Cory Not Eating At All

[Elena]

I have two XL peppered cory and one salt and pepper cory, one betta and a few snails. All my fish are doing well so far apart from one peppered cory, I haven't had him long maybe 2 weeks I plan on introducing more cory's I'm just doing it slowly at the moment. This one cory I have wont eat anything, I've never seen him eat the others are fine they eat lots. I've tried fish flakes, cory pellets and algae wafers, he'll move around like he's searching sometimes but if he finds food he just ignores it like its not there. The others always seem to be scavenging and eat food no problem not him though.
 
Any ideas why he's not eating, my tanks in check temp ammonia etc,
 
What could it be?

 

[brittgs]

Have you tried frozen food yet? I defrost some blood worms and brine shrimp once a week and my cories go crazy for it.

 

[KieranBoyne]

well, i agree that frozen food is a good idea. Could be an internal issues such as parasites. But that's the worst case scenario.

 

[Lillefishy]

Corys are more active in the evening & at night, it could be he's eating then when you don't see him.
Does he look thin? If not then he's getting enough food.
Don't feed corys algae wafers, they get nothing from them, use the pellets & get some frozen bloodworm, daphnia, brine shrimp etc.
Also the high temperature in a Betta tank won't suit peppered corys, they need it much cooler, if I were you I'd rehome them & go for sterbai who like higher temps.

 

[WILDER]

Does he look thin or bloated.
Make sure his barbels don't look short and thin.
Also check to see if he looks pale or darker in colour.
Does he act listless and lethargic.
Does he rest for long periods of time, lay to one side.
Check he has no red parches or red streaking on his body, or fins.

 

[Elena]

I haven't tried frozen food yet no, thank you I'll try that! He's not eating at night because there isn't any food in the tank after 5 minutes its usually gone, its just strange that he will literally have it right under his mouth but wont eat it, the other two have no problem they eat everything in sight. He's the biggest cory in there but he was when I bought him. To look at him he looks really healthy he's not as active as the other two, when I feed them the other fish go crazy he just sits there. Barbels look ok, he looks fine. He's not been right since I brought him could it be the stress of a change of tank?
 
I have my temperature at 25C I was told that that would be the ideal temperature for cory and betta

 

[WILDER]

Usually corys settle in pretty fast. 
Try him with some shelled peas. My corys loved peas.
Also more green veg like broc, spinach, green cabbage, lettuce, etc.

 

[Lillefishy]

Peppers do best at 20-22, whilst they can tolerate higher temps for short peiods, keeping them constantly at high temps will speed up their metabolism & shorten their lifespan which can be 15 years or more.
Sorry Wilder but corys do not need veg, they get little to no nutrition from it, this I learned from Ian Fuller a leading cory expert

 

[WILDER]

Sorry Wilder but corys do not need veg, they get little to no nutrition from it, this I learned from Ian Fuller a leading cory expert 
 
Never heard that before.
Never harmed mine.

 

[Lillefishy]

Corys must be one of the most misunderstood fish when it comes to diet.
They verge on being carnivores, their digestive system is not set up to process veg or algae

 

[WILDER]

You learn something every day. Thanks for the information.
Might be a good question to ask in the fish quiz.

 

[Lillefishy]

Yw, I too am still learning new things even after many years of fishkeeping which is what keeps me so interested in the hobby

 

[WILDER]

So True.

 

[DoubleDutch]

Agree about the food, but my Peppered loved spinach the other day hahaha.
Can you place a pic of the fish. Try to crumble the pellets aso and defo try the suggested live or frozen food !
 
Cheers,
 
Aad

 

[KieranBoyne]

They like spinach??? Wow. didn't expect that lol