Food For Bottom Feeders

[theotheragentm]

I feed shrimp pellets and algae wafers to my Panda Cories. The problem is they're slow and are afraid of everything. The Platies, Mollies, and Gouramis always get more than their share on the food. Is there anything to do to get more food to the Cories or maybe food that the other fish will touch less?

 

[LandGhoti]

Do the platies, mollies, and gouramies eat flakes? I occupy my swimmers with whatever they eat first, then drop the veggie wafers in for my loaches. Maybe if the other fish are busy eating, the pandas won't be so shy.

Or maybe you already do this too.

 

[slroo]

Do you try to drop them in at night after lights out? That works for my cories and my otherwise pushy, piggy rainbows.

 

[QTOFFER]

The bigger fish in my tanks pick up sinking foods intended for my corys and play hackey-sack with it until something easier to eat is offered.

You could try feeding the corys after lights out since they are nocturnal and rely more on smell to find food. Unfortunately, this will make it harder to watch them eat, which is usually a hilarious sight to see.

Another thing to try is placing the food in a driftwood or rock crevice or under dense vegetation where the other fish will have difficulty fitting.

 

[theotheragentm]

Yeah, I think I might try to go with some sort of night lighting to watch them eat. How good is fish vision? Would the glow of a TV still allow the other fish to find food pretty quickly if I had all other lights out?

 

[QTOFFER]

Even if the room lights are on, most of my fish zone out once the tanklights go out. Except, of course, the corys and BN pleco - they think it's showtime. However, the other fish will still respond and seem to be able to find flake food - they're just not so quick about it.