The melancholy of the Panda Corys

[fancytail]

Hi everyone!

I was wondering if anyone has any feeding techniques when it comes to feeding the fish that just can't get any food because of competition. My new panda cory's are having a hard time eating because my loaches keep hogging the food. One particular loach will literally bogart a whole entire algae wafer (It's kind of cute how it holds the wafer in its mouth and runs to a isolated corner though LOL).

Even the fish that aren't bottom dwellers get to the food before the corys do!

[Try-na]

Break up the wafer & scatter it all over the tank. That should give everyone a shot at eating

[Mlani]

What types of food are you feeding? To the said tank? Maybe mix it up, separate the feedings so that the cories will have more chances. Sometimes you can find a certain food that one will prefer to the other and will only search that out to eat. For example my discus prefer blood worms to shrimp unless its alive. While my bristle nose will go for the shrimp and choose a wafer above bloodworms. However they do seem to rotate through at the different feedings. That's why I figure smaller feedings more often.

[Try-na]

My fish have their assigned eating areas. Not sure how it happened but every morning after I turn on the lights my loaches go to one end of the tank & wait & the corys go to the other end. I drop in the sinking pellet for the loaches 1st (if you reverse the steps the loaches get mad & ruin the whole system) then I add the flakes for the other fish (the corys love this too) then I drop the broken algae wafer & the Cory food. Seems like they all have it figured out & are happy with the system

[fancytail]

Thanks for the advice guys!

I feed my fish a variety of foods. I feel super guilty on how much money I spent on their food (thank goodness that they take awhile to expire!). I crush up the pellet and wafer foods into smaller bits and then soak them for awhile. I feel like it might be a bad idea to soak them to make them softer because then the guppies are able to bite them. Grrr, it's annoying some times too because they totally ignore the flake foods and go straight for the sinking foods.

I feed my bottom dwellers:

1. Hikari Wafers
2. Thera Spectrum
3. Aqueon Pellets
4. API pellets
5. Frozen Blood Worms on occasion
6. Frozen Brine Shrimp on occasion
7. Zucchini.. rarely
8. Boiled Egg Whites (I have not tried this yet, but I plan too. I hear that Clown Loaches love it!)

Most of these foods are geared towards the Clown Loaches, but I'm sure the Panda Cory's will like them too-
I usually feed them in one spot, but I should start spreading it out more for the Cory sake. I hope I can train my fish like yours Try-na!

One reason my Cory Cats are not eating is because they hide when I try to feed them. One passed away... I don't want to lose the other 5. Would it be okay to take the hiding spot they hide in when I approach the tank to feed them? Or should I leave the hiding spot there?

[Try-na]

Maybe don't break all of the wafers up so small & don't soak them. This way they'll stand a better chance of getting to the bottom feeders. Also it will take them longer to eat. I don't soak mine at all so my gouramis, female bettas, guppies tend to ignore them & focus on the flake food

[Glow light tetra]

Put food in the hiding spot until they get comfortable in their new home, that's what I did with my glow lights when the guppies where hogging all the food.

[DavidAl]

Sometimes the only option is to feed more than enough, but this option will require more attention to water quality.

I'm assuming you're feeding after lights out...

David

[TheJakeM]

My Cory Cats won't eat algae wafers anyway. The only thing I can get them to eat(and they eat them ravenously) are goldfish flakes. They eventually sink to the bottom, or you can sink them yourself. They have lived over a year on them.

[Old Scales]

Corys need a meat diet. They'll eat some plant based but not much. The best way to feed corys in a crowded tank is sinking shrimp pellets dropped in the back corner of the tank right after the lights go out and the room is really dark. Corys are a catfish and universally catfish find their food by smell, not sight like the other fish. That's what their little barbels are for. Smelling out food. They'll be able to find the pellets when the other fish can't. Hope this helps you make these awesome, little fish happy. Luck, OS.

[fancytail]

Okay so, so far:

Feed when lights are off:
(I was thinking that this wouldn't matter much because my loaches are active during the night, but the guppies are blind so this is a total plus! Also, it should stop the corys from scurrying away if they can't see me.)

Meaty foods:
(I do feed them meaty pellets. Live foods not so much [traumatized from live foods because last time I fed my fish frozen live foods, they were attacked by parasites])

Don't soak foods


I would feed them where they hide, but they hide in the same spot where the loaches do. Since loaches senses are more aggressive eaters- they get too the food first. Grrrr.. maybe I should just should remove that hiding spot...


Just recently, I fed them by spreading the pellets out more and upping the amount. It worked, but these corys are crazy picky eaters! This is the 3rd brand of food that I've seen the pandas run their barbels over and ignore! Some eat it and some don't.

[Old Scales]

Yes, your loaches complicate things more. LOL.

[Glow light tetra]

Have you tried having multiple feeding areas? I've had to do that lots with my fish because the shrimp are much slower about eating than anything else, so if you put the food on opposite ends of the tank and let the loaches be distracted then you can feed the cats while they eat on the other side.

[Mlani]

How are you making out? Are they getting more to eat now?

[fancytail]

Down to 4... OMG these corys are sooo difficult! the last 4 are swimming against the acrylic and every where else together as a shoal ( is this a good sign?) . I'm hoping this means they're happy but the feeding issue is still inconclusive, geez..

[Mlani]

I would think the schooling is a good sign! When mine have been stressed in the past they've hidden away in small dark places. Are yours "playing" sort of like little puppies?? It may take some time for them to get used to or become aware of the changes you made for feedings. Just keep it consistent and hopefully they figure it out quickly.

[Glow light tetra]

Sounds like what keeps happening to my cardinals. I've had 2 batches of them and I only have two left.