Cories vs bristlenose....

So....quick question....I feed omega one shrimp pellets and omega one algae wafers. I only do the wafers every few days, pellets every day.

My bristlenose pleco loves the pellets and my cories love the wafers........is it OK for them to eat each other's food like that? I mean....I'm not exactly sure how I could stop it......lol.

cowgirluntamed said:

So....quick question....I feed omega one shrimp pellets and omega one algae wafers. I only do the wafers every few days, pellets every day.

My bristlenose pleco loves the pellets and my cories love the wafers........is it OK for them to eat each other's food like that? I mean....I'm not exactly sure how I could stop it......lol.

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That's good. I feed the same foods, plus a third (Nutrafin's Tabs which have earthworm) alternately; my cories and loaches and Farlowella love all three. There is fish in the algae disks as well as a good degree of algae (kelp) and the veggie part is good for the digestive tract/intestines of all fish.

Make sure you have driftwood in the tank for the bristlenose. They need the fibre to help their digestion.

Byron said:

That's good. I feed the same foods, plus a third (Nutrafin's Tabs which have earthworm) alternately; my cories and loaches and Farlowella love all three. There is fish in the algae disks as well as a good degree of algae (kelp) and the veggie part is good for the digestive tract/intestines of all fish.

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Thanks Byron! Glad it won't hurt either of them.

Colin_T said:

Make sure you have driftwood in the tank for the bristlenose. They need the fibre to help their digestion.

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I have a lot of nice mopani(including a hollow piece he loves to hide in) and some spider wood. So no problems with the wood! He's all over them all the time. Though right now, he's protecting the algae wafer from the cories. Lol. Such a funny fish.

Do you give them anything besides the wafers and sinking pellets?

You can cut thin slices of cucumber, zucchini, pumpkin and various other fruits and veges. Just avoid onions and onion relatives and no potatoes. You can either feed fruits and veges raw or blanch them (stick them in boiling water for a few seconds to soften them up. Wash them well before use and peel them if you can, then slice and add to the tank. Take the remains out a few hours later.

And if you don't have much algae growing on the glass you can increase the lighting time a few hours to encourage algae for the bristlenose to eat.

Colin_T said:

Do you give them anything besides the wafers and sinking pellets?

You can cut thin slices of cucumber, zucchini, pumpkin and various other fruits and veges. Just avoid onions and onion relatives and no potatoes. You can either feed fruits and veges raw or blanch them (stick them in boiling water for a few seconds to soften them up. Wash them well before use and peel them if you can, then slice and add to the tank. Take the remains out a few hours later.

And if you don't have much algae growing on the glass you can increase the lighting time a few hours to encourage algae for the bristlenose to eat.

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Right now that's all I've been feeding. When the pleco was still in the small tank, I tried feeding some cucumber and carrot and he well.....attacked it....didn't eat it. Just pulverized it! Kinda funny to watch but messy. I can try it again though! Maybe the bigger tank he won't be threatened by a mere lowly vegetable.....lol.

As for the algae....I have the fluval aquasky light that is on for 8 hours. Right now I'm playing with the color adjustments slowly. So far I've upped the white for brightness and have a little rgb going. I love being able to change all colors individually. So it's a bit of an experiment. Especially now with more floating plants covering most of the top!

Just be careful trying to cultivate algae! Increasing the light for example is likely to result in one of the problem algae, like brush, and BN will not eat that.

What you can also use is dried leaves from hardwood trees; I use oak and sometimes maple, beech also works; if the wood is a safe aquarium wood, the leaves usually are as well. All algae-grazing fish will readily graze dried leaves; I raise Farlowella vitatta fry on this with no or very little actual algae, and they live for years and spawn.

Byron said:

Just be careful trying to cultivate algae! Increasing the light for example is likely to result in one of the problem algae, like brush, and BN will not eat that.

What you can also use is dried leaves from hardwood trees; I use oak and sometimes maple, beech also works; if the wood is a safe aquarium wood, the leaves usually are as well. All algae-grazing fish will readily graze dried leaves; I raise Farlowella vitatta fry on this with no or very little actual algae, and they live for years and spawn.

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Cool! Thanks Byron! I think I actually still have Indian Almond leaves left that I had when I still had my betta. I may try those after I get the plants actually planted, which will be this week finally!

I also alternate 3 foods for my Cories and BN. I don't stress too much about overfeeding the tetra a bit (NLS mini pellets are their staple) as I know the Cories will hoover up after them - if they actually leave any).

My BN ( who is 15 now) will happily suck at the glass all day but TBH is not particulalry effective at clearing it - so if you don't have algae don't bother encouraging it

seangee said:

I also alternate 3 foods for my Cories and BN. I don't stress too much about overfeeding the tetra a bit (NLS mini pellets are their staple) as I know the Cories will hoover up after them - if they actually leave any).

My BN ( who is 15 now) will happily suck at the glass all day but TBH is not particulalry effective at clearing it - so if you don't have algae don't bother encouraging it

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Wow, old fish! Cool. Do you have a pic? I think mine is only around 2 now. And no, I don't really want to cultivate algae. Just my plants. Lol.

He is currently hiding in his bogwood maze. As per your OP shrimp pellets are the only way guaranteed to bring him out . He's quite a character and also loves to sit on the food. Fortunately he will let the cories dig beneath him. Here's one from a few months ago just after lights out