Albino cories

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 09 Sep 2003, 23:13

The scoop is thus: back in May, I purchased three albino cories. I assumed they were albino bronze.

But as of now, the three bronze cories I bought at the same time have DOUBLED in size. The albinos are still around an inch long, eat like pigs, and seem happy. They're in a 20 gallon, and there is three of them, soon to be 4.

Both groups of cories get the same food: frozen bloodworms and brineshrimp, live brine shrimp, shrimp pellets, fish flakes....but all of them love munching on algae wafers and zucchini. Water changes every week of 30% on both tanks.

The three bronze are in a 20 long with 3 emerald "cory" cats, and those cats also love the vege part of their meals.

But why aren't my albinos growing?

And what is the easiest way to tell if they are in fact bronze-albinos?

Post by **Silurus** » 09 Sep 2003, 23:29

But why aren't my albinos growing?

Maybe because they are albino peppered corys.

And what is the easiest way to tell if they are in fact bronze-albinos?

Look at the caudal peduncle. It should be more slender in peppered corys. In other words, the body of the albino peppered would be more sharply tapering towards the rear than an albino bronze (compare the pics of the albinos in the Cat-eLog and you see what I mean).

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 10 Sep 2003, 00:02

Silurus, I think that they may indeed be peppered....

I noticed that mine tend to have pinkish coloration around the dome of the head/dorsal fin area...and so does the picture of the albino peppered cory in the Cat-E-Log.

So they are probably peppereds?

Post by **Silurus** » 10 Sep 2003, 01:09

I wouldn't use color as a criterion for distinguishing between the two species, but the size difference makes it very likely that you have albino peppereds.

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 10 Sep 2003, 01:35

Shouldn't my albinos get larger? I think the Cat-E-Log mentioned something about 2.8 inches....maybe that was another profile.

Post by **Coryman** » 10 Sep 2003, 21:03

Check the dorsal fin spine, C. aneus albino have a fairly short dorsal spine, the second third and forth soft rays are all longer than the spine. With C. paleatus albino the dorsal spine is a lot longer with the second and third soft rays only marginaly longer. The body shapes of these two species are quite distinctly different.

Also if you look at the body the patterns are there although the overal colour of both species is the same. You can actually see the pattern on the body of C. paleatus, it looks the same way as if you took a piece of velvet and brushed it in different directions.

Have a look at the pictures on my site.

Ian