The Puffer Forum

Hey, so a couple weeks ago I got Neon Tetras, they all died... luckily the store had a 5 day fish warranty. So I went back, the other Tetras looked a little sickly, so I went with some other stuff. Among those other fish were two Cory Cats. One of them (and the rest at the store) look dark grey with light spots and stripes and gold eyes. The other was white with black spots and black eyes and black fins...

Which of these is normal?
Are they two different types of fish?
If they are indeed the same type of fish, why the inverse coloration?

Pics would help identifying them.

Alright here are a picture of each one (oh snap, my camera has an aquarium setting?!). The one with the black fin (Sky Leopard) was the only one like it in the shop, the other looked like all the rest. They were both sold to me as Cory Cats, and to me look a good deal different. The one with the black fin is a bit smaller though, so maybe it's a maturity thing?

The other one looks like a sterbai to me.

The first one is a c. sterbai. The other one looks like a very young c. trilineatus. Or if it has a long nose, it's a c. leopardus. It's hard to see from the pics. But the first one is definitely a sterbai.

It's hard to tell really, but I think it's probably C. Trilineatus, though neither would bring up pictures with black eyes, which is interesting. Sky Leopard is only a little smaller than the other one, so I doubt it's too much younger... Are there any real differences in the three other than pattern?

The common name Sky Leopard is a name I do not know. That's the problem with common names, they can vary from LFS to LFS and supplier to supplier. The only one I can think of as the third cory that looks like trilineatus or leopardus, is c. julii. Yours is definitely not a julii. There are an awful lot of cories that are sold as julii, but I've never seen one that has been a julii. All the cories I've seen been sold as c. julii, have been c. trilineatus. C. julii is a rare cory, and you can only get wild caught specimens, if you are very lucky. As I said: I've never ever seen one. The main difference between c. trilineatus and c. julii, is that c. julii has completely round spots. C. trilineatus has a more brainlike pattern. But even this is not a certain way of way of identifying the cory. If it has brainlike pattern, it's never a c. julii. But round spots can both be julii and trilineantus. There are big variations on the pattern of the c. trilineatus.

The difference between trilineatus and leopardus, is mainly the nose. Trilineatus has a short nose, leopardus is a long nose species. Leopardus also grows to be a larger cory than trilineatus. To compare the three species, here you have links with pics and information about the species.

C. julii
C. trilineatus
C. leopardus

There is even a species that looks very much like leopardus, C-102. I'm not quite sure what is the difference between leopardus and C-102, but I am getting more and more certain that my "leoparduses" actually are C-102.

Troender wrote:The common name Sky Leopard is a name I do not know.

Sky Leopard is the name I gave him, haha, when I first got him, he stayed at the top of the tank, even though at the store he was on the bottom, as was the other which has yet to be named.

It's very common that cories surf up and down the glass right after having been moved. Moving cories is one of the tricks to make them start breeding. Cories breed in the rainy season. By imitating things that happens when the rainy season starts, we can get our cories start spawning. The reason why moving cories works, is that in the rainy season the environment the cories live in, changes quite a lot. Things are tossed around, and there are areas under water, that used to be land. When moving cories, they probably think it's the same thing that has happened.
It doesn't mean that your cories will start spawning, but there is a small chance that they will.

Troender wrote:It's very common that cories surf up and down the glass right after having been moved. Moving cories is one of the tricks to make them start breeding. Cories breed in the rainy season. By imitating things that happens when the rainy season starts, we can get our cories start spawning. The reason why moving cories works, is that in the rainy season the environment the cories live in, changes quite a lot. Things are tossed around, and there are areas under water, that used to be land. When moving cories, they probably think it's the same thing that has happened.
It doesn't mean that your cories will start spawning, but there is a small chance that they will.

Given that I only have two, and they are different species, I doubt they will spawn. I'm going to go and see if I can't give one back and get a few more of all the same species.

Also, one surfed the glass, but Sky Leopard was just at the top, not going up and down. Either way, its and awesome name I think... Ridiculous, but awesome. They are all in a 90 gallon now...

If they still have more at the LFS, I would pick up at least 4 more. Cories are quite social schoaling fish, and they get stressed when they are in small groups or alone.

Bazil is right: Cories are to be kept in groups. 5-6 is an absolute minimum. They also need sand substrate. On the gravel, it can easier develop a thin layer of bacteria that is unhealthy for the cories. Other fishes are not affected by this, but the cories are very vulnerable to this problem. After a while, you will see the barbels getting smaller/shorter, and that's not a good thing. If the problem isn't fixed they will die in the end. Giving the cories sand will solve the problem. And it's not only because of the layer of bacteria: Sand is the natural substrate for cories. If you ever see a cory sticking its whole head down in the sand, and also filtrering sand through its gills, you will see that this is what's natural for them. The sight of a cory that gets sand under its belly for the first time...

A last warning: if you decide you will get a group of sterbais, be sure to get the LFS to put each specimen in its separate plastic bag (for transporting it home). All cories can release stress poison, but sterbais are the worst. If they are only one in each bag, they will at least only kill themselves if one of them releases much poison. And of course it will be less poison in the water in the bag if there's only one cory releasing it. I've seen this far too many times with sterbais, and it's always very sad. Honestly: I do this with every cory I buy. Even if I buy 20-30 cories, I ask to have them bagged separately!