Feeding corys properly

[NickFish]

I wanted to make sure my corys were getting fed properly and therefore I have looked everywhere for what to feed and how much to feed. People here have been a great help but I also learned a lot from this post and decided to share it here.

I did not write this.

This was written by a user named 'Cory Lover' on this forum-
http://thefishquestforums.freeforums.org/portal.php
with his permission i have posted it here to try and answer many of the same cory feeding questions that I had. Hope it helps!


Hello everyone,

Corydoras are one of the most mis-fed species of fish there is in the freshwater aquarium hobby. Most people (as pet stores lead them to believe) think Cories will live off the leftover flakes and grunge on the bottom of the tank, which is very mistaken. Corydoras need a variety of food just like other fish, and in these next couple paragraphs you'll learn how to feed your Cory properly.

To start, a good staple diet for Corydoras are shrimp pellets. They are healthy, and sink right away. Look for the HBH brand, they make good quality ones (stay away from Wardley shrimp pellets, they have been known to cloud water and they get very messy). A good ratio is 1-2 shrimp pellets a day per Cory, but if you have other fish, like cichlids, that may eat them before the Corydoras can get them, give your Cory at least four.

Then, start adding algae/veggie wafers every second day. Try to get the Hikari Brand, they make excellent Cory food. It gives the Cories some vegetable matter, which is essential in their diet.

Once you start feeding your Corydoras both of those, you're doing well, but you should still give your Cories more variety.

Hikari Sinking Wafers (a Cory favorite) is even better for your Corydoras then shrimp pellets or algae wafers. So if you can pay a little more, I would highly recommend getting these too. Feed around 1 wafer per cory per day

Like all fish, Corydoras need some non pellet/wafer food, and they need something thats more 'real', and also for you, not outragously expensive. Hikari Bio-Pure Freeze-Dried Tubifex Worms fit the bill perfectly. They are cheaper then live or frozen foods, but in my experience Corydoras like them more. They come in small cubes, and the problem is they float so Corydoras can't get them easily. But, there is a way to get them to sink. Wrap some aquarium metal weigths (plant anchors work well) gently around the cube, then throw it in the tank and watch a feeding frenzy begin at the bottom of your aquarium.



If you feed your Corydoras properly, you'll have more lively and beautiful Cories then you've ever had before.


Matt

[Fishalicious]

Great info!!! I am always so sad to read that a lot of people believe they are just there to clean up.....

I am also really glad to read I feed mine properly :1luvu: I already do the above in the article as well as feed them frozen food now and again

[YaYgoldFish]

I feed pretty much the same stuff, but 20 pellets for 5 corys sounds a bit much, i put in 2 or 3 a day and they have a hrd time finishing. And instead of the tubifex worms they get frozen blood worms.

[Fishalicious]

Shrimp Pellets are tiny... so I reckon 2-3 per cory is no problem...

I love watching cory's eat bloodworms - it is like they are sucking up spaghetti LOL Love it!!!

[YaYgoldFish]

Maybe mine are bigger? Their half an inch long and pretty fat. Once I put one in the tank in the morning and about 6 hours later only half was eaten.. I only have 3 adults and two that are half an inch long..

[Fishalicious]

Both brands of shrimp pellets I have are tiny... little specks ... just slightly smaller than this guy -> :c3:

[YaYgoldFish]

Really? I use Nutrafin, their about this size. |||||

Man we have nothing to do on a saturday night:laugh1blue:

[Fishalicious]

Hahahahah yeah let's discuss food pellet sizes :19:

I use Ocean Nutrician Shrimp Pellets & Tetra Shrimp Pellets

[YaYgoldFish]

I'm not sure why, but in EVERY lfs near me only has Wardley, some Omega One, A little bit of Tetra, And LOADS of Nutrafin/max.

Except for my favorite lfs has some hikari., and this Huge bag of goldfish and koi pellets for 10 bucks, but I dont trsut them Since its all written in chinese.:confused:

[Rue]

Oh wow! That's what I've been feeding mine all along!!! I did it right subconsciously!!! Yay for me! Yay for me!!! :c1: :11: :c3: :1:

[Gawd_oOo]

I use Wardley pellets and don't have any clouding issues with it.

My Corys also get Nori sheets, need to be sunk in some manner as well.

Another thing to add for the occasional treat is some earth worm, chipped into nice bite size pieces. A Bit messy for you, but they love it.

[YaYgoldFish]

What size tank do you have? Do all your cories school together? Its a nice collection youve got there.

[Dave66]

I use Wardley pellets and don't have any clouding issues with it.

My Corys also get Nori sheets, need to be sunk in some manner as well.

Another thing to add for the occasional treat is some earth worm, chipped into nice bite size pieces. A Bit messy for you, but they love it.

Do you keep that piranha by itself? It'd eat everything else you listed.

