29 Gallon Tank One of my Neons is nipping my corys for food any advice?

Hey, like the title says one of my neons is nipping my corydoras while they eat so the corys will knock food up and he gets it. I'm worried that the ones behavior will promote bad habits for the rest of my neons. I have a 29 gallon with 7 corydoras and 11 neon tetras its planted (not that dense ATM but there's definitely cover, waiting for everything to grow in) the tank parameters are all normal for that tank and as far as I can tell this is fairly new behavior so I'm trying to get ideas so I can stop this behavior from spreading or getting worse. Its definitely the same neon doing it and hes one of the smaller in that group. I tried moving the corys food to the other side he just follows. Then I tried chasing him off whenever he tried to nip them but as soon as I stopped he went right back to it. Any thoughts would be appreciated thanks.

 

I doubt the neon will be able to do any real damage to the Cory. They are armored catfish, after all.

 

Hi all,
It will all work out ok Wafflekomet you can relax.
You are seeing normal behaviour, however in my opinion the idea of a community tank is a human construction. There really is no such thing as a community of fish. With much bigger species of tetras it’s always the same problem. You can try dropping cories food in after the all lights in the house are off if you are concpermed the corydoras are missing out?

 

You dont think its going to stress the corys having theyre fins nipped all the time ?

 

I doubt the neon will be able to do any real damage to the Cory. They are armored catfish, after all.

Their fins aren't armored though.

 

You dont think its going to stress the corys having theyre fins nipped all the time ?

Are you seeing any damage to the fins? Thankfully I've never experienced this behavior from the neons and corys I have in my tank. If there is no damage actually being done I wouldn't be overly stressed about it. You may be more stressed than the corys are.

As Flyfisha suggested, drop the cory food in after lights out. The neons should be resting during that time.

 

Theres a small bit nick in some of their dorsals but im pretty sure this is newer behavoir im just worried overtime and if some of the other neons pick this habit up itl cause problems

 

Theres a small bit nick in some of their dorsals but im pretty sure this is newer behavoir im just worried overtime and if some of the other neons pick this habit up itl cause problems

I am not sure the term "monkey see, monkey do" applies to fish. Some fish do odd things. I have to think this is unusual behavior for this species of fish so I suspect the others aren't going to start doing it just because this one is. Unfortunately we can't send a fish to the corner for a time out. Chasing this one away from the corys is just going to get it to fear you. It isn't going to stop the fish from doing what it is doing.

Hopefully feeding the corys after lights out will put a stop to what's happening.

 

Relax. They definitely be okay. I think what you see is neons feeding on tiny foodparts that the Corys whirl up.

 

Relax. They definitely be okay. I think what you see is neons feeding on tiny foodparts that the Corys whirl up.

Its definetly not that i have no problem with that. Most of the neons do hang around the corys for that specific reason but the neon in question specifically nips at thier dorsal while the corys eat in order to make them kick up food. Im not really freaking out i just wanted some other opinions.

 

Its definetly not that i have no problem with that. Most of the neons do hang around the corys for that specific reason but the neon in question specifically nips at thier dorsal while the corys eat in order to make them kick up food. Im not really freaking out i just wanted some other opinions.

Neons are amongst the least intelligent fish in the world, maybe this guy is just smarter than the rest.

On a serious note, sometimes they're known to nip. They're a tetra, after all. Long as he's the only one doing it you needn't worry, though I'd keep a close eye on them from now on to ensure the rest aren't contributing is this "new game".