Cory feeding situation!

I have a group of 4 false juliI corydoras (plans are to have 8) in a 26 gallon bowfront, along with a group of 10 glowlight tetras. I have a feeding plan to feed the tank once a day, with the glowlights getting their food (flakes, pellets, or freeze dried foods, depends on what day it is), and the corys get their shrimp pellets, and hopefully some freeze-dried foods as well. I tried it the first day I got them, and they weren't interested at all. I thought that it was fine, since they were just added to the tank and they were certainly stressed out.

I tried it again the second day, this time the corys expressed interest, however they were too slow to the food, and the glowlights got to it first. I was concerned about that because I was worried that the corys weren't going to have any food to eat, not even the leftovers since my glowlights will attempt to eat almost anything that goes into the tank. I decided to browse on some fish forums on some ideas on how to feed corys, many of which didn't pan out well. I tried feeding on two different sides of the tank, but again the glowlights finished their food quickly and the corys had no chance against those 10 orange mini-piranhas. I tried feeding them the pellets at night, about half an hour after being in complete darkness. I decided to check if the corys were eating the pellets about a few minutes later. Once again, all I saw was those 10 glowlights in one corner ripping the pellets to shreds.

I even tried burying the pellets just slightly under the substrate, but shallow enough to where the corys could sense it with their barbels. The first part of the plan worked, they were able to find the pellets. But the glowlights caught on to that not even a minute after the first cory found a pellet. They started surrounding the corys that stayed in one spot for longer than a few seconds, and patiently waited for the cory to reach the pellet. As soon as the pellet was even slightly out of the substrate, one of the glowlights would snatch it up.

I'm at a loss right now, I've tried about every method that I could find to try to feed the corys and nothing has worked, not because of the corys lack of interest, but because of my glowlights. I really don't want to return the corys because they're an absolute joy to watch with their antics, but if it's the best thing for me to return them, then I'm willing to do so, I just don't them to starve to death that's all. What should I do here? Are there any other methods that could work? Or should I just return them back to the lfs. And are there any other bottom dwellers that could work here if I do have to return them?

 

Feed them pellets at night ? To be honest it is hard to starve a cory - there is always little bits of food. Tetra are messy eaters...

 

Feed them pellets at night ? To be honest it is hard to starve a cory - there is always little bits of food. Tetra are messy eaters...

I'm guessing mine are different then. My glowlights eat just about anything that they can find, even if it's on the substrate. I've seen them peck at the substrate quite often, looking for food, whenever I'm not feeding them.

 

Is anyone able to help me here? I just want to make sure that these corys are going to be fine, just being concerned is all. Does anyone else know other methods out there that could help let the corys eat their pellets in peace without worrying about the glowlights? My glowlights have also especially had issues with bloat in the past back when I was overfeeding them. Then I changed up the feeding routine, and I haven't seen any bloating since. The amount of food that I'm feeding them plus shrimp pellets I believe is too much for them, and I'm worried that it'll trigger the bloat issues once again in the future.

 

feed the corys at night

 

feed the corys at night

I already attempted that, didn't work

 

try feeding blood worms to them or brine shrimp corys don't like flake food much they dond get it in the wild

 

try feeding blood worms to them or brine shrimp corys don't like flake food much they dond get it in the wild

Did you even read the first post, not to sound rude or anything. I'm not feeding them flakes, I'm trying to feed them shrimp pellets that are specifically designed for bottom dwellers. I also tried to feed them freeze dried foods, but again the glowlights just eat all of the food before it reaches the bottom.

 

I may overfeed mine wafers, but at night I throw 3 sinking and 3 algae wafers in, scattered across the front. I don't know who eats them but with skirts and platys in there, I know my cories have competition. I've turned the light on in awhile and they were all happily chewing on them, several cories would have 1 or 2 and the rest divided. I've seen one of my black skirts pick one up and take off with it sticking out of her mouth, looks pretty funny. She takes it to the top, drops and catches it 20 times chomping away... greedy piggy fish! I don't remember in your post how long you've had the cories; how are they looking? Are they rounded or looking starved?
Maybe you could cut the wafers in half and scatter them more? Fish always seem to get enough to eat, more bits are left behind than you realize and cats will scavenge and find it in the dark.

 

I may overfeed mine wafers, but at night I throw 3 sinking and 3 algae wafers in, scattered across the front. I don't know who eats them but with skirts and platys in there, I know my cories have competition. I've turned the light on in awhile and they were all happily chewing on them, several cories would have 1 or 2 and the rest divided. I've seen one of my black skirts pick one up and take off with it sticking out of her mouth, looks pretty funny. She takes it to the top, drops and catches it 20 times chomping away... greedy piggy fish! I don't remember in your post how long you've had the cories; how are they looking? Are they rounded or looking starved?
Maybe you could cut the wafers in half and scatter them more? Fish always seem to get enough to eat, more bits are left behind than you realize and cats will scavenge and find it in the dark.

