Hi, newbie incoming!

[emma85x]

Thought I'd say hello as I'm a newbie joining AA! I'd very much like some advice with regards to albino corydoras please. Unfortunately I've lost one today...on closer inspection its eyes were missing! Have they been eaten??

[joe_kroger]

Do you think his eyes are just closed??? They do blink and might have closed them when he passed away? I have panda corys and they are my absolute favorite fish ever. So sad.. S.I.P

[Delapool]

Hi - welcome! Hope his eyes were just closed.

[emma85x]

They definitely weren't closed you could see the hollows where they should of been & he was still alive at this point! I'm thinking he was possibly sick even tho he didn't look it & the shrimps decided to start eating him...only thing I can think of unless anybody else has any suggestions?

[joe_kroger]

I have a couple of questions.
What substrate are you using?
Do you have plastic decorations?
How many corys were with him?
Do you have any aggressive fish?
I was reading a couple more posts about albinos losing their eyes and it's mostly been from substrate injuries, decoration injuries, if he was too stressed because he didn't have enough friends or that there is a bully in the tank who decided to play slender man and scoop out the eyes do you have any aggressive fish?

[emma85x]

Substrate is stones but smooth, only real plants & params are normal. I only have 1 other Cory which I know isn't ideal but they seemed happy enough...there only was the two at my LFS. As for aggressive fish I do have an electric blue ram that's very territorial & performs regular attacks on other fish but haven't seen him bothering the cory. He only usually nips at the others tho.

[joe_kroger]

Hmm.. maybe since the ram is a bottom dweller too the Cory went sticking his nose into the wrong place at the wrong time and had to pay the price of his eyes.. be extremely careful with your next Cory and I would say get 4 more for him because he will be awfully sad alone. So sorry this happened but just keep watching for the ram, corries and rams are both typically bottom dwelling fish and the ram could have easily been the reason..

[emma85x]

Poor thing...everywheres a wrong place when it comes to the ram lol! I hope he isn't to blame...it's bad enough with his bullying without him eating eyes from others! Im going to pick up some peppered corys today as I don't want my last 1 too become a new target! Thank you for the advice

[joe_kroger]

Maybe make your tank heavily planted? That seems to help with aggression since the fish can hide somewhere. Just a suggestion! Your aquarium sounds really cool

[emma85x]

I already have a heavily planted tank & nothing seems to help! It was suggested at my LFS to try rearrange things, add more hiding places, plants etc to see if that helped with where the ram was most territorial but that failed too! He even attacks the shrimps & snails his motto seems to be "if it moves, I'm having it"...don't know what else to do with him!

[Coursair]

I was told to pick Rams or Cories that they don't always work as tankmates. Adding more Cories may be a mistake. You may want to set up a 20Long for either a Ram pair or the Cories.

[joe_kroger]

Yeah, coursairs suggestion was right. I have a 20 g long I am going to set up for a pair of rams.

[emma85x]

I've never been advised this otherwise I would of stayed clear of putting them together...my male ram is not even compatible with rams...tried him with 2 females which I purchased together & they had to go back as they could never come out to feed. I honestly think he needs to be on his own but that's not fair on him either...lfs should of really advised me about this knowing I was setting up my first tank & inexperienced

[Coursair]

Originally Posted by emma85x

I've never been advised this otherwise I would of stayed clear of putting them together...my male ram is not even compatible with rams...tried him with 2 females which I purchased together & they had to go back as they could never come out to feed. I honestly think he needs to be on his own but that's not fair on him either...lfs should of really advised me about this knowing I was setting up my first tank & inexperienced

Some people do mix them. I think Rams are individuals on aggression. Some are violently territorial. Some just chase for a minute and then drop it.

I haven't kept Rams, but I've kept other Cichlids.

[emma85x]

Oh he doesn't drop it...he can chase until they find a good enough hiding spot...which can be a while. Definitely fits the bill of violently territorial lol! He's such a beaut too tho...