Corydoras Panda swimming up and down glass

[shrimpkeeper222]

Hello guys. My new 5 Corydoras Panda are swimming up and down glass non stop. Is it normal?
Tank is a 14.6 gallon with shrimp soil substrate. Stock is RCS, Clown Killifish and 1 Ancistrus juv.
Also, my ancistrus seems to charge at them? Are Ancistrus territorial? Its around 7cm long now, and not fully grown.
Any help appreciated!

[MarlonnekeW]

Yes, it's normal for new cory's to swim up and down the glass for the first few days/weeks. It's caused by the stress of moving to a new aquarium and getting used to their new surroundings.

At the moment I'm also having problems with my Ancistrus being aggressive towards my cory's. I have an app. 33 gallon aquarium with 1 L144 female (10cm TL) and 8 Corydoras schwartzi and I'm starting to believe that this is still too small for this combination. Hopefully I'm wrong and someone else can give you some tips how to solve this problem.

[Mol_PMB]

Based on my observations in several tanks with various tankmates, Corys have no concept of territory and just go everywhere. They blunder into the territories of other fish without realising it.
So when you put them with territorial fish (which can include plecs, cichlids etc) there is usually some confrontation. However, in my experience I have not seen this go beyond an occasional chase. You need to worry if it becomes frequent or constant. This may be more likely when the territorial fish are breeding, or in a tank that is too small so there's nowhere for them to go out of sight.

[shrimpkeeper222]

As for the glass, the cories are now established! They are sheltering under some driftwood and plants now.
As for the ancistrus, its aggression has gone out of control. It charges whenever the cories approaches and it even chase shrimps and killifish! I put it in my emergency 6 gallon tank. Do I need to rehome it?

[bekateen]

Does your ancistrus have any caves to hide in (preferably more than 1)?

[shrimpkeeper222]

Yes. It is a ceramic cave, that looks like half a cylinder. It is 12 cm long, 5cm wide and 2.5cm high.

[bekateen]

Does your Ancistrus use the cave? Is your Ancistrus male or female? If your Ancistrus is a common bristle nose, then at 7cm (total length, I assume) it may not be full grown but it's not a juvenile, it's an adult; my male albino BN first spawned at that size, and my female was only a little larger.

I don't know if what I'm about to say is stereotypical of Ancistrus, but my male and female have different behaviors: The male prefers to stay in a cave most of the time, and burrows under driftwood occasionally. The female almost never hides in caves, and almost always hides behind or under driftwood.

So I'm still less concerned about your corys and more interested in knowing about the hiding places you've provided for the Ancistrus. If yours is a female, then maybe she ignores the caves and she's hiding by the driftwood, where the corys are.

I don't think your tank is too small because I used to keep my pair of albino BNs in a 20 gal high with 7 Scleromystax and they all got along well. Although my tank held more water than yours, a 20 gal high tank has the same floor space (footprint) as a standard 15 gal (in the USA, anyway).

Also, about the cave you, it might be too big for your Ancistrus: In my (limited) experience, plecos like to inhabit caves they can barely fit into. My male likes caves between 1 and 1.5 inches um diameter; he only occasionally uses a cave which is 2" across. You might try a cave about 3-4cm diameter instead of 5x2.5.

Maybe these ideas will help.

Cheers, Eric

[shrimpkeeper222]

Thanks a lot. To answer your question, my ancistrus is a female(lacks of facial 'bristles'), but does not like to hide much, and my 15 gal is not standard its highish(46,30,40 i think). So, i need to a smaller cave? But my plec seems to seek out the cories to chrge at them.

[Mol_PMB]

I think the tank is just too small for the Ancistrus to share the substrate with any other bottom-dwellers. The cories are always in its territory.

[shrimpkeeper222]

So rehome ancistrus?

[bekateen]

Since your tank is a "high" design and has a smaller footprint than a typical 15 gal, then maybe so - as Mol_PMB suggested, the tank bottom might be too crowded with bottom-dwelling fish. But if that option is problematic for you (e.g., you don't have another tank to move the Ancistrus to), then I'd suggest you first consider adding more hiding places, whether more driftwood, caves, tubes, whatever. And if that doesn't work, then definitely rehome, either the Ancistrus or the corys.