Dave

[NickFish]

Ya the one thing that isn't mentioned on there is the worms.
How much you feed is up to your corys. I am not a cory expert but you may need to feed more than recommended if you have big fat corys or less if you have small ones.
I think shrimp pellets come in many differnet sizes.
I have aquarian shrimp pellets and they are about this long |||||

[Gawd_oOo]

What size tank do you have? Do all your cories school together? Its a nice collection youve got there.
Umm, I have 75E, 55, 20T, 20L, and Fifteen 10g tanks.
Each species is in its own tank. They range from 3-6 of each kind.


Do you keep that piranha by itself? It'd eat everything else you listed.

Dave
For the most part. The Piranhas (6) and the South American Bumble Bee cats (3) are in a 75E. The Cats live in a rock pile, they do a real good job of grabbing any chunks of goldfish that hit the bottom and retreating back to their caves. (they get other food too)

I did have a school of corys in with the piranhas for 10 months, they didn't bother the corys at all. I only took them out because I was trying to spawn the corys, but from what I can tell I have all females of the species that was in with them... I won't be putting them back in, just thought I'd mention that from my experience not all fish are food to them.

[Dave66]

Umm, I have 75E, 55, 20T, 20L, and Fifteen 10g tanks.
Each species is in its own tank. They range from 3-6 of each kind.


For the most part. The Piranhas (6) and the South American Bumble Bee cats (3) are in a 75E. The Cats live in a rock pile, they do a real good job of grabbing any chunks of goldfish that hit the bottom and retreating back to their caves. (they get other food too)

I did have a school of corys in with the piranhas for 10 months, they didn't bother the corys at all. I only took them out because I was trying to spawn the corys, but from what I can tell I have all females of the species that was in with them... I won't be putting them back in, just thought I'd mention that from my experience not all fish are food to them.

Feeding piranhas feeder goldfish is unnatural for them, and the goldfish can easily introduce disease. Just because they haven't yet doesn't mean they won't.
In nature over 90 percent of the gut analysis of piranhas are crustacean and insect larvae based. Less than 10 percent were fish bones. Eating fish is a rare treat for them in nature, and giving them goldfish all the time is insufficient nutrition.

Dave

[Gawd_oOo]

Feeding piranhas feeder goldfish is unnatural for them, and the goldfish can easily introduce disease. Just because they haven't yet doesn't mean they won't.
In nature over 90 percent of the gut analysis of piranhas are crustacean and insect larvae based. Less than 10 percent were fish bones. Eating fish is a rare treat for them in nature, and giving them goldfish all the time is insufficient nutrition.

Dave

Well thanks for assuming I don't know what I am doing. My goldfish are kept for 30days before they are fed to the piranhas.
When did I ever say all I gave them was goldfish?
What is your source on the gut analysis? What species of piranha was it referring to? What season was it conducted?

Everything I have read says up to 90% of a RBPs diet is meat of some manner, most of sick or already dead fish. But can also include birds, rodents and other mammals, reptiles. With crustacean and insects making up the smallest portion. Vegetation making up the last 10%

http://www.piranha-info.com/default.php?lang=en&id=p_nattereri
http://www.fishforums.net/content/Characins/133773/Red-Belly-Piranha/
http://nashvillezoo.org/animals_detail.asp?animalID=46
http://www.answers.com/topic/red-bellied-piranha?cat=technology
http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Tetras,%20Red-Breasted%20Piranha.htm

[NickFish]

touche!
What else do you feed your pirahna then? Do they make pirahna pellets?
A 125 gal pirahna tank is my dream tank! Good luck with yours!

[Gawd_oOo]

touche!
What else do you feed your pirahna then? Do they make pirahna pellets?
A 125 gal pirahna tank is my dream tank! Good luck with yours!

Quite a few different things actually.
FD Red River Shrimp
Fish Fillets from the super market. I'm in a small town so sometimes they have no fish, so I'll get some of the fake crab meat, which is mostly fish.
Earth Worms, wax worms, and red worms, occasionally.

They stopped eating flake food a few months ago.

They'll sometimes eat the shrimp pellets dropped in for the cats, but for the most part they won't take them.

They make carnivore pellets, haven't tried them yet, local lfs doesn't carry any. They are on my list the next time I order from dr. foster tho.

Forgot non-meaty foods.
When they where little they ate nori sheets, but that stopped. They get some cucumber, and the occasional banana now.

[shockshockshad]

This thread is getting a little off topic...from algae tablets to feeder goldfish.

I feed my 3 cories 1 veggie tablet daily. i am getting 3 more so i will feed 6 of them 2 tablets. I give the 3 cats 3 shrimp pellets, so i will give 6 6. I guess i should give them EACH 2 shrimp pellets daily and veggie wafers every other day, huh? All right. And can i put a paper clip around some bloodworms for them once a week?

[YaYgoldFish]

I dont understand why your putting the paper clips? Bloodworms will sink. You should feed the bloodworms 2-3 times a week.

