Corys & Platys: Feeding

[COBettaCouple]

One of our tanks has 4 platys in it and we added 2 juliI cory cats last week. Everyone's getting along fine and all but my question is this: Is there a food that I can feed the cory cats that the hungry platys won't like to eat? We'd like to give them more than what they can scavenge to eat, but those platy girls are stomachs with fins and have an endless appetite - so far flakes, pellets & sinking foods like algae wafers or diced green beans haven't lasted long enough to be eaten by our cory cats, our platys have never met food they didn't love. Thanks for any advice.

 

[Tom]

Just put in some for the platys and hide some in the substrate for the corys. Or at least that is what I do.
Tom

 

[COBettaCouple]

Thanks.. do you shallowly bury the food under the substrate or just sort of push the food into it? I tried pushing some shrimp pellets into the gravel but sure enough those hungry platys of ours found it and managed to get it out and eat it. The gold twinbar is the ring leader and such a little pig.

 

[Tom]

I just push it slightly under and the cory goes crazy when it finds it and by that time it is waterlogged enough that it will stay at the bottom the rest of the time. My platy that are with the cory are only at most 8 months old so they get a full belly and leave the pellet along with the cory anyways.
Tom

 

[COBettaCouple]

Thanks, I'll try that tonight with a couple of shrimp pellets in the corys favorite spots after it's lights-out. I've tried pushing it into the substrate, but I'll try slightly burying it. We even have switched the tank from gravel to those smooth flat glass marbles for the corys (Speedy & Spike) & hopefully the little nitches it creates will help them get some food before our voracious platys discover it - I swear those platys must think they're corys or something. So far the corys are absolutely loving the marbles. Thanks again.

 

[Tom]

If the pellet still floats to the top, what I do is just put another in until the platys are full and the pellet becomes waterlogged enough and little pieces fall to the bottom for the cory(s).
Tom

 

[wolfman21]

With mine, I noticed that the cories liked the granules meant for the other fish. They sink to the bottom and the cories just go crazy over those things. Maybe try that-plecos may not like it as much. Otherwise putting more pellets in should help, or excess algae wafers.