn't believe what they can find to eat. When You get the new tank up and cycled everybody needs more of their kind
Carol

 

[wolfman21]

That's good that you are getting a bigger tank. That will be good for the fish and for you because you can get more fish and watch them more! I can't wait to get a really big tank

 

[kalika]

I do plan on getting more of these sweeties when I get my bigger tank up and cycled. I just watch closely for know. I started actually trying to feed the other less and I actually feed the Corys first and shove their wafers that I have broken up into much smaller pieces into the gravel at different places in the tank and then I wait a few minutes and feed the rest of the fish. By the time they are done eating, the Corys have found their food and since there are several little pieces the rest of the fish either chase the corys away and the corys then find another small piece to pick at or the others just find a piece they can pick at themselves. I am now down to one Platy (the bully girl) since that sickly one kicked the bucket yesterday. SO that should help. I think the platy thinks she is a cory since the zebras completely ignore her and just chase each other around non-stop. The corys look healthy still and do act quite different at night with their antics. They both have kind of jagged dorsal fins that I am keeping an eye on however. The one came to me like that and I don't know if the other had it already or it just got a little ragged but I am watching. I don't want to treat them for fin rot if they don't have so I am watching closely to see if it gets worse. I figure if it is, then I will know for sure in a few days. Doesn't that stuff kind of do its thing pretty fast? Shouldn't I know if it is fin rot in almost no time because it progresses fast? If not, please tell me and I will move them to my quarantine tank and treat them and watch the others. The others are totally healthy and fine right now. I don't think the platy did it. She only nips at them to get them out of her way but never pursues them or chases them. The only time she pays attention is if they stop in one spot because they have obviously found something worthwhile. Otherwise she just copies them all around the tank all day.

 

[COBettaCouple]

I do plan on getting more of these sweeties when I get my bigger tank up and cycled. I just watch closely for know. I started actually trying to feed the other less and I actually feed the Corys first and shove their wafers that I have broken up into much smaller pieces into the gravel at different places in the tank and then I wait a few minutes and feed the rest of the fish. By the time they are done eating, the Corys have found their food and since there are several little pieces the rest of the fish either chase the corys away and the corys then find another small piece to pick at or the others just find a piece they can pick at themselves. I am now down to one Platy (the bully girl) since that sickly one kicked the bucket yesterday. SO that should help. I think the platy thinks she is a cory since the zebras completely ignore her and just chase each other around non-stop. The corys look healthy still and do act quite different at night with their antics. They both have kind of jagged dorsal fins that I am keeping an eye on however. The one came to me like that and I don't know if the other had it already or it just got a little ragged but I am watching. I don't want to treat them for fin rot if they don't have so I am watching closely to see if it gets worse. I figure if it is, then I will know for sure in a few days. Doesn't that stuff kind of do its thing pretty fast? Shouldn't I know if it is fin rot in almost no time because it progresses fast? If not, please tell me and I will move them to my quarantine tank and treat them and watch the others. The others are totally healthy and fine right now. I don't think the platy did it. She only nips at them to get them out of her way but never pursues them or chases them. The only time she pays attention is if they stop in one spot because they have obviously found something worthwhile. Otherwise she just copies them all around the tank all day.

Your Cory/Platy situation sounds familiar to us. Our biggest Platy Daisy likes to shove a nibbling Cory out of the way when she spots food. The other 3 pretty much ignore them.. and when we first got the Cory's every food we got for them, the Platies would eat until they looked like they'd explode. The Platys find the food if we drop it in and hide it, even at night. I like your idea to get food to the Corys and I think we'll see how it goes with our hungry Platys.

I'm not sure if that's finrot or not, but you might want to have a box of Jungle Lab's Fungus Clear on hand.. On the advice of the more experienced people in these forums, I used it to treat 2 Bettas with finrot. I used those disposable gloves to handle it or whenever I would get in contact with the water and only had decor in the tank that I felt wouldn't stain. The stuff worked great. Get that & see what some long-time Cory owners think on if your little guy has it or might have just caught his fin on something or somehow got it torn a little. Good luck with them.

 

[wolfman21]

If you use the fungus stuff, I know it says this on the directions, but make sure to take out the carbon pouch if you have that for your filter, otherwise the carbon will filter out what's needed to clear up the fungus.

 

[kalika]

Thanks a ton guys! I have been watching my corys very closely and it isn't getting any worse and the one with the worst of it looks like it may have grown back a little. I am guessing that he must have just torn it a little. I always hesitate to treat that tank with stuff since all the fish then have to get treated and I usually have to start the biological filter all over again which I hate to do. I would use my quarantine tank but it has turned into a zebra danio fry tank now, happened right after I emailed the question about the fin rot and how fast it progresses. The new tank is up and running and I am only showing about .2 for Nitrites in it. I have my zebras in there now and they are doing fabulously. They love the extra room to chase each other. I will add my platy this week along with one or two more. She has been in the smaller tank with the two corys and has been acting really weird. She is unusually skittish and hides a lot but when she does come out to eat she has all her fins erect and looks very healthy. I have been testing the water every day to see if there is some underlying problem and I can't find any. I am guessing after last night when I saw her laying by one of the corys in a small cave that she must just be lonely and in need of a platy friend. At least she isn't bullying anyone anymore. Still stealing food though. I found that I feed her a lot less than I used to because I know she will happily eat the cory food and I really don't want her to explode. Thanks for all the help and input. I love this forum and getting to share stuff about my fish that I just love! My husband doesn't care about them at all and although my two kids do, it isn't the same since they are so young and don't really know much about them other than they like to watch them swim and name the fish silly names like "Ice Cream". I am not even kidding.

