Are my corys going to starve?

[Shorty]

I have recently bought some sinking wafers predoninatley for my 3 cory cats, they are recommended for corys and other bottom feeders and the corys seem to love them - when they get the chnace ot eat them.

The thing is the other fish all home in on the wafers and they are all gone by the time my little corys get there, and they only seem to get a little tiny go at them before the guppies and platys bully them away.

I don't want to overfeed the fish, but at the same time I don't want my corys to starve to death

Should I wait until late evening to feed the wafers as by them the greedy fish should be snoozing? Or will the poor corys be asleep too!

Any advise would be great, I have even tried putting in a little flake first for the greedy buggers and dropping the wafers whilst everyone is at the top eating the flake - but as soon as the little devils see the wafers they ignore the flake and down they all go after the wafers - buggers.

 

[atmmachine816]

Do this, since catfish are usually most active at night feed your fish right before lights out, then once lights are out what say 10 minutes then drop in the wafers for your catfish and see if they eat them. That's what I do for my catfish or else the other fish eat them.

 

[0morrokh]

I'm having the same problem with my Otos and my naughtly livebearers.   So I'm just gonna move them to another tank.
That's good advice from atmmachine, plus you could try breaking up the wafers into a few pieces and putting them in various places so hopefully the Cories get at least one piece.
What kind of wafer are they, algae or general catfish wafers with meat as well as algae?

 

[Jason]

My cories usually leave the wafers as other fish are bigger and they chase them away but they survive on whatever is eaten. bits of food around the tank. Ive had one cory longer than any other fish in my tanks

 

[Butterfly]

You could also try breaking the wafers in half and dropping the pieces in different places. Doing this after the lights go out could help a bit.
Carol

 

[vin]

When I feed the corys, I do so late in the evening about 20 minutes before lights out. In fact, that's when I feed all my fish. The flake food goes first and while the others are occupied eating that, that's when I sneak in food for the corys.....

It seems to work and judging by the plump bellies on the corys, they're certainly not starving.

 

[Shorty]

Thanks peeps, the wafers are a vegetable mix with algae - all the fish love them - that was the problem! Lol, i am going to try feeding them later as suggested and I will let you know how it goes

Thanks again peeps - i knew i could rely on you guys and girlies

 

[chris02_84]

how do fish sleep?

 

[mistycheri]

Why not try grounding up the wafers so that the majority of em sinks to the bottom. The cory's are famous for cleaning up food that drifts down on top of plants and decorations. They don't seem to like large peices of food, and my other fish seem to ignore the smaller portions that sink to the bottom.

Just a thought

 

[0morrokh]

Cories need meat, unlike other cats that just eat algae and veggies. They would love some shrimp pellets or a catfish mix that contains meat as well as veggies.

how do fish sleep?

When fish sleep, they move very slowly on the bottom or maybe rest on a plant. While they don't close their eyes (no eyelids), they are sleeping. You can see when the lights go on that they take a moment to start swimming around as much as usual.

 

[Shorty]

Cories need meat, unlike other cats that just eat algae and veggies.  They would love some shrimp pellets or a catfish mix that contains meat as well as veggies.

how do fish sleep?

When fish sleep, they move very slowly on the bottom or maybe rest on a plant.  While they don't close their eyes (no eyelids), they are sleeping.  You can see when the lights go on that they take a moment to start swimming around as much as usual.

I have shrimp pellets and bloodworm pellets as well as frozen bloodworms It is simply a case of the poor corys getting to it first before the other greedy so-and-so's in my tank, lol. I have just turned out the lights and I will chuck in some food for the little darlings to see if everyone else ignores it


Some fish even sleep vertically in the water with their heads pointing downwards - I read that somewhere. Most of mine however either go under the plants on on the bottom and sleep there - although there is usally someone swimming about just to be awkward

 

[0morrokh]

Ok good. I didn't know you could get bloodworm pellets.
Hope the Cories get some food this time.

 

[Shorty]

Ok good.  I didn't know you could get bloodworm pellets.
Hope the Cories get some food this time.

It worked! The corys are going mad for the food - I guess they hadn't been getting much after all But all is well now. I got the bloodworm pellets off ebay - same as the shrimp ones, they do preffer the forzen bloodworm but the pellets are a good standby should I run out, as usual on a sunday evening when all the lfs are closed

 

[0morrokh]

I'm glad to hear! To bad that trick didn't work with MY fish! :

 

[Shorty]

I think my fish have below average intelligence lol

 

[0morrokh]

no, your fish are normal, my fish are just WAY too smart.

 

[Shorty]

;D