How Do I Feed Cory Fish Properly?

people have been telling me "they just eat leftovers on the bottom" but I also read I should feed them shrimp pellets. so I do that (using a turkey baster now because my black skirt seems to eat everything) and it sits in the sand. it doesn't seem like they have any interest in them. pellets just sit there and dissolve. so I m not even sure if they are eating. new territory = paranoia for me >.>

forgot to add a photo. I have only 2 cory. the pand seems to be the active one. the leopard(or 3stripe) seems to be always doing what you see. different places. but basically the same thing, both ignoring food, even breakoffs from when I feed the mid level fish(if there are any).

 

people have been telling me "they just eat leftovers on the bottom" but I also read I should feed them shrimp pellets. so I do that (using a turkey baster now because my black skirt seems to eat everything) and it sits in the sand. it doesn't seem like they have any interest in them. pellets just sit there and dissolve. so I m not even sure if they are eating. new territory = paranoia for me >.>

Mine don't care much for shrimp pellets, but they absolutely LOOOVE frozen mysis and brine shrimp.

 

Mine don't care much for shrimp pellets, but they absolutely LOOOVE frozen mysis and brine shrimp.

like freeze dried brine shrimp? I mixed that stuff into my flakes before I had any Cory, but it floats just like anything else.

 

Part of the issue is cories like company of the same cory specie/type. I would recommend getting at least 6 of each kind depending on how big the tank is. If the tank is too small, I’d rehome at least one of them and build one school. Cories prefer to feed together.
Additionally, you may have to feed after the lights are out. This may make the cory less shy and more willing to eat.

 

Nope, frozen brine or mysis shrimp. Most pet stores have a freezer with them in them. Just plop a cube in a cup of water to thaw. I would go with brine shrimp since yours look like they may be fairly young, the brine shrimp are considerably smaller.

like freeze dried brine shrimp? I mixed that stuff into my flakes before I had any Cory, but it floats just like anything else.

Your other fish will eat them too just fyi.

 

Part of the issue is cories like company of the same cory specie/type. I would recommend getting at least 6 of each kind depending on how big the tank is. If the tank is too small, I’d rehome at least one of them and build one school. Cories prefer to feed together.
Additionally, you may have to feed after the lights are out. This may make the cory less shy and more willing to eat.

I realized this like 1o minutes after I put them in the tank. my friend kind of swayed me into getting one of each instead of more of the same (I'm easily influenced) but In retrospect I agree. I should have bought 6 pandas. I think they would be happier. ive been thinking they were both just lonely this whole time

My current tank- 20 gallon long . should be getting a 29 gallon soon

Nope, frozen brine or mysis shrimp. Most pet stores have a freezer with them in them. Just plop a cube in a cup of water to thaw. I would go with brine shrimp since yours look like they may be fairly young, the brine shrimp are considerably smaller. View attachment 457874

oh I got ya. I got some frozen bloodworms the other day. though I didnt realized how much was was actually in the cube until I cut the cube in half and droped it in. it was a huge mess. I found my self trying to suck back out what I could with the turkey baster. I really need to learn how to serve food that aren't flakes

 

oh I got ya. I got some frozen bloodworms the other day. though I didnt realized how much was was actually in the cube until I cut the cube in half and droped it in. it was a huge mess. I found my self trying to suck back out what I could with the turkey baster. I really need to learn how to serve food that aren't flakes

You can run a knife under hot water to cut the cubes in half or fourths, then store the others in a freezer ziploc

 

You can run a knife under hot water to cut the cubes in half or fourths, then store the others in a freezer ziploc

lol wow, yeah that probably would have been a lot easier than using a cold knife like I did (derp). thanks for the tip

Part of the issue is cories like company of the same cory specie/type. I would recommend getting at least 6 of each kind depending on how big the tank is. If the tank is too small, I’d rehome at least one of them and build one school. Cories prefer to feed together.
Additionally, you may have to feed after the lights are out. This may make the cory less shy and more willing to eat.

the reason I ended up with one of each is that I couldnt decide which one I wanted and my friend just said "he'll take one of each" and I went with it because, well I'm dumb... I think I like the pandas more and I probably will buy like 2 or 3 more of them. but what to do about the leopard?

 

What all do you have in the tank? You could definitely do 6 of each Cory if you aren’t fully stocked, which I doubt you are judging by the pictures.

 

What all do you have in the tank? You could definitely do 6 of each Cory if you aren’t fully stocked, which I doubt you are judging by the pictures.

well as of now. I have 3x Neon Tetras, 1x Black Skirt Tetra, 1 Panda Cory, 1 Leopard Cory, 1 common Pleco(which I'm still trying to figure out what to do with but hes small right now) I had 7 neon tetras. they seem to be dying one by one. one died today. another 2 days ago. and another the day before that. being a noob I panicked without knowing the cause. I just decided to do a 5 gallon water change. this time with tap water(I used that tap water safe stuff) because my ammonia is up at 1 and thought maybe that's why they dying? I dunno. I do stupid things when I'm panicked. usually my friend makes me fresh water but I didnt have any. I just wanted to get as much bad water out as I could.

afterthought: I never really fully stocked my tank because I don't feel I'm skilled enough to keep them alive. right now that seems to be true

 

You can run a knife under hot water to cut the cubes in half or fourths, then store the others in a freezer ziploc

I use a single edge razor blade to cut off a thin slice for my Betta. Then I wrap the rest of the cube in plastic wrap and put it back in the freezer.

