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Alright, I know I panic alot about how my fish act. But, this seems really strange to me. I have only had my panda cories a week now. Water parameters are all okay (Ammonia =0, Nitrite = 0, Nitrates = 10-20, temp 79) There are 3 platies, lots of platy frys, and 1 dwarf gourami.

When I was trying to find all the corys this morning, I had trouble finding one. I finally did. He was right above the suction cup of my starfish. The star fish is one of those large fake ones that is almost 12x12 inches. I have a bubble wall that is directly under the starfish. The cory didn't appear to be moving, and looked like he was stuck. So I turned off the bubble wall, He still didn't move. I thought maybe he had gotten stuck. We moved the starfish a bit, and the cory swam off, just fine.

Later today, I was again looking for all the cories, and found one ( I think the same one), once again stuck on the starfish, this time at one end of the starfish. Same thing, he didn't move until I shut the bubblewall off, and moved the starfish. Then he seems fine.

Now, there is a lot of room between the starfish and the glass, even the gourami can fit between....so I dont know what is up.

Also, last nite, a cory was resting on one of my larger leaf fake plants. near the middle of the tank....

I know, I may be over reacting, but is this normal behaviour? Should I worry?

I not sure if it's normal, but I've had cories get stuck in some of the most amazing places myself. I've pretty much removed anything where there is even the slighest possibility they could get stuck.

The cory resting on the leaf is no problem, don't worry about that. Is the other cory acting and eating normally, besides getting "stuck" in the starfish? If so, then it might just be acting goofy. Next time it happens, wait a while and see if the cory swims off by itself, or if it struggles to get free. That should tell you whether you should remove the starfish, or if the cory is just having its own kind of fun.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Well, both times when I saw the cory stuck, I didn't know how long it had been there, so I didn't know if it was still alive or not. (Those guys are hard to tell sometimes). So I mostly wiggled the starfish just to see if it was still flappin. And he never moved, not even to appear to struggle out of the spot (thats why I thought he was a goner)

Its hard to tell if it is eating, as I can't tell if any of my corys are eating (see previous post about underfed corys).

I thought I had read somewhere someone asking if the bubbles were dangerous for the fish. Because both times the cory was stuck, he was face down, getting a mouthful of bubbles (assuming he opened his mouth). and with no flapping fins, etc.

Its a very pliable starfish, and my son and I both love it, so I would hate to have to take it out...but I would if I needed.

Thanks for all your help.

Last edited by CyndieL73 at 11-Oct-2004 12:21

Nothing's normal about corys it seems....they'll even burry themselves past their gills in sand ...just for the joy of giving me heart attacks...


As for the bubbles...I seem to remember reading about Calilasseia's panda babies loving to surf the bubbles from an airstone.

^_^
*Proud member of the Committee for Sig Line Restoration*[/font]

Last edited by Babelfish at 11-Oct-2004 12:27

Corys do like to put themselves in strange locations and situations. I have, on several occasions, seen my coys sitting on top of the leaves of the massive Amazon sword in my tank (they are like 2" away from the surface) as well as being seemingly tangled up in my Sagittaria (only to easily swim off a moment later). They are silly little fish.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

I have one that sleeps upside down in Java Moss. Looks totally dead to the uninitiated, but when the lid pops up and food goes in it's instant wake up time

Oh, and BabelFish, juvenile Pandas will surf bubbles from an airstone because they have an 'upstream swimming instinct' they've evolved in their natural habitat. Their home consists of fairly fast flowing rivers, and fry get carried downstream, so once they're big enough to swim back, they do. They'll swim against any current they encounter, which is why mine surfed the powerhead bubbles in the main aquarium when they were juveniles. Of course, they do this less as adults because as adults, they can resist the current better and have less need to battle it than they do as juveniles. However, they'll still do it for fun if they're so inclined

Last edited by Calilasseia at 13-Oct-2004 11:38

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002