How to feed Corydoras, when tank has gravel?

[Aquatony]

Hi all.

So I know that Cory do truly prefer sand. And when I build out a bigger tank in the future it will absolutely include a sand substrate. For now, though, I have this tank with fairly large/medium size gravel. It is rounded, not jagged, so the barbels for the Corys are fine.

The problem I'm having though, is feeding them something between the flakes my Cardinal Tetra can't get to, and the Bloodworms which they feast crazily on. I have two different kinds of sinking wafers, both of which are kind of small, and easily get lost in the gravel unless the Cory are quick to act. A couple of my cory, the Pandas particularly, start sniffing around immediately after the wafer hits the gravel and can usually snag it. But the Albinos are much slower and never really seem to get it.

If the Cory doesn't get to it fast enough they sort of just lose interest and go back to schooling together on the gravel somewhere.

Am I being overly concerned here? Has anyone else addressed this issue?

 

[Byron]

I have never had a substrate (in a fish tank, I have in a frog and newt tank) with grains large enough to cause the problem you describe. And this is more than just a problem with feeding cories. Bits of food getting down between large grains of gravel is a different thing from tiny specs of food working down into the substrate. You can have pollution and bacterial issues, aside from the feeding problem.

Sand is as you know the substrate over which all cories (and other fish like dwarf cichlids, some loricariids, and similar substrate feeders) should be maintained. It not only solves the food issue, it allows the fish to sift the sand which they cannot do with gravel, and it provides a better bed for the various bacteria. A fine grain gravel can sometimes work depending upon the fish species, but I would not use pea gravel or any larger-grain gravel with substrate feeders.

I would consider a substrate change.

Byron.

 

[NickAu]

If you cant change the substrate as a stop gap measure you could use a small plate or other container filled with sand.

Kinda like this.

Then you use a plastic tube to guide the pellets onto the sand at feeding time.

I have a similar set up to feed shrimp, I used a small saucer that you get with tea cups.

 

[Aquatony]

Nick, I floundered that idea through my mind, and figured maybe the sand wouldn't actually stay on the stop gap measure, and would just end up floating around the tank and making the water all nasty.

A problem also, is the 10 gallon is SO small, that normal size saucers are huuuuuge in there. What are you using there in the picture?

 

[ShinySideUp]

I have sand in my six footer so don't have quite the same problem but I do have corys in the tank with Clown loaches so I have to be sure the Clowns don't hoover everything up before the corys can feed. For this purpose I use these:

Don't be fooled by the 'wafer' bit as these are quite substantial being over 1.5cm across and 4mm thick so even Clown loaches take a little while and so if they are eating one each then any left over the corys can get to.

And of course their size makes them stay above even large gravel stones.

 

[NickAu]

That image is not mine, The person is using a Petri dish

 

[Aquatony]

Shinysideup, your picture jogged my memory, and I dropped one of those algae wafers in. The corys are going wild on it right now, excellent! They're small guys still, so I'm guessing I'll take it out of the tank after they've had their fill?

 

[Aquatony]

http://imgur.com/a/tSdn0

Sorry for the poor quality!

 

[AMorra]

I have gravel on the bottom of my 20 gallon hexagon aquarium, and I feed my guppies/other fish at the top of the tank flakes, or little pellets/balls, and for my cory catfish, I use sinking shrimp pellets from Petsmart, I do not remember the name brand but they are in a container that has an orange lid and silver wrapper.

 

[DoubleDutch]

I have sand in my six footer so don't have quite the same problem but I do have corys in the tank with Clown loaches so I have to be sure the Clowns don't hoover everything up before the corys can feed. For this purpose I use these:

Don't be fooled by the 'wafer' bit as these are quite substantial being over 1.5cm across and 4mm thick so even Clown loaches take a little while and so if they are eating one each then any left over the corys can get to.

And of course their size makes them stay above even large gravel stones.

Only thing is Corys aren't algae-eaters.
So the shown wafers aren't for Corys.

Kind regards,
Aad

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[ShinySideUp]

Only thing is Corys aren't algae-eaters.
So the shown wafers aren't for Corys.

Kind regards,
Aad

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Corys are pretty much omnivorous and will happily eat algae tablets as well as flake food, brine shrimp, bloodworm and fresh vegetables (although mine don't seem too bothered with those). The original poster was looking for a food that the corys would eat but that wouldn't fall in between the gaps left by large gravel stones and the food I showed fits this bill.

 

[Aquatony]

You're gonna have to tell my pandas they aren't algae eaters. Because wow. They love those things!

It was my understanding also that the catfish are totally omnivorous.

I of course won't just feed them the wafer. They also enjoy the blood worms and share them nicely with the tetras!!

 

[DoubleDutch]

I didn't say they don't like or eat them, but the nutritional value of algaewafers for Corys is near to zero. They are omnivores indeed but 99% at the carnivorious side.
There is not any problem to feed these in a variated diet as long as "meaty" food is the main part.
Problems will occure when it is used as main food. Think that's why API didn't put a Cory at rhe package as they did on the shrimp pellets

Kind regards,
Aad.

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[Dillan11]

Nice corys you got there they look absolutely stunning. They are bronze corys right

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[DoubleDutch]

Nice corys you got there they look absolutely stunning. They are bronze corys right

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Thanks Dillan. These are Venezuelans (in the aeneus-group btw).


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