 

I feed mine Algae wafers as a basis (they love to snack on these, and I have to give them to my apple snails anyways) and most days they get shrimp pellets. Before water changes everyone gets frozen blood worms.

 

A widevariaty of frozen, freeze dried, flakes, pellets, granules, etc.... here.

 

well as of now. I have 3x Neon Tetras, 1x Black Skirt Tetra, 1 Panda Cory, 1 Leopard Cory, 1 common Pleco(which I'm still trying to figure out what to do with but hes small right now) I had 7 neon tetras. they seem to be dying one by one. one died today. another 2 days ago. and another the day before that. being a noob I panicked without knowing the cause. I just decided to do a 5 gallon water change. this time with tap water(I used that tap water safe stuff) because my ammonia is up at 1 and thought maybe that's why they dying? I dunno. I do stupid things when I'm panicked. usually my friend makes me fresh water but I didnt have any. I just wanted to get as much bad water out as I could.

afterthought: I never really fully stocked my tank because I don't feel I'm skilled enough to keep them alive. right now that seems to be true

update now I only have the panda cory, leo died a few minutes ago. or at least I found him that way a few minutes ago. beginning to think I'm not any good at this. guess I can go strait pandas now? don't really see the point though if they are just going to die like my tetras that have been dying off every other day and leo >.>

 

The neons dying could be totally not you fault. Lots of people are having problems with them lately. From their high breeding rate of them they just aren't a healthy fish. Also neon terta disease is pretty prevalent as well. I feed my cories big sinking pellets shortly after lights out. I don't necessarily very their diet as much as I could but I tend to over feed everybody so there is plenty that gets to the bottom of other things.

 

well as of now. I have 3x Neon Tetras, 1x Black Skirt Tetra, 1 Panda Cory, 1 Leopard Cory, 1 common Pleco(which I'm still trying to figure out what to do with but hes small right now) I had 7 neon tetras. they seem to be dying one by one. one died today. another 2 days ago. and another the day before that. being a noob I panicked without knowing the cause. I just decided to do a 5 gallon water change. this time with tap water(I used that tap water safe stuff) because my ammonia is up at 1 and thought maybe that's why they dying? I dunno. I do stupid things when I'm panicked. usually my friend makes me fresh water but I didnt have any. I just wanted to get as much bad water out as I could.

afterthought: I never really fully stocked my tank because I don't feel I'm skilled enough to keep them alive. right now that seems to be true

I have a feeling your tank was never cycled? If not, this will certainly contribute to fish dying. Your tank is cycled when you have:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0-20 ppm

Follow this link to learn about nitrogen cycle.

 

I have a feeling your tank was never cycled? If not, this will certainly contribute to fish dying. Your tank is cycled when you have:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0-20 ppm

Follow this link to learn about nitrogen cycle.

well ammonia was 0 nitrite is always 0 for me, and nitrate was 0 for a long time. I've had issues with nitrates after a while until I started to water change more often. ammonia came back for some reason, so I guess it cycled itself? in the beginning I didnt have very many fish. right now I have even less. I hasent even been a year since I started. or is moving on a year I don't even remember, which is why I'm confused about this cycling thing because it seems like a thing you can only do when you first set up your tank. but ive had mine up and running for a while and I'm just now having this problem

 

I've never had them before. My new 30 gallon tank has four panda cories (had five and one died within a few days of purchase) and one laetacara curviceps (smiling acara) for now. I don't want to spam the tank with flakes hoping they will sink before the filter sucks them up. There are no top/middle fish to feed, and these guys are tiny. The biggest is barely an inch long I'd guess, and yesterday I looked at the sinking shrimp pellets at the store and they looked way too big for them to eat. The acara seems to prefer sifting food from the sand more than eating from the surface as well, so I feel like a sinking pellet would be best for all of them. I do plan to "up" the school to seven or so, but since the tank is still new I don't want to dump them all in there just yet.
Side note - the acara follows the cories around and it's hilarious. He doesn't chase or bother them, just follows them around like he's curious. B)

 

The small size, don't let that alarm you. The cories will take of bits and pieces of the shrimp pellets.

 

You could temporarily turn off the filter while they eat. Then turn it back on when they are done.

 

You could temporarily turn off the filter while they eat. Then turn it back on when they are done.

Brilliant. lol... Sometimes I am really smart and sometimes I am just... derrrrrrr.