I've had them for about a week now. While they don't look starved, they do look a bit skinnier now than the day I bought them. So I think they're at least either getting some of the pellets or surviving off of leftovers or something. Also one question, can corys eat diatoms? My tank has been experiencing a diatom outbreak for the last 2 weeks or so, and they constantly like to nibble on the plants that are partially covered in diatoms. I heard that it could be a sign of spawning, but I highly doubt it since they've only been in the tank for a short time.

 

I did read your post and get where your comeing from and one way around the tetras eating the food is use a net to block the tetras from getting the food then the corys will get some

 

Could you maybe try feeding the tetras first on one side of the sink, and while they're preoccupied feed the cories on the other side of the tank? Maybe place a divider between the two sides, but not all the way to the substrate so the cories can slip under.

 

Hi, get a small pestle & mortar or use a saucer & back of a sturdy spoon to crush the corys pellets as fine as you can, the corys will be happy for hours hoovering up the particles & your other greedy fish won’t bother with food that small

 

I ended my food stealing & arguments with a highly scientific method.....not....

I get all my flakes, pellets and freeze dried food and put it all in one enormous airtight tub. Shake vigorously to mix to perfection.

At breakfast times, take an appropriately sized pinch of the mixed food and drop it into the aquarium.......no fighting or stealing each others food cos some sinks, some floats and some hangs halfway down so everyone gets what they want at the same time

 

I've had them for about a week now. While they don't look starved, they do look a bit skinnier now than the day I bought them. So I think they're at least either getting some of the pellets or surviving off of leftovers or something. Also one question, can corys eat diatoms? My tank has been experiencing a diatom outbreak for the last 2 weeks or so, and they constantly like to nibble on the plants that are partially covered in diatoms. I heard that it could be a sign of spawning, but I highly doubt it since they've only been in the tank for a short time.

What they're doing is eating the microorganisms that grow on plants, mine do it all the time.

 

Hi, get a small pestle & mortar or use a saucer & back of a sturdy spoon to crush the corys pellets as fine as you can, the corys will be happy for hours hoovering up the particles & your other greedy fish won’t bother with food that small

I just tried the idea and crushed 3 shrimp pellets as much as I could, ended up being about the size of those micro pellets that HikarI sells, probably a bit smaller. I fed both foods on different sides once more and it didn't exactly go well. Half the glowlights went after the pellets, while the other half went after the spirulina flakes (that's what I feed them every Wednesday). I would say that about 90% of the particles were eaten up the glowlights. At least each of the corys got some of the crushed up bits, but it was all gone after 5 minutes, including the spirulina flakes.

 

try feeding blood worms to them or brine shrimp corys don't like flake food much they dond get it in the wild

No fish gets flakes in the wild John hahaha.

 

I suppose you could probably feed your fish so much food that the tetras can't eat all of it so the corys get the same amount too. I don't know if that will work or if the tetras will eat it all still

 

I suppose you could probably feed your fish so much food that the tetras can't eat all of it so the corys get the same amount too. I don't know if that will work or if the tetras will eat it all still

My glowlights had bloat issues back when I was feeding them more. So feeding a ton of food would just cause my glowlights to bloat, something that I'm trying to avoid. Also, my ammonia would get way out of hand if I did that.

 

That is not a good idea. It will quickly pollute the water. I think the op is a bit worried about a non-existing problem - I have tetra and they are very messy eaters - lots of left over for the cory. The only issue I could see is if the op is feeding so little all the fishes will eventually starve - but if they are really concern as I said after all lights are out just drop a 1/4 pellet per cory - I use hirakI pellets myself. The only real exception would be if these are very young cory in a growth stage - then they should probably get a bit more food. I used to worry about my clown (mostly because they were extremely skinny and to be honest when they were hungry they let the other fishes know. Like wise for a long time I never saw my sterbaI eat but that didn't prevent them from getting nice and fat. Now truth be told I have lots of plants and bits of food always get trap in the plants and the loaches and cory have no problem at all combing through the plants for missed pieces of food when hungry.

Btw if you ever want to see an aggressive clown just buy a really skinny one and throw at pellet near it - it will tell the other fishes to keep away.

I suppose you could probably feed your fish so much food that the tetras can't eat all of it so the corys get the same amount too. I don't know if that will work or if the tetras will eat it all still

 

That is not a good idea. It will quickly pollute the water. I think the op is a bit worried about a non-existing problem - I have tetra and they are very messy eaters - lots of left over for the cory. The only issue I could see is if the op is feeding so little all the fishes will eventually starve - but if they are really concern as I said after all lights are out just drop a 1/4 pellet per cory - I use hirakI pellets myself. The only real exception would be if these are very young cory in a growth stage - then they should probably get a bit more food. I used to worry about my clown (mostly because they were extremely skinny and to be honest when they were hungry they let the other fishes know. Like wise for a long time I never saw my sterbaI eat but that didn't prevent them from getting nice and fat. Now truth be told I have lots of plants and bits of food always get trap in the plants and the loaches and cory have no problem at all combing through the plants for missed pieces of food.

okay, never mind, definitely don't do what I suggested.

