My New Bronze Corys And Harlequins

[fishy55]

Yesterday I put 6 harlequins and 3 corys into my newly fishless cycled tank and they all seem quite happy this morning.

Tested the water for ammonia last night (about 7 hours after they went in) and again this morning both ammonia and nitrite were 0.0.

Last night I put in one algae wafer which the corys had a bit of a nibble on, I removed the remains after about an hour, and some "complete flake food" which the harlequins had from the top and corys had once it had sinked.

My question is this how often, when, what and how much do I feed them?

In readiness of fish during my very long cycle I collected up the following:

algae wafers
complete flake food
freeze dried brine shrimp
freeze dried blood worm
freeze dried tubifex
freeze dried daphnia

Would they benefit from vegetables and if so which ones?

Thank you

Fishy55.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

fishy55, from what I've read (not experienced personally), it is a really bad idea to add corys to a tank that has finished cycling less than six weeks ago.

Please keep a close eye on them and be prepared to major (>50%) water changes!

 

[Twinklecaz]

I haven't seen that anywhere? I know that's true for Neons but it's 6 months not weeks.

 

[Harlequins]

Congrats on your new additions

Corys are reasonably hardy and has long has your water quality stays zero,they'll be fine

I feed my cories mainly tetra prima mini granules,which they adore,they sink straight to the bottom,they also eat flakes,defrosted bbs,bloodworm & daphnia.they love de-shelled cooked pea or broad bean once a week.this is good for clearing them out...

I usually feed them 2 mini wafers at night,and i break it into small pieces so they all have chance of a bit

My cories are normally feed small amounts morning & evening and they're fine.

Good luck with new additions and keep an eye on the stats daily

 

[fishy55]

To all,

Thanks for your replies.

I went out today and got some Tetra tabimin complete food for all bottom feeding tropical fish. I put one in and once it dissolved a bit and the corys seem to have eaten quite a bit of it. I did also before that try them on lettuce and cucumber, they ignored it!!

The kids are now happily feeding them peas on your advice.

The corys are great, so funny. They seem to play "one potato, two potato" going along the bottom of the tank and are constantly darting around, up the glass etc. Is that normal, they do seem perfectly happy. They are currently playing in the bubbles from the air pump.

I went for the bronze instead of the panda as I thought they were a bit hardier, I fully intend to get another 3 corys, would 3 pandas be okay or should I stick to bronze. I honestly don't mind either way.

What is bbs?

How do I get the freeze dried stuff I have already bought to go onto the bottom?

Thanks

Fishy55.

 

[Harlequins]

bbs- baby brine shrimp i tend not to use freeze dried,but if soak it in a little tank water before feeding it should sink

 

[OldMan47]

Cories are not the same kind of bottom feeders that we see in plecos and similar algae eaters. Cories tend to be omnivorous but do not eat live or near living plant matter. The fresh veggies and algae tablets would be great for an otocinclus or a pleco but will mostly be ignored by cories. If you add a bit of frozen blood worm, frozen daphnia or similar animal source foods, you will see the cories just as enthusiastic as a typical rasbora would be for those foods.
Be careful buying food that is for "bottom feeders", since it will often be formulated with largely vegetarian fish in mind. I would guess my mollies would go for it faster than a typical cory. In my molly tank, the bristle nose plecs and the mollies go crazy for the algae wafers while the cories wait around looking for other food and largely ignore the algae wafers. Each species of fish has its own nutritional needs and its own food preferences.

 

[gbailey141]

I have 6 cories and feed them on sinking catfish pellets which they love.

 

[mattlee]

i would get another 3 corys and they will be happier. the more the better really but i would go for a minimum of 5 or 6. my corys love tabimin, prima and bloodworms

 

[waterdrop]

fishy55, from what I've read (not experienced personally), it is a really bad idea to add corys to a tank that has finished cycling less than six weeks ago.

Please keep a close eye on them and be prepared to major (>50%) water changes!

There are lots of types of corys. I attended a talk by a breeder who said there were some amazing number described (it was something like 160 or maybe even 600 (OM, do you remember by any chance, I know I related this before but can't find an old post) types.) And they can be pretty different from each other. I know that Pandas and some of the Pygmy types can be pretty delicate.

In general though, there are many types of corys that are quite hardy and serve well in first introductions to new tanks. I'm quite sure your bronze variety would fall into that category, the bronze and green-bronze ones being hardy as I remember.

~~waterdrop~~