Corys acting weird

[Lei]

My Cories are acting a bit strange, I was wondering if anyone knew what was going on? I have 3 Bronze Corys, about a year or so old. The tank they are in is a community tank and has small shoals of Bloodfin Tetras, White Cloud Minnows and Harlequins (all of them tend to shoal together, so it's like one big shoal), and a Betta in a Betta tank.

Up until last week, there were also two goldfish in there, and a month or so ago there were also Chinese Algae Eaters (thank you LFS, who sold them as Siamese Algae Eaters). When I took the goldfish out, I also planted the tank (previously I had a cave and plastic/silk plants and a moss ball). I left the water and the filter the same, so it wouldn't be too much of a shock, and then I put the fish back in. None of them have seemed stressed, and in fact the shoals all look a lot happier.

The Corys, however... They seem to like sitting on or under their log, and they have some bare patches on the bottom to do their burrowing thing. They also seem to be eating OK (I feed them Hikari sinking pellets, and they eat the flakes for the other fish if they fall to the bottom, and I also give them a Hikari algae wafer once a week and live food once a week). But they've started swimming in the middle of the tank a lot - today when I went in to feed them all three were swimming in the middle of the tank, and it seems half the time I look they are in the middle of the tank. I'm worried this means there's a problem with the bottom of the tank? They've also all gotten darker - they are bronze Corys, so their sides are usually a medium/light brown colour, but the sides have gotten a much deeper brown in the last few days.

It looks like two of them have also started fighting - they keep swimming together in the middle of the tank and twisting around each other, and sort of nibbling a bit (I don't know how to describe it!) but thankfully I haven't seen any signs of injury. I'm really worried about this because I've never heard of Corys fighting in their shoals and I don't want to separate them.

I was planning on adding a few more Corys since there's more space without the Goldfish and they used to shoal with the CAEs (yes, I know, it shocked me too). I hope this might solve the problem with them fighting, but I can't in any conscience add more Corys if the ones I have are unwell or dislike their habitat, it's a recipe for disaster!

What does everyone think I should do?

[ancora_imparo]

Ok, I'm new to cories, but that sounds an awful lot like mating behavior to me-how many males do you have, and how many females? The females are bigger, and rounder. Are the side of all 3 darker, or just one or two? Do they sort of make a t-shape when they twist?

If you've ruled out anything else, I'd get two more males.

[lohachata]

they are trying to spawn....you may well find eggs on the glass or leaves or heater tube or almost anything with a solid surface....often occurs just after a water change or when the barometric pressure changes indicating an oncoming storm of some sort.

[Lei]

Haha, I can't believe I missed that! Yeah, I got home from work today to find eggs on the wall of my tank! I'm reasonably assuming they are baby Corys

So, based on the other fish in the tank, do I leave the eggs in there? Are the fry likely to survive at all?

[lohachata]

get a single edge razorblade and scrape the eggs off of the glass...put them in a container with an airstone and keep it warm...(about 80 degrees)...add a couple of drops of methylene blue to them to help keep fungus off....they should hatch in a few days..

[C. King]

Congratulations! . I am reminded of when I had my first pair of angels. I called the fish store in a panic, described how they were fighting and grabbing each other by the mouth. I was convinced they were killing each other! The guy listened patiently, then started to chuckle. He paused, then said, "ma'am, you're fish aren't FIGHTING...". I was so embarassed! At least he couldn't see my red face over the phone!

[Lei]

They were definitely breeding, I now have two separate clutches of eggs! I've moved them to the travel tank and I've put in the heater and some Java Moss. I need to get an air stone tomorrow and some meth-blu.

Thanks for the help guys! I've been reading the Cory breeding pages, so I think I know what to do from here - but if not I'll be back!