Feeding Corydoras

[Doc7]

I am on my "First" tank and basically at the earliest (post-cycle) stage of learning about fishkeeping - I mostly post in the "newbie freshwater" section but figured this could do in this section of the boards.

I feed my fish, which currently consist of 7 Cardinal Tetras and 7 Corydoras Sterbai in a 20 G High, a variety of foods including Shrimp pellets, Flake, and Veggie Rounds (also last night i fed some frozen bloodworms which the cardinals destroyed, but apparently overfed because today they hardly touched the flake and i know i put in too much as it is)

My question concerns feeding the cories. They are quite skittish and it is difficult for me to learn how much I should feed them as they pretty much will not eat when I am around. For example I put in a single Omega One Veggie Round which is about the size of the nail on my index-finger, about an hour ago and when I turn around to look at the tank I see Gracie Belle (the smallest, and only "Named" one of my cories) sitting on it but if I stand up to go in the kitchen / whatever, she and the rest of the cories scatter to the back of the tank and the tablet hardly looks touched. If i feed at night it seems like the tablet is eaten in the morning, but i'm not sure how much they are eating and how much is just disintegrating into the water column / substrate. So I'm not sure if 2 tablets is enough for 7 cories or if I am under/over feeding them or what!

I already do more frequent W/Cs than recommended to pick up detritus off of my white playsand substrate (soon i will have a new Eheim canister filter to add to my AquaClear 30, which I will use to reduce a particular dead-spot where detritus accumulates and thus be able to go to a more standard 7-day cycle instead of vaccing every couple/few days) so I want to get this feeding situation under control.

In a situation like this, where I fed in the day time, and it's been an hour and the tablet is still there - should I remove it? or will the cories eat it over the course of a day? How many should I put in at night time? In youtube videos I see cories destroying tablets like a pack of wolves, but my fish don't behave like that. They REALLY didn't like the Hikari Algae Wafer and it made a green mess over the bottom of my tank so i've been sticking to the veggie rounds.

Any advice would be very heplful.

 

[lilfishie]

are they new additions to your tank.

i'm lucky if food lasts a minute with my cories

 

[Doc7]

are they new additions to your tank.

i'm lucky if food lasts a minute with my cories

Been 3 and a half weeks!

 

[lilfishie]

try putting the food near where they hide

also with it being a tall tank rather than long, make sure there's enough swimming space and hiding places for them.

My Sterbai's are the most active of the lot

 

[Doc7]

 

[FishAreFriendsNotFood10]

my cories scatter abit if i walk past the tank and they spot me but they always come back out... my cories love king british catfish pellets i pop a couple in when i feed flake and pop a couple in at night and they are destroyed

 

[lilfishie]

soon enough they will learn, my cories are always first out as soon as i lift the lid.

they get catfish pellets, shrimp pellets, bloodworm pellets, frozen bloodworm, cucumber, carrot and what ever else i throw in, not all at once of course, thats there weeks worth

 

[Doc7]

(cross posted from my thread in the newbies forum)

I just bought some live plants, to see which ones end up working in my "starter aquarium kit" with the lighting etc. The plants were free as I got a gift card recently, so I said let's try it out. If I can get the "planted tank" going here then I won't feel like I'm missing out if I make my next tank mbuna instead of a big jungle scape : )

maybe the extra plant growth, once they grow in and i move around, will help the cories get comfortable.

I picked up anubias nana, Wisteria, and Amazon swords. I put in some root tablets by the wisteria and swords. These are NOT the final locations of these plants - I just wanted to see which ones live in the lighting conditions, and how tall they grow etc before I give the tank a for-real re-scape. I didn't mess with the back right corner which is where the cories like to hang out. I can't believe how much detritus accumulates in this back left corner of the tank, as part of the planting I vac'ed this for the 3rd time in 5 days, and the pictures are POST-vac. Uck.

 

[alexbinge]

i have 8 different types of corrys and i feed mainly ( tetra prima ). i always put the food above the corrys favorite spot and as soon as it hits the ground they are all over it. i have feed blood worm before but my corrys didnt take a likeing in it.

 

[fishy55599]

i feed my corys fronzen bloodworm in the moring, 1 whole cube and it is gone in minutes. then some flakes in the afternoon. the algae wafers/catfish pellets in evening.

I have tried cucumber once by they didnt take to it, so ill try it again soon

 

[mwood2]

I use Hikari foods on all my tanks. For my Cory I do hikari sinking wafers which I got 2 days ago and the cory attack them right away. I have also used Hikari Algae Wafers but only my Ram, Keyhole and Platy got for it, maybe the kuhli loach. The they also go for blood worms when fed and I tend to feed 1/2 or 3/4 of a block to my 29 gallon which everything eats it and the other part to goldfish. Just my experience.

 

[Mo1959]

Doc. The anubias don't do well planted as the rhizome rots. Better to tie or supaglue them to your wood.

 

[lilfishie]

Doc. The anubias don't do well planted as the rhizome rots. Better to tie or supaglue them to your wood.

+1

hopefully the addition of your new plants will make them less shy and come out a bit more

 

[Doc7]

Doc. The anubias don't do well planted as the rhizome rots. Better to tie or supaglue them to your wood.

+1

hopefully the addition of your new plants will make them less shy and come out a bit more

Can't see in that picture but the anubias are actually tied to rocks with the rhizome well above the substrate - - - thanks!

 

[moochy13]

if the swords start growing you'll have a hard time removing them - mine very quickly grew massive root systems. also, i doubt any food is rotting itno your substrate, as you have sand. certainly the hikari algae wafers i use wont go into the sand if they disintergrate, they just sort of hang about in a pile. id say if you're not finding any debris on the floor, its been eaten. ive got cories in my tank that have been in there since october, and they dont like to come out when im in the room.