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I have 3 albinos and one regular green aeneus and wondering how they see each other as far as schooling goes. They like to be with their own kind but will the regular green recognize the albino as it's own kind or will it shun it because of the albinism? Vise versa. Since albinism is a defect would they possibly mate together..green and albino?

They will certainly be able to mate, and I expect that they will school together too. But I find that sometimes the corys I have [not albino] do not all keep together at all times, so seeing them separated doesn't mean that they don't recognise each other.

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Mats

most likely the albino's will consider the green aeneus as conspecific. Perhaps the green will not discriminate against the albino's but albinism is not something one encounters in nature often, so they might not follow the albinos.

I think it would be good to hear whether this theoretical approach holds ground

Well I will be observing the four of them and I'll update as I go.

Thank you everyone for your responses and opinions.

Hi

I have never had any problems with normal and albino fish of the same species not recognising each other. This in my tanks has applied to C. aeneus, C. paleatus, C. sterbai and Ancistrus sp(3). it has never stopped them shoaling together (where applicable) and certainly not stopped them breeding together.

I do not think fish primarily recognise the same species by sight, otherwise they must know how themselves look (they don't get to look in the mirror often!). There will be various other stimuli, smell, pheremones etc. that cause fish to recognise their own species. The same goes for recognising a member of the opposite sex in species where there no external differences to our eyes.

Matt

This is of interest to me, as well.. in fact, why I registered to the site today.

I have 4 Albino and 3 Emerald Corydoras in a live planted 30g "community" ...and they have been showing a LOT of interest in each other recently. In fact, twice in just a few weeks, I have seen breeding behaviour and eggs adhered to various surfaces in the tank. Of course, I don't have any idea which came from whom.. but there's a a lot of 'em.

The first time I saw this, the eggs lasted about a day... and then mysteriously disappeared. In the last couple of days.. the second time.... I caught Hurley, my Plakad male Betta, helping himself to Cory Caviar ....little stinker! I carefully removed the eggs from all the different surfaces and put them in a floating breeder thingy with some of the plants (Java ferns and moss), this morning.

I am interested to see what will come of this set-up and if any eggs will actually hatch out. (It seems all my critters seem to know I just received a 90g tank ..and are doing their duty to help me find a use for it )