Cheers, Eric

[pleconut]

As Mol_PMB said, if the Ancistrus was in the tank before the cories went in, i assume that is the case, as you said the cories were new, and seeing the tank has a such small footprint, the ancistrus would have already considered the tank bottom to be entirely its own territory. Cories have no sense of territories, and as the Ancistrus was charging at them, it was probably the reason they are using the glass to swim up and down.

[shrimpkeeper222]

Since your tank is a "high" design and has a smaller footprint than a typical 15 gal, then maybe so - as Mol_PMB suggested, the tank bottom might be too crowded with bottom-dwelling fish. But if that option is problematic for you (e.g., you don't have another tank to move the Ancistrus to), then I'd suggest you first consider adding more hiding places, whether more driftwood, caves, tubes, whatever. And if that doesn't work, then definitely rehome, either the Ancistrus or the corys.

Cheers, Eric

Um how do I cover enough bottom foraging ground for the corydoras if i add shelter? If i rehome corydoras, would pygmy corydoras be tolerated since they are more midwater(though I doubt it)?

[shrimpkeeper222]

As Mol_PMB said, if the Ancistrus was in the tank before the cories went in, i assume that is the case, as you said the cories were new, and seeing the tank has a such small footprint, the ancistrus would have already considered the tank bottom to be entirely its own territory. Cories have no sense of territories, and as the Ancistrus was charging at them, it was probably the reason they are using the glass to swim up and down.

So, if I add ancistrus after the corydoras, would things be better?
THANKS FOR THE HELP EVERYONE SO FAR!!!

[bekateen]

Um how do I cover enough bottom foraging ground for the corydoras if i add shelter? If i rehome corydoras, would pygmy corydoras be tolerated since they are more midwater(though I doubt it)?

This is the challenge in a tank that size. If your Ancistrus is aggressive no matter how you furnish the tank, then rehoming is the only answer. If you do try redecorating, remove the Ancistrus from the tank while you work and change the whole bottom arrangement, then reintroduce the corys before the pleco. That might break its territoriality.

So, if I add ancistrus after the corydoras, would things be better?

As explained above, yes, it may help.

Cheers, Eric

[shrimpkeeper222]

Thanks Ill try!

[shrimpkeeper222]

Pandas are indeed too robust and active for my shrimps. So sadly, theya re going back to LFS. They are very uncaring and robust, charrging and darting around disturbing my poor shrimps. This set up was designed for shrimp, so shrimp first. The clown killifish has also been caught attacking shrimplets and is exiled to a 6 gallon tank.
On the bright side, our ancistrus is back!

[pleconut]

But now the ancistrus has formed the habit of charging at other fish, if you were to add more fish at any stage, it may be worth upgrading to a bigger tank in the long term for them all:-)

[shrimpkeeper222]

I see. Thanks for the help everyone!

[Corycory]

Hey. Ancistrus can be territorial. Mine is aggressive enough to push out a big common pleco 4 times its size out of the cucumber. I've seen it also charging and trying to smash a poor cory underneath. The more the cory tried to get out, the more the ancistrus pushed down. I raised mine from a fry and it fought off all fish for food which tells you what tough characters they are. A 15G tank is too small for it.
On another hand, corydoras and shrimp co-exist very happily. I've raised hundreds of shrimp alongside corydoras so I wouldn't be worried about some shrimp jumping when the corys search for food. They soon learn they've nothing to be afraid off in relation to corydoras and will try to ride their backs. And when the shrimp population grows significantly(corys don't eat shrimplets), the shrimp get startled by their own kind. It's just the way they behave. Shrimp are a bit "jumpy" behaviour wise but they surely are hard to stress out.

[shrimpkeeper222]

Yes I said in another post that I rehomed the Ancistrus. But I think with a 14.6 gal tall, panda cory with shrimp is a bit crowded, so ill go for pygmy cories.