 

Awhile back when I was switching over my tank, I realized I had a bunch of baby corys. Now, you want to talk about small? We are talking the size of a piece of lead from a pencil. I was not prepared in any way to have a bunch of babies, so I decided to just let nature take it's course, and I kept feeding the same way I always did for the larger corys. And the babies did just fine. They are all about an inch long now and growing like crazy lol. They WILL find anything on the bottom.

Now that being said, I feed my corys and my clown pleco separately from the rest of my tank. Whereas the tank gets Omega One flakes, and the occasional treat of frozen brine, the bottom feeders get their own concoction. I feed a combination of sinking shrimp pellets, sinking shrimp wafers, and another sinking wafer called veggie rounds. All after lights out for the night. Everything is Omega One except the shrimp wafers. I can only find those from Tetra.

 

Most sinking foods should work, I personally use aqueon shrimp pellets and algae wafers as a treat. There are also specialized pellets for catfish/bottom feeders.

 

You can also crush sinking wafers into a "powder", mix with some tank water and shoot it onto the bottom of the tank using a turkey baster. They will happily forage thru the sand to find and devour the bits.

 

Brilliant. lol... Sometimes I am really smart and sometimes I am just... derrrrrrr.

This won't actually work for corys since they constantly forage. You could turn it off until the food sinks to the bottom but unlike other fish that clean their plate almost immediately corys like to forage for and savor their food. You can crumble their food into smaller pieces and they will find all of it or feed it whole and it will soften over time as they nibble on it.

 

Is the waterflow so strong ?

 

This won't actually work for corys since they constantly forage. You could turn it off until the food sinks to the bottom but unlike other fish that clean their plate almost immediately corys like to forage for and savor their food. You can crumble their food into smaller pieces and they will find all of it or feed it whole and it will soften over time as they nibble on it.

OHhhhh. Ok. I just thought maybe the obvious was escaping me. I am also afraid to have food sitting around that nobody is eating, and I didn't know if the pellets would foul up before they got eaten. I have pleco wafers but I understand cories need more than greens to live on.

 

You can also crush sinking wafers into a "powder", mix with some tank water and shoot it onto the bottom of the tank using a turkey baster.

Learned this from DoubleDutch!

 

Is the waterflow so strong ?

I am using an Aquaclear 50. It's not out of control but the flake food seems to float around rather than sinkig. I was hoping you'd see this post. What do you feed?

 

I am using an Aquaclear 50. It's not out of control but the flake food seems to float around rather than sinkig. I was hoping you'd see this post. What do you feed?

In the vid they are fed granules (Better to be seen in this vid) but shrimppellets won't have the problem of floating. Variate in food will do them good.
As they are small Cories crushing pellets is an idea but a lot of it will be sucked in the filter I reckon.

 

OHhhhh. Ok. I just thought maybe the obvious was escaping me. I am also afraid to have food sitting around that nobody is eating, and I didn't know if the pellets would foul up before they got eaten. I have pleco wafers but I understand cories need more than greens to live on.

Since you only have 4 right now it might be best to limit the amount of food you put in there. I would limit it to maybe 2 shrimp pellets broken up a bit or a couple minI sinking wafers. No need to break them up. I feed my corys a variety of food including shrimp pellets, hikarI sinking bottom feeder minI wafers, veggie rounds, occasional blood or tubifex worms and always allow some of what I am feeding my other fish to get to the bottom.

Keep in mind though, I have at least 25 corys and Elbert in my tank so everything that hits the bottom gets cleaned up pretty quick.

Since you have a sand substrate it will be fairly easy to see if your corys are cleaning up their food so you shouldn't have a problem with it building up and fouling your water if you check each morning for left over food. I am thinking most foods designed for bottom feeders is designed not to immediately fall apart and foul the water.

 

In the vid they are fed granules (Better to be seen in this vid) but shrimppellets won't have the problem of floating. Variate in food will do them good.
As they are small Cories crushing pellets is an idea but a lot of it will be sucked in the filter I reckon.

Since you only have 4 right now it might be best to limit the amount of food you put in there. I would limit it to maybe 2 shrimp pellets broken up a bit or a couple minI sinking wafers. No need to break them up. I feed my corys a variety of food including shrimp pellets, hikarI sinking bottom feeder minI wafers, veggie rounds, occasional blood or tubifex worms and always allow some of what I am feeding my other fish to get to the bottom.

Keep in mind though, I have at least 25 corys and Elbert in my tank so everything that hits the bottom gets cleaned up pretty quick.

Since you have a sand substrate it will be fairly easy to see if your corys are cleaning up their food so you shouldn't have a problem with it building up and fouling your water if you check each morning for left over food. I am thinking most foods designed for bottom feeders is designed not to immediately fall apart and foul the water.

OK thank you both so much. I think I will try to get some granules. I saw HikarI sinking micropellets yesterday and I can't remember why I passed them up. I think it was because they had a lot of "meal" and wheat in them or something. I will check a different store. I am fortunate to have five or six places to get fish within a half hour of home. And I will also try turning the AC50 down a bit while they're the most actively feeding. I really like them and want them to do well. I'm looking forward to adding some more. Thanks again!