[tropfish]

Well thanks for assuming I don't know what I am doing. My goldfish are kept for 30days before they are fed to the piranhas.
When did I ever say all I gave them was goldfish?
What is your source on the gut analysis? What species of piranha was it referring to? What season was it conducted?

i don't think he meant you don't know what you where doing, he wanted to make sure you were doing the right thing. Dave knows what he's talking about with fish.

[shockshockshad]

I dont understand why your putting the paper clips? Bloodworms will sink. You should feed the bloodworms 2-3 times a week.

I thought that bloodworms should only be fed once a week, because they are either fatty or they give digestive problems- i cant remember which. And in the first post they used weights to weigh down tubifex, so why wouldnt i weigh down bloodworms?

[NickFish]

lol ya this really did get off topic. Corys to pirahna.

You don't have to feed as much as the post suggests. Everybody has there own feeding schedule that works for them. I feed 1 shrimp pellet per cory in the morning and 1 cory pellet for every 2 corys in the evening. This must work since I have eggs after only 2 weeks.
if you have lots of other fish competing for the corys food then you may have to put more in so the corys get some.

[YaYgoldFish]

I've heard the Tubifex worms will foat, and people do weight them down. But it isn't the case for frozen bloodworms, they will sink themselves. If your talkign about free dried ones, then your right, they do float. And sicne corydoras diet in nature consists of mostly worms and other small insects, they need more worms than other fish. If I remember right, it was Dave that told me this, so im pretty sure its accurate.

[shockshockshad]

Yes I mean freeze dried- sorry for the confusion. I will feed them 3 times a week. Shrimp pellets daily, and tablets every other day.

[robnepper]

to yaygoldfish. I have been buying hikari algae wafers for my plecco. my two fantails go absolutely squirrelly over them though so the plecco rarely gets any. I have found my fishes overall appearance to be outstanding when feeding them hikari products. I also feed frozen brine shrimp and regular flakes, which my two new peppered cory's really like.

[shockshockshad]

I hope you dont have the goldfish and cories together- one is coldwater and he other is tropical. you cant have them together.

[Ty]

I have had my cory and 2 gold fish in the same tank for about 9 months with no problems, but it is on the warm end for the gold fish, but they dont seem to care.

[mitcore]

i give my corys 1 pellet per fish
it works great and the other fish in my tank will clean up the stuff left behind
great article

[YaYgoldFish]

If you only have cories and goldfish in your tank, you could add a few small ice cubes on night and they may breed. The ice simulates the raining season.

But, the goldfish really would be better off in colder water.

[shockshockshad]

Hmm, maybe I could stimulate it. So can i just put my female and male in my quarentine, and they will breed? It takes a LONG time to heat up, so right now its stuck at 71 degrees. Is this good? Will they breed? and how long do I keep them in there?

[gm72]

71, I believe, is too cold for corys to breed. Males and females won't always pair up, but once they do they will mate for life. So it is not like livebearers where you just put a male and a few females in together to get them to breed. There's more to it than that and it is amazing to watch them.

Echoing I know, but goldfish are coldwater, corys are tropical.

[shockshockshad]

...If that is too cold, how about just freezing some dechlorinated water and putting it in the MAIN tank?

[NickFish]

Corys can live in a coldwater goldfish tank but the goldfish can't live in a tropical tank. Corys can adjust to a wide variety of temperatures since the puddles they live in in the wild can change temperature very suddenly. You could just turn off your heater for a few hours instead of putting in the ice cubes. Just make sure you monitor your temp so it doesn't drop to far.

[Tigerbarb]

I always drop algae discs on the bottom of my tank and my cories love 'em.

[shockshockshad]

But in the wild cories eat meaty stuff, so you need to only supplement algae disks and feed shrimp pellets, or even better NLS for a staple.

[Lady Hobbs]

Aha, I have some of those tubifex worms and nothing around here will eat them but the danios. I will give my corys some now with that helpful suggestion.

[shockshockshad]

In my tank everyone eats them except the BN. This is really off topic, but I am talking about my BN, so I guess it could be on topic. He hides all day, and never eats, not even at night. He either is sucking on the glass on the BOTTOM of the tank, or upside down in the one specific place on my wood. Any guesses? Sorry if I am hi-jacking.

[Gawd_oOo]

In my tank everyone eats them except the BN. This is really off topic, but I am talking about my BN, so I guess it could be on topic. He hides all day, and never eats, not even at night. He either is sucking on the glass on the BOTTOM of the tank, or upside down in the one specific place on my wood. Any guesses? Sorry if I am hi-jacking.
How long have you had him?
Many plecos are wild caught and it takes time for them to adjust to tank life.
My Gold Nugget is finally just starting to move about the tank after 3 months.

[shockshockshad]

I have had him for a week. He is just getting adjusted to the tank? Alright.

[loggerhead]

will 1-2 shrimp pellets a day per cory work for pygmy corys too?

[Stlouisfish]

loggerhead - I don't think you realized just how old this thread is! It's from 2008

If you have a question about feeding, there is a subforum on feeding where you can put a post : )