 

That is not a good idea. It will quickly pollute the water. I think the op is a bit worried about a non-existing problem - I have tetra and they are very messy eaters - lots of left over for the cory. The only issue I could see is if the op is feeding so little all the fishes will eventually starve - but if they are really concern as I said after all lights are out just drop a 1/4 pellet per cory - I use hirakI pellets myself. The only real exception would be if these are very young cory in a growth stage - then they should probably get a bit more food. I used to worry about my clown (mostly because they were extremely skinny and to be honest when they were hungry they let the other fishes know. Like wise for a long time I never saw my sterbaI eat but that didn't prevent them from getting nice and fat. Now truth be told I have lots of plants and bits of food always get trap in the plants and the loaches and cory have no problem at all combing through the plants for missed pieces of food when hungry.

Btw if you ever want to see an aggressive clown just buy a really skinny one and throw at pellet near it - it will tell the other fishes to keep away.

Like I previously mentioned, my tetras aren't messy eaters and they'll finish almost all of their food, even eating food off the substrate. And my glowlights are definitely not being fed little food, as they look perfectly fine and are active. And I already attempted feeding them at night, and the glowlights instead ate the pellets. To put it simply, my glowlights just won't stop eating. Back then, I fed them probably at least twice or three times as much and even the male glowlights looked plump, which for anyone who has kept glowlights knows that's not supposed to be the case. And not to mention, they had bloat issues until I started feeding them once a day, and everything has been going fine since.

 

I don't think you have much to worry about really. Fish will scavenge endlessly and I'd imagine the cory's are finding more than you think they are. If you're still concerned try out Fluval Bug bites small-medium size granules. They're tiny granules, it will be impossible for your glowlights to eat them before the corys. The corys will have plenty to scavenge for a good amount of time.

 

I don't think you have much to worry about really. Fish will scavenge endlessly and I'd imagine the cory's are finding more than you think they are. If you're still concerned try out Fluval Bug bites small-medium size granules. They're tiny granules, it will be impossible for your glowlights to eat them before the corys. The corys will have plenty to scavenge for a good amount of time.

I bought the Fluval Bug Bites today at my lfs. I then realized I bought the wrong formula and bought the tropical formula instead of the bottom feeder one, but it didn't really matter. The glowlights didn't notice the granules for a bit, and by the time they did, the corys ate most of it. So I'm really happy with this product, thank you for recommending this. You're right, they were probably fine anyway, but I still managed to find a food that the corys love, so I'm just ecstatic right now.

 

I bought the Fluval Bug Bites today at my lfs. I then realized I bought the wrong formula and bought the tropical formula instead of the bottom feeder one, but it didn't really matter. The glowlights didn't notice the granules for a bit, and by the time they did, the corys ate most of it. So I'm really happy with this product, thank you for recommending this. You're right, they were probably fine anyway, but I still managed to find a food that the corys love, so I'm just ecstatic right now.

Good to hear! As far as dry foods go my fish go the most crazy and excited over Bug Bites compared to anything else I've fed them.

 

What is good about the bottom-feeder pellets is that they break apart. The Tetras may be looking at the bottom for food, but they are missing the smaller bits that the cories can still find. I am not sure if this is what you are doing when feeding at night, wait about an hour for the glowlights to fall asleep and then feed the cories their pellets. this will ensure that they find more of it.

 

Use big enough sinking pellets that the tetras can't lift them, and it's no problem. All they can do is peck food off the pellets and the cories will get their share. I also have tetras and cories and feed both flakes and pellets. The tetras rush to the pellets once their flakes are gone but the cories still get enough.

 

My cardinals are heavily overfed by now since many experiments failed to get the food to my cories. Now I have a solution. I pulverize 1/8 of a tablet, mix it with some tank water and just pour it in the filter outflow. The small particles keep the tetras busy without overfeeding them and then everything settles on the substrate, the leaflitter and the rootwork. Now all my fish have to forage, finding small bits all over but no chance of overfeeding immediately by munching down on big amounts. Freeze dried foods I rehydrate and then pour in some of it at one side to keep the tetras busy and the rest goes in the outflow as well. Same procedure with frozen foods. Usually with all of it the food is gone within 15min now without overfeeding.
In any case all fish are getting something. Only problem is the filter has to be cleaned more often.

 

What is good about the bottom-feeder pellets is that they break apart. The Tetras may be looking at the bottom for food, but they are missing the smaller bits that the cories can still find. I am not sure if this is what you are doing when feeding at night, wait about an hour for the glowlights to fall asleep and then feed the cories their pellets. this will ensure that they find more of it.

yep, before I got to bed, 9 or 10 pm,( the tanks light has been off at least 1-2 hours,) I drop in bottom feeder pellets and my tetras have no idea what is happening.

In the morning, I drop pellets but follow immediately with tetras flakes so the tetras usually just ignore the pellets. they know they're going to be fed.