question about corys

[Will Equals Ftw]

I have 5 peppered cory cats in a 10g tank with my beta, I've had them in there for about a week and today I just noticed that they have a slight green shiny area around and behind their gills. This might just be due to the way the light from outside is shining on the tank and I have just never seen this before (which i hope). But I just want to know if this is normal to the species or if this is something I need to worry about.

thanks.

[hedgehog]

I think that it's normal. The pictures I looked at on google had a sheen of green around/behind the gills of peppered cories. I don't actually have any peppered cories but my bronze cory has the green sheen and even my albino has a very slight one (she actually might be a peppered). I would say keep an eye on their behavior and if nothing changes then its just normal coloration.

[Will Equals Ftw]

i do believe that the albino are the same species as the peppered just more, white. Its good to know that its normal, even though I've only had my corys for a week I've already grown quite attached to them. They are quite active and really explore around the tank.

[hedgehog]

Albinos can actually be of the same species as either bronze cories (C. aeneus) or peppered cories (C. paleatus). Since my albino Casper was in a mixed cory tank that had both peppered and bronzes I'm not certain what species she actually is. She schools with my C. aeneus though so she's probably an albino version of a bronze cory.

[tf1265]

That's normal. My peppered cories have that as well. I didn't notice it at first (or maybe it's only there when they're happy), but the more I looked at them the more I noticed these very shiny greenish patches on them near their head and gills. I love them!