# pepper cories dorsals



## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

2 weeks ago found the three peppers all had their dorsal fins torn up-- just the spines were left.They were ok during the daytime and the damage arrived sometime between when I went to bed and the next morning.
So they all grew back and now today the biggest cory has the clear part of the dorsal missing again and just the spines left.
tank mates are platies , black skirt tetras, a danio, and a BN pleco.
my money is on the BN. he is a brown and beige harlequin and I found he chased the SAe so much that I got rid of her. I am wondering if he is the culprit and I should have kept her.
I know you all say they are not aggressive but i really don't know who else would be around and about at night.
ideas? it is a planted tank. there are 2 pieces of very old wood in there too.


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## jones57742 (Sep 8, 2007)

mousey said:


> he is a brown and beige harlequin and I found he chased the SAe so much that I got rid of her. I am wondering if he is the culprit and I should have kept her.


ms: i do not understand what you are saying here.




mousey said:


> tank mates are platies , black skirt tetras, a danio, and a BN pleco.
> my money is on the BN.


ms: mine is on the Black Skirt's.

I did a ton of research and wound up with Red Phantom's.

This may really sound "off the wall" but could they be brazing themselves for some reason.

TR


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

Hi Again. 
I just thought maybe the pleco was the aggressor in the tank towards the SAE. She in turn hogged everything to eat there was. Maybe the pleco is the problem.
I have never seen the black skirts go after anything except themselves.
maybe the cories are getting caught on the plants or wood at night. i gather the pleco is around and about at night so maybe in their fright at getting woken up thyey are tankling in the plants. I dunno really- just bothered by the torn up dorsals.They spend a lot of time under plants.( anubias)


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

HA!
The one pepper has the top fin totally decimated this morning. I also caught the pleco chasing the cory as well as swimming in the midrange of the tank to chase the black skirts. He seems to get like this at feeding time.
it is not s if there isn't enough food for everyone.:-(


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## Kurtfr0 (Nov 2, 2008)

So wait it was the darn pleco?


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

yup, also chased the tetras around- little wretch. 
I watched him do it.
I would like to put him in a 20 gallon tank with another BN pleco but I am afraid they will fight.
I am really beginning to believe( no longer think) that having more than one kind of bottom feeder is not great.
I am thinking of splurging on a 30 gallon tall tank but that is not going to solve the amount of space on the bottom as that size tank is still only 24 inches long.
I don't want to get rid of the pleco as he is quite pretty and I got him when he was a little thread but I think he needs to be an only child.


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## Fishnut2 (Jan 18, 2005)

A 30 H (29) is 30" and a 30 L is 36". I never heard of a BN being that aggressive. Are you sure it's not a different type of Ancistrus?
Rich


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## jones57742 (Sep 8, 2007)

mousey said:


> He seems to get like this at feeding time.
> it is not s if there isn't enough food for everyone.:-(


ms: my two cents.

I overfeed in order to preclude this condition but please note that my main tank which is a 110G has enough biological filtration media for like a 500G or 1000G.




mousey said:


> I am really beginning to believe( no longer think) that having more than one kind of bottom feeder is not great.


ms: IMHO your belief is incorrect.

No one in their right mind would do this but I have three flavors of Loaches (13 fish I believe), two flavors of Cory's (11 fish I believe), and 5 BN's in my main tank.




mousey said:


> I am thinking of splurging on a 30 gallon tall tank but that is not going to solve the amount of space on the bottom as that size tank is still only 24 inches long.


ms: you may want to consider thinking in 3D.

My main tank is 30" deep but has rock and wood caves and holes to mid-depth of the tank. (It is very cute to see five Polka Dot Loaches sleeping together in a hole in driftwood.)

Please note that my tank is fairly heavily planted.

TR


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

-And so the torn fin thing continues. 
Anyone want a BN?


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## Guest (Mar 31, 2009)

i have never seen a pleco go after ANY thing! i have one in each tank. i dont think its the pleco.....2 of them are common pleco, and one is a albino chocolate pleco. he migth aggressive at feeding time...but i'm sure its not him.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

There is a 24" 30 gallon tank. It has the same footprint as the 20H. Its taller than it is wide, really hard to reach the bottom of. Plecos can be territorial over caves and stuff. Because it happens overnight, I think you are right about blaming the pleco. The tetras do their nipping in the daytime.

Can you tell if your two BNs are a pair? there is a chance they would breed, not fight.


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

At present the plecs are in different tanks. The older male gold is a very gentle fish and has 3 full grown cories with him and there is never any damage done on either the ccories or the BN. The tank where there is a problem has 3 young pepper cories and the young harlequin BN which I think is going to be a male. He has a few bristles around his lips and a couple of small bristles developing on his snout. He seems to be a more active type than the older gold.
It would be nice if they were a pair perhaps-- then I could house them together.
You are right about the footprint of the 30 high And about the depth being hard to reach. It is not going to suit me as I have a lot of neck and back problems. the reaching will bother me. I just would like NOT to see the cories shredded.


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