new corys

[norbie]

hi,

i have just bought three peppered corys and am a bit concerned about their eating.

i've bought the proper sinking food for them, but the guppies seem more interested in it than them!

the corys are very active fish, and are scavenging on the bottom all the time and yesterday were seen to be pecking bits off the sinking food.

however, its still there from yesterday and dont know what i should do. should i leave it there? or take it out? and should i give them some new stuff?

has anyone got any tips to get them to eat?

thanks

 

[KentBlokey]

Hi, I'd take the old food out. It'll just go mushy a pollute the tank.

Try some more after Tank lights are turned off. This doesn't actually work for me but it does others when it comes to catfish.

Frozen foods....have you tried that? Mine love Frozen bloodworm

How new are they? Like 24hours new? As some say new fish shouldn't be fed this quick, the stress of moving may have put them off eating.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi norbie

Many of the small fish have very little stomachs and cannot eat large meals. I have heard it said that their stomachs are no bigger than their eyes.

Also, if you look at the way a cory roams around the tank looking for bits of food here and there, you will understand that he is more of a snacker than a fish who likes a full course meal, all at once, like some of the big fish do.

So, just give him small meals. If you also feed flake or other food to their tankmates, they will munch on the leftovers as the day goes by.

Corys love live blackworms or tubifex worms, and many of them enjoy the frozen and/or freeze dried ones too. Algae wafers are good treats for them, and can stay in the tank for longer periods of time than most food, before they spoil.

Why not pay close attention to the way your new corys use their barbels to seek out food? They are quite interesting, IMHO.

 

[norbie]

wow you have lots of corys Inchworm!

thanks for the advice to the two of you so far

is there anything else you can tell me about the general keeping of them/sexing etc or anything?

thanks

 

[Fishy411]

Mine seem to like the leftover flakes better. I usually break up a pellet and scatter bits of it around the tank. They will go over to one snack a lil and then go swim until they find another one.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi norbie

To tell the gender of mature corys. I find it easiest to look at them from above. It gives you a good view of their shapes even if they are swimming all around.

Males are generally smaller and slimmer than the females and have more pointed ventral fins. The females have more rounded ones and they use them, when they spawn, to carry the eggs to a safe place before pressing them on to it.

I have some peppered corys and there is a big difference between the sizes of the males and females, but with some other species it is harder to tell them apart.

 

[Fishy411]

dont mean to hijack but Are green cories hard to tell apart because i cant tell at all. I see 2 of them chasing a 3rd but then they switch and chase a different one so i dont know which are males or not. They are all Huge so i cant see any slim ones.

 

[norbie]

i dont know what species my corys are now

i thought they were peppered, but from looking at pictures, mine arent that reguarly spotty! i dont think they are bronze either

 

[norbie]

i've managed to get a picture of them (its not very good though)

any ideas?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi norbie

The fish on the right is a peppered cory, C paleatus. I can't really see enough of the other one to tell what it is though.

 

[norbie]

thankyou

i thought they were

 

[Inchworm]

dont mean to hijack but Are green cories hard to tell apart because i cant tell at all. I see 2 of them chasing a 3rd but then they switch and chase a different one so i dont know which are males or not. They are all Huge so i cant see any slim ones.

Hi Fishy411

OK, first let me ask if you are sure that your fish are corys and not brochis? Emerald Green Brochis are fish that look like corys and they really are huge compared to ordinary corys. Sometimes the bronze corys are called "green." but the actually are more like gray.

Here's a link about the brochis:

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/calli...ochis/114_f.php

And this is the bronze cory:

http/www.planetcatfish.com/cotm/2001_12.php

In general, the C. aeneus or bronze cory is more rounded than the brochis.

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

hi,

i have just bought three peppered corys and am a bit concerned about their eating.

i've bought the proper sinking food for them, but the guppies seem more interested in it than them!

the corys are very active fish, and are scavenging on the bottom all the time and yesterday were seen to be pecking bits off the sinking food.

however, its still there from yesterday and dont know what i should do. should i leave it there? or take it out? and should i give them some new stuff?

has anyone got any tips to get them to eat?

thanks

try shrimp pellets. i had the same problem as you when i got my cories. i couldnt get them to eat anything so my lfs suggested the shrimp pellets. they're good because they break down into small, soft pieces so the cories dont have to break it off themselves. my neons scatter it everywhere (very messy eaters) and the cories clean it up.

btw my lfs had some brochis last time i went in. they were HUGE, at least 8cm long. they were selling them for $100 each

 

[Catfish Fanatic]

my peperd corys hate shrimp pelets and my brand of blood worms never float to the botum the seem to like flakes the best especialy coloration flakes for some reason

 

[norbie]

thanks for all the advice,

i have some sinking 'crab and other crustaceans' food pellets which i had for newts before, and its just going to go bad - is there any chance my fish can have it?

theres a link here http/www.hikariusa.com/crab_cuisine.htm