Corys - Getting enough food?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

fish4phil

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Nov 8, 2013
Messages
337
Location
Michigan
36G Freshwater Tropical Community

2 days ago I bought 4 Corys. I love them! I have been feeding them 2 Hikari Sinking Wafers per day total.

Yesterday I put them in while feeding the rest of my tank flake food, the Corys missed the wafers, and the guppies and zebra danios ate them. I did 1 wafer during the morning feeding, and 1 in the evening feeding.

Today I put in 2 sinking wafers all crushed up 3 hours after the tank lights turned off (living room light still on). Corys are trying to get to the wafers, but the zebra danios and guppies are being bullies, hogging the wafers, and picking the pieces up and trying to bring them away. Attached is a picture of the bullies!

I feed my fish twice a day (consumed within 2-3 minutes) with "very few flakes falling on the ground". I have sand and gravel separated.

How can I get my Corys to eat the wafers instead of the rest of the tank eating them? I've tried feeding at night, distraction feeding and crushing them up.


And, if I can't get other tank mates to stop eating them, do I need to feed them less flakes?
 

Attachments

  • 20131126_225059.jpg
    20131126_225059.jpg
    228.9 KB · Views: 198
Fish need a lot less food than we think they do. They can easily go for several days without food. In fact, putting too much food in the tank is much more dangerous for them as it affects water quality.

I would not worry too much about the corys, as they spend all their time sifting for bits of food the other fish missed.

There's a lot of food in one of those pellets. I think putting in 2 is far too much! :)
 
36G Freshwater Tropical Community

2 days ago I bought 4 Corys. I love them! I have been feeding them 2 Hikari Sinking Wafers per day total.

Yesterday I put them in while feeding the rest of my tank flake food, the Corys missed the wafers, and the guppies and zebra danios ate them. I did 1 wafer during the morning feeding, and 1 in the evening feeding.

Today I put in 2 sinking wafers all crushed up 3 hours after the tank lights turned off (living room light still on). Corys are trying to get to the wafers, but the zebra danios and guppies are being bullies, hogging the wafers, and picking the pieces up and trying to bring them away. Attached is a picture of the bullies!

I feed my fish twice a day (consumed within 2-3 minutes) with "very few flakes falling on the ground". I have sand and gravel separated.

How can I get my Corys to eat the wafers instead of the rest of the tank eating them? I've tried feeding at night, distraction feeding and crushing them up.

And, if I can't get other tank mates to stop eating them, do I need to feed them less flakes?

I have the same gravel, pineapple, and fish as you!! :p i would not worry about the corys. There is a lot more food on the ground then you think. I would not be feeding them that much in a day. I feed my fish a small amount of flakes in the morning as soon as i get up and turn their light on. That's all they get in a day (the baby fish i feed at night also) wafers are more like a treat for fish unless that's all they eat. Guppies and zebra danios don't need algea wafers that much. Personally i would feed in the morning and then maybe if you wanted to put half a wafer into the tank at night... don't put a wafer in every day though. Fish can live several days without any food. Less food is wayyy better for fish then to much
 
You got me thinking.. What about feeding flakes when I get up (consumed in max 3 minutes) and dust off my automatic fish feeder to feed a measured out 1 crushed up hikari sinking wafer in the middle of the night for the corys while the rest of the tank is sleeping?
 
You got me thinking.. What about feeding flakes when I get up (consumed in max 3 minutes) and dust off my automatic fish feeder to feed a measured out 1 crushed up hikari sinking wafer in the middle of the night for the corys while the rest of the tank is sleeping?

Ehh it could work but odds are when the fish are sleeping the corys also are sleeping :p
 
Corys are nocturnal. My hesitation, would 3 minutes of flake food and 1 crushed wafer per every 24 hours be overfeeding?
 
You got me thinking.. What about feeding flakes when I get up (consumed in max 3 minutes) and dust off my automatic fish feeder to feed a measured out 1 crushed up hikari sinking wafer in the middle of the night for the corys while the rest of the tank is sleeping?

Corys IMO are meant to go around and pick left over food out of the gravel. When i had guppies they would pick at the gravel and her food out so i never got any corys. With my 29gallon i have 6 zebras and a gourami in there. I had 3 corys but the gourami ate them... i only had them to pick the remaining food off the gravely since the fish in that tank don't pick at the ground ever. When i did have them, i pretended like they weren't even there. They do not need a lot of food. You don't want them to get fat. My brother had one and he got very fat and lazy. Didn't clean the gravel anymore just swam around. Don't set the feeder to while your sleeping because the food won't get eaten if then fish are also sleeping. That will mess up your water. I think morning feeds and maybe every second or third day give them a small amount of wafer at night. I also don't feed my fish once a week. Every Friday then don't get fed. Its good to just clean them out and they will clean any extra food they can find in the tank. I know it sounds bad but its really not. Fish have small stomachs!
 
Corys are nocturnal. My hesitation, would 3 minutes of flake food and 1 crushed wafer per every 24 hours be overfeeding?

How many fish are in the tank? Id say personally... to much wafer. It expands a bit to don't forget... i think? Lol
 
How many fish are in the tank? Id say personally... to much wafer. It expands a bit to don't forget... i think? Lol

14 now, soon to be 30 over the next couple of months. All guppies, Danios, neon tetras, corys, snails, shrimp, platys, mollies

So morning feedings plus 1 crushed wafer every 2 days, and skip one day entirely? Sounds good! Why did so many people recommend Hikari Sinking Wafers then if it's not a table diet?
 
