Cory Catfish question

[fishlover111]

Hi friends,

I recently added 3 new emerald green cory catfish because my 5 current emerald green cories hide all the time. The 3 new cories are smaller than my current ones because I have had my 5 cories for about 7 months now so they are almost if not already fully grown. The new cories are very small. Will they still school even though they are different sizes? They are the same species though.

 

[Aiken Drum]

The new corys will be fine with the existing ones. No guarantees the bigger numbers will suddenly cause them to come out of hiding though. Corys are nocturnal feeders, so hiding in the day is what they naturally do. Adding a few more is the right thing to do though.

Whats your tank set up like? I would say if they are always hiding its more likely to be something in the set up causing them to not feel safe.

 

[fishlover111]

I am sure that they just want safety in numbers because they move around and swim around just fine but if anyone walks near the tank they hide. When the coast is clear they come back out. When I got them they never did that until about 4 months after I got them. My tank is a 20 gallon and has artificial plants because I never had any luck with live plants. There are 3 guppies, a dwarf gourami, a school of danios and ghost shrimp.

 

[SwampeastMike]

Those are all perfect tankmates for cory cats. I don't have experience with that exact variety but my corys, while rather easily spooked, are quite active during the day and are among my favorite fish to watch.

What is your substrate? They prefer small, smooth gravel that they quite effectively clean of the bits of uneaten food that are missed by the rest and essentially fall into the cracks.

 

[fishlover111]

I have regular gravel from petsmart. The uneaten food stays at the top and they can easily get to it. They are still spooking so I am going to give them a couple days but my new catfish don’t freak out when I go near the tank. I will watch them but I don’t know what to do because sometimes they hit themselves on the glass when they freak out.