Are corys good algea eaters?

[875mill]

I was having a brown algea outbreak that I wasnt really to concerned about as I heard this is normal in new tanks and will usually go away on its own. Well while at the local pet smart I bought 5 spotted cory's brought them home and out them in my tank. Within 10 min they all started going to town on my brown algea. They were all over my tank the rest of the day and all night eating that stuff. I've never seen a fish eat like that. This morning at leats half the algea was gone and I expect the rest to be gone by tonight or tomorrow. I didnt even know cory's would eat algea, so as you can imagine I'm thrilled to death with my new fishies. Any way quick question should I buy some algea wafers for them ? I bought some sinking shrimp pellets, thinking thats what they would like, and they didnt even touch those last night.

 

[aquanewbie72]

WOW that is fabulous news! I have a brown algae breakout too which has been plaguing me for a couple months now. and my plain silver/gray Cory cat won't touch the stuff. I've often heard Otos eat it, but my LFS had a bad experience with a batch of them (half came in DOA, the other half was sick) so they refuse to stock them anymore. Maybe I should look into these spotted corys? How big do they get?

As far as food, my cory and my clown loach eat Tetra Min Tropical Tablets (sinking tablets especially for bottom dwellers). I take one and break it in half before dropping it in- so each of them gets a half. My clown loach loves them so much, he comes out and clicks at me every meal time and then CHOWS DOWN. LOL

EDIT: My research says spotted corys only get 2.5"-3". I will have to check my LFS.

 

[875mill]

I've never heard of them being big algea eaters espically brown algea. maybe they wasnt getting enough to eat at the store.

 

[Dragonchild85]

I have a spotted cory and he doesn't eat the algae, but neither do my panda, albino, or green cories...Congrats on getting a hungry one!!

 

[875mill]

Bad news got home from work to find 2 dead corys The other 3 seem fine and are very active but so did the two who died. Are corys very sensitive when being introduced to a new tank? I've never lost any fish that fast except for neons. Testing my water now will post the results when I get done. What a bummer.



ok just checked my water results are

ammonia 0ppm
no2 0ppm
no3 5ppm
ph 8.0
kh 70ppm
po4 .5ppm

So I dont think that there is anything wrong with my water. Would it be safe to assume that these fish were sick when I got them? I'm just a little concerned cause Ive always heard that they were hardy little fellas and they seemed great the night before.

 

[SerLunchbox]

your pH is a bit high for most corydoras species. I have the same problem ... i can keep them for a few weeks (and mine is at a pH of 7.6) but they all die eventually/

By the looks of your pH you could also easily house most african cichlid varieties.

Another place to look is just what fish do you keep with them?

As for corydoras eating algae; no, they typically do NOT eat algae, HOWEVER just about every fish that i can think of WILL eat algae as a food source if they are that hungry.

 

[875mill]

Well got home from work today and found another dead cory, that leaves me with two. Debating on weather or not i should go beck and get the dead ones replaced. I agree that my ph is a bit high but I dont believe it would kill them off that quick would it? Also I do plan on adding CO2 eventually do you think th ph decrease i will get using co2 would make my water more suitable for them?

 

[Simpte]

Cories aren't algae eaters. They are scavengers. Cories (most anyway) do well in soft water with lower PH.

 

[SerLunchbox]

your addition of CO2 will decrease the pH; also, that pH most certainly could kill your cory's that fast. pH changes for some fish is the number 1 killer besides humans!

 

[Guest]

WOW thats a high PH for corys, I'm suprised they lasted that long. I agree with the co2 it will drop the PH to a sutieable level in no time. My tap water is 7.8 to 8 also I addedaDIy co2 to my 75gal planted tank and with in 1 day it droped to a sutieable 5.8 at 23ppm of co2. Just right for my Panduros and Nijssi Apistos to breed { yee haaw } LOL

 

[Guest]

are you feeding the cories sinking food like pellets or disks for bottom feeders??? Are they getting enough food that falls to the bottom?