I keep thinking the same thing about my upsidedown catfish. They are also nocturnal. I crush two tabs into small peices and place them where I know they all call home. My biggest concern is my Raphael Cat Fish stealing the upsidedowns food, hes such a greedy little bugger. Its kind of funny to watch though. I put a small piece of wafer by his driftwood (very small because I have caught on to his thieving ways), he munches on it and "leaves it for later" and runs after another piece that is suppose to be for another fish. Takes their piece, hides in one of the caves and eats it. Then goes back to his little piece.

But my upsidedowns have been in there for about 2 months and they are fine. Very very active at night. None have died yet so I am not that concerned. I only feed my day eaters once every other day. They munch on my dwarf four leaf clovers and the squash I put in for my snails.
 
14 now, soon to be 30 over the next couple of months. All guppies, Danios, neon tetras, corys, snails, shrimp, platys, mollies

So morning feedings plus 1 crushed wafer every 2 days, and skip one day entirely? Sounds good! Why did so many people recommend Hikari Sinking Wafers then if it's not a table diet?

Wow sounds like a nice tank! I want to go back to guppies!! I love seeing the little babies. That's the same algae wafers i have, the ones in the green package. They are great for your fish as far as i know. I don't know much about the algae wafers in particular but i was told they are mainly did bottom feeders like pleco and cory.. also other small and big fish that eat algae a lot in their diet. The food amount sounds great. Id just watch and make sure everyone gets food and watch how much goes go the bottom. Even if the corys don't get food on the bottom being fed every second day is not bad. I don't want to be giving you bad advice or anything but what i am telling you is what i have been told/learned/did over the past 4 years
 
Have you thought about giving them fresh veggies? I believe that corys will eat them, but I could be wrong. A quick google search should tell you. If so maybe try some cucumber, squash, zucchini, lettuce or spinach. I like these because they don't dissolve and I can take any uneaten stuff out. I buy them, cut them into peices and freeze them. When you want to use them, take a few pieces out, put them into a cup with water and microwave it for a minute. This will allow them to sink.

Edit: sorry cup with water*
 
My Corys DEVOUR boiled or blanched zucchini or squash, fun to watch how they burrow holes into the meant of the slices of veggies. And yes be sure to remove leftovers.
 
My Corys DEVOUR boiled or blanched zucchini or squash, fun to watch how they burrow holes into the meant of the slices of veggies. And yes be sure to remove leftovers.
Thanks for clearing that up Jbrock, learn something new everyday! lol
 
Cories are omnivores but Cories need a meat based diet.
Shrimp pellets
Catfish wafers
Frozen or live Brine Shrimp and worms are best foods.

Algae Wafers are for Algae Eaters like Plecos...Cories can eat them, but they are NOT a complete diet for them.
Some Cories may eat veggies. Mine prefer worms and shrimp and other meaty foods.

Give them some caves and you can target feed using a baster with frozen/thawed Worms or shrimp.

Yes you should feed your bottom feeders.
Don't overfeed.
Yes you can feed while other fish are sleeping, Cories have a great sense of smell.

What species of Corydoras ?

Try Planet Catfish for awesome Cory info. As well as AA.

My clubmember breeds Corydoras...about 10 (?) species.

Keep the substrate clean or they may get infections and lose barbels.
 
I've been feeding my 4 Corys (2 Sterbai and 2 Panda) .5 Sinking Catfish Wafers per day per Cory, so 2 total. I feed my guppies and Zebra Danios twice a day what they consume in under 1 minute. During the morning feeding, I break 1 wafer into 5 pieces or so. The Corys love them but are very quickly pushed out of the way from guppies and Zebra Danios, one whom nearly chokes on a wafer piece so big his gills stick out, every single time. The other wafer I have crushed into powder and my automatic feeder drops in (carefully measured) the crushed wafer every night at 2 AM.

Without knowing if the Corys are up or not or if the smell of the food wakes up the other fish (but it's crushed?), I don't know if Corys are getting enough food.
 
I drop in algae wafers for my cories. The other fish mostly ignore them. That way I know that if they don't get any pellets, they will at least have something to eat.
The snails like the wafers too, so they always get completely devoured.
 
I also wonder if my cory cats get enough food or not.... Had them for months and they are all fat and healthy so I guess they are! :)
 
I feed my corys sinking pellets rather than wafers. The wafers take a while to dissolve and my swords and neons just pick at them until they have fat little bellies.

I started sinking pellets because even though the swords eat them they can only fit one in their mouth and while they are sucking and spitting it out my corys can get the others. I also feed my corys spinach, broccoli, cabbage, peas etc but only twice a week max.

I will add a quarter of a wafer at night for my ottos but I leave lights on a lot longer now to try to build algae up. But even then this is every couple of days.

It's definitely better to feed the corys after lights out when the other fish are stationary. The pellets are tiny so I chuck a few in.

Always test your nitrates when you change a feeding pattern. If they are rising quicker and forcing you to do extra water changes you are feeding too much. Like already said fish can go days without food. A hungry fish is a healthy fish is a saying I always remember. Common sense prevailing of course.
 
What do you guys think of these?
My cories will nibble at the algae wafers I feed the snails, but I see they do need some protein in their diet.
I can never tell if they get any of the sinking pellets (NLS .5mm), the other fish are all such ravenous pigs
 
Back
Top Bottom