cory cats, what's normal behavior..?!

[tameem]

Tonight I also see that my three catfish are far more active. I got them a couple days ago and they would mostly hide in the fake driftwood for a couple days.

Today they are out and about and constantly up against the front of the glass, wagging their bodies; they seem happy. They are swimming around more. Im not familiar with normal cory catfish behavior, and everyone in the house is saying the poor things are hungry they want food. But we attemped to feed them, even I bought some sinking shrimp pellets, and unless they are just dumb, they didnt really find it.

Is there any reason for concern, or am I just overreacting?
My ammonia level is .50 since I first started the tank and this has not changed for a week no.

 

[wrestlingfreak7]

Mine acts like that so I think its pretty normal. Mine will spazz out for a few minutes than rest on its side then spazz, then rest and so on and so forth.

 

[Kissyboots]

Cories usually eat at night. Mine eat all the time because they are porkers. But I usually throw in 1 algae pellet (broken into several pieces) every other night. It's gone the next day.

 

[Lakea]

My corys tend to hide during the day, especially if I am around, but they are pretty much like wrestilingfreak7 said, spazzing out, resting, than going nuts again. My eat at anytime though, I usually feed them sinking pellets at night, they love that. Also algae wafers are great too and every once in a while I give them some blanched cucumbers, they love that. Just keep watching and make sure they do it, sometimes if fish are stressed they won't eat, and watch your ammonia carefully too, .5 is still stressful for fish.

 

[fbmaster02]

i have 2 corys all yesterday they laid down and now today they are going crazy

 

[tameem]

Thanks for all your replies. I dont think there is anything I can really do about the ammonia but just wait it out. This is what I was getting when i tested just my tap water actually. Ive never experienced 0 readings of ammonia. Its been the case evern since I had my tank up and running with no fish.

I havent had success feeding them. I even dropped shrimp pellets right in front of them, but with no response or interest. I dont know how many of you guys have success feeding them, cuz when I do it, even at night, the damn tiget barbs always seems to get to it first and finish before the cats even know. The cats are pretty active though and seem to look for food sometimes, despite the fact a shrinking pellet may be right near them!

Im thinking of seperating them by putting in one of those separators during feeding to ensure they get their share, but this all seems unncessary and maybe Im just not familiar.

 

[fbmaster02]

i would use flakes maybe instead and put extra in because most of the time they are bottom feeders

 

[Dustmite]

My experience with cories over the years is that they are some of the most active fish in the tank, expecially around feeding time. They don't necessarily go for the food right away; in fact, that doesn't really happen that much. They find it, don't worry! They are constantly sucking in whatever they can find as the dig around the substrate. My current cories lounge around about half the day and wiggle around looking for food the rest of the day. They are really fun to watch!