Mystery snails outcompeting cory cats for food

[strawtarget]

I have 12 panda corys and 3 golden mystery snails (pomacea diffusa). If I drop in several sinking wafers to feed the cory cats, the snails will immediately make a bee-line for them, from wherever they are in the tank. (Snails are faster than you think!)

Problem is, they are eating far more of the cory cat's food than are the cory cats. Each snail consumes about 2 wafers before the entire stock of cory cats can even finish off a single wafer.

The snails are growing at a very fast rate. VERY fast. They've probably doubled in size in the 10 days since I got them.

Do I need to start taking these guys out to feed the cory cats? Should I just add more food and let the snails be pigs? What would you do?

FYI- I'm supplementing the snails diet with blanched kale. They will eat the kale, but only once all of the cory's food has been eaten.

 

[absolutangel04]

I have 12 panda corys and 3 golden mystery snails (pomacea diffusa). If I drop in several sinking wafers to feed the cory cats, the snails will immediately make a bee-line for them, from wherever they are in the tank. (Snails are faster than you think!)

Problem is, they are eating far more of the cory cat's food than are the cory cats. Each snail consumes about 2 wafers before the entire stock of cory cats can even finish off a single wafer.

The snails are growing at a very fast rate. VERY fast. They've probably doubled in size in the 10 days since I got them.

Do I need to start taking these guys out to feed the cory cats? Should I just add more food and let the snails be pigs? What would you do?

FYI- I'm supplementing the snails diet with blanched kale. They will eat the kale, but only once all of the cory's food has been eaten.

If it me, I would add more food. Also, you can break the wafers up. The snails can only be in so many places at once.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

If it me, I would add more food. Also, you can break the wafers up. The snails can only be in so many places at once.

I break mine up. My snails are very greedy too!

 

[gabysapha]

I agree! I do that with my shrimp's wafers too. They get into arguments if I only put one entire wafer in there.
If I see a snail nearby and it's not a big deal for me to retrieve it, I would pull it out during the feeding and put it back once the cories are done.

When I had a betta in my community tank I would take him out of the tank with a small container and feed him there because he was so slow at eating. I know it sounds stressful, but he would get all excited when he saw his container coming!

 

[strawtarget]

Cool- thanks for the advice! Breaking up the wafers is a great idea.