 

[COBettaCouple]

Thanks a ton guys! I have been watching my corys very closely and it isn't getting any worse and the one with the worst of it looks like it may have grown back a little. I am guessing that he must have just torn it a little. I always hesitate to treat that tank with stuff since all the fish then have to get treated and I usually have to start the biological filter all over again which I hate to do. I would use my quarantine tank but it has turned into a zebra danio fry tank now, happened right after I emailed the question about the fin rot and how fast it progresses. The new tank is up and running and I am only showing about .2 for Nitrites in it. I have my zebras in there now and they are doing fabulously. They love the extra room to chase each other. I will add my platy this week along with one or two more. She has been in the smaller tank with the two corys and has been acting really weird. She is unusually skittish and hides a lot but when she does come out to eat she has all her fins erect and looks very healthy. I have been testing the water every day to see if there is some underlying problem and I can't find any. I am guessing after last night when I saw her laying by one of the corys in a small cave that she must just be lonely and in need of a platy friend. At least she isn't bullying anyone anymore. Still stealing food though. I found that I feed her a lot less than I used to because I know she will happily eat the cory food and I really don't want her to explode. Thanks for all the help and input. I love this forum and getting to share stuff about my fish that I just love! My husband doesn't care about them at all and although my two kids do, it isn't the same since they are so young and don't really know much about them other than they like to watch them swim and name the fish silly names like "Ice Cream". I am not even kidding.

Yea, your little platy needs company.. 2 or 3 more platys of her same type would be nice for her & bring out their schooling behavior more, just be sure to get them all female like your current platy to at least cut down on the fry that you might get. Our platys LOVE cory food and the corys in the platy tank really have to hunt to get enough.. those platys are stomachs with fins. Hopefully having a group to be in will cause the platys to leave the corys alone.. although they'll still steal food.

Some Amquel+ might be good to have, it'll help bring down ammonia, nitrites & nitrates.

 

[kalika]

I have been adding API's Stress Zyme and have found it to be helping out a lot. I used media and gravel from my 10 g tank and some of the dirty water as well as some Bio Spira. Now with the Stress Zyme it is cycling fast. The Ammonia is now at 0 and the Nitrites are between 0 and .25 hard to tell what it is becuase the color of the tube is actually between those two colors. It has taken less than a week to get it this way. I have also been doing large pwc's to help out too so the little fry factory zebra danios don't get too stressed out. Thanks again everyone!

 

[wolfman21]

Glad to hear the fungus stuff is working. You should be able to add more platys if you want to.

 

[kalika]

Thanks everyone for the help. I did end up moving the last Platy to the new bigger tanks and I added two more for her. Her attitude changed big time and the three of them (all females) tootle around the tank together all the time. She is still a big food pig but as long as the others get a bite, I don't worry. It did help a lot to put the food in for the cories first and wait and watch and then put in the regular food. I also cut up the sinking wafers into several smaller pieces and scattered them around so everyone got to have some. I less of the normal food and no one bugged the cories for the food anymore since they had their own share. On a sad note, I got home the otherday from work and one of my corys looked a as if he had swim bladder disease. He somersaulted through the water when he tried to swim and had lost all color. He was dead the next day. I did end up replacing him a few days later and the new one is much more active and seems to have bonded well with the other that was left much better than the one that died. Since I only owned him for 2 weeks at the most, I am wondering if he wasn't a little sick/injured at the store or on the way home. I had been testing my water everyday with my lonely platy behaving odd so I know it wasn't that. Oh well. this stuff happens. Thanks again for all your help everyone!

 

[COBettaCouple]

Yea, a lot of times they do have something at the stores when we bring them home.

 

[kalika]

I am glad I am not the only one who suspected that. I head read that you can usually tell because if you are sure your water is good and only one fish gets sick or has any symptoms and none of the other do etc, you can figure it was from the store. Especially if it has been two weeks or less since you bought it. I also had read that if you have a bunch of fish get sick or die at the same time or within hours, you can bet it is the water. Thanks for that input. I was feeling pretty sad about my cory.

 

[wolfman21]

I hate it when I bring a fish home and then realize that something happened at the store that made the fish get sick or something.

 

[COBettaCouple]

I hate it when I bring a fish home and then realize that something happened at the store that made the fish get sick or something.

Yea, I feel bad for the fish being treated poorly at the store & wish I'd gotten him sooner, but I know it's unfortunately too often a part of buying fish.

 

[wolfman21]

yeah some people are really stupid when it comes to common sense relating to taking care of fish, really makes me mad.

 

[kalika]

SO I have a new cory now and have for just over a week and he is doing fabulous and totally bonded with the other cory and they are both active and palyful and healthy! Thanks for everything guys!