What To Feed My New Julis?

Snake42490

Fish Crazy
Joined
Mar 1, 2007
Messages
305
Reaction score
0
Location
Iowa
hey guys.. im just setting up a 20 gallon community tank.. i have tried when i first started a while back but things never worked out haha.. so i decided to come back and go for it this time. i just got 5 juli corys today and they are swimming and schooling.. or schoaling.. great.. the only thing i was wondering is what should i be feeding them for a staple diet? thanks seth
 
Hi Seth !

Good news about the new Cories!

Although you didn't ask, I am sure some one will let you know that juliis are actually uncommon and hard to get. It is most likely that you have gotten another simular but diffferent species. Perhaps someone else will address that, since I can't remember how to spell the full name of the trilis that are most often taken for juliis.

But as to food: Hands down the best in, in my book, is Hikari Sinking Wafers if they are available, otherwise another bottom feeder wafer or tab--not algae wafers. Hikari Sinking Wafers are for bottom fish, and the Cories always seem to like them best. They will make a good staple for your Corys. In addition, some algae tab occasionally until the tank matures, some frozen food like blood worm or mysis shrimp and perhaps a second or third variety of tropical fish food, such as flake or another brand of botton wafer or tab--for variety. If you can find some live food like river black worms, your Corys will love you to pieces and may get so excited that they do the sexy dance.

But until the tank matures, it will be best to underfeed than to over feed. Uneaten food will turn to ammonia. As a matter of fact it is often recommended not to feed fish for a few days in a new tank, as it all turns to ammonia eventually

Again you didn't ask, but did you cycle the new tank? If not, do several water changes a day, and if possible get the water tested at the local fish store after a couple of days to see how the stats are. Once ammonia and nitrites begin to build they are deadly. If you know anyone with a mature tank, get some filter media from them and seed your filter, or get some Bio Spira to help speed the process. You did not say you had a plan for cycling the tank, you had trouble before, and so I am offering this just in case. :)
 
Although you didn't ask, I am sure some one will let you know that juliis are actually uncommon and hard to get. It is most likely that you have gotten another simular but diffferent species. Perhaps someone else will address that, since I can't remember how to spell the full name of the trilis that are most often taken for juliis.
Greetings. C. trilineatus or C. acrensis.
I have put out a challenge to anyone that can find me 6 adult C. julii, in a decent spawning ratio. I will pay $300 for the group. I ain't holding my breath, though. Also willing to pay $50 for a pair that I can use for photographic purposes.- Frank

P.S. Would just like to see one, up close and personal. That would be a real treat.
 
JollySue, Thanks for the answer. I was actually going to post a similar question myself so was a big help. I have 6 peppered cory's in my community tank and they seem to be a bit dumb when it comes to finding food :) I have kepts other species of cory's in the past and they pretty much all found any food that you dropped to the bottom within seconds.

I have been feeding two types of pellets but one is really hard and was what I used to feed my big clown loaches (the Cory's take about 30 minutes to eat half of one) and the others I dont think are that great quality.

I will give the Hikari Sinking Wafers a try (I use the algae waffers which my Cherry shrimp love as did my whiptail when I used to have one). I do feed a mixture of frozen food as well but this tends to get eaten too quickly for the cory's to get much of a chance (like I said they seem to be a bit slow in finding where the food is :) ).
 
Some time ago I heard that there was some kind of dispute between the UK and Hikari. I think they stopped selling in the UK. I haven't heard, so maybe I am wrong or it was resolved. I hope so, because they are an excellent brand.
 
Ahh that could explain why I haven't been able to find any in the LFS's!!!
 
You could check in with Studz or Ian for a recommendation. I think I saw Ian recommend Tetra sinking tabs once. Nutrafin also has a sinking tab. I keep them all and put whatever my mood says. But I feed my Corys black worms most days.
 
well all the corys are doing fine. im curious to what these guys are then... oh and the tank is mature haha... its been going for a long time.. 7 months now. i had a breeding pair of aurutus tropheus in it. the female died last time while holding and i never got around to finding another for the male so i got rid of him. i used filter media from my 55 gallon which has been up for over a yeah. i will give the waffers a try if i can find them! thanks for your help.
 
............................................. haha,.... yes let me tell you how easy it is to tell them apart..... NOT .. i will try to close examine them...
 
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: That would be why they give you the link instead of telling you to post a pic... :rofl: It is so hard to tell some corys apart. If you can get a really good pic there are a couple of people on here that can tell what they are. :good:
 
Ian Fuller just told us that the only way to know a julii was from its place of capture. He said they are very nearly impossible to tell apart in person and not at all from pictures. Well that is what I remember from what he said. I would guess at the extremes of the species specimens there are obvious differences but that there are wide overlapping characteristics.
 
ok.. well i cant get pics now.. i can later though. i got them to pig out on brine shrimp! im going to get some rock for my mbuna tank.. ill post some later! thanks.
 
If they are so hard to tell apart... then how do we know that what they say are not julii really aren't? They may be more common than we realize. Also... How can they be so sure that Juliis aren't in other places too? They could be anywhere! People have helped fish move all over the world... and we have found a lot of fish in places they didn't think they belonged.

edit: From everything I have read... Julii are smaller and the spots on the head do not touch eachother.
 
If the rock is for the Corys, be sure it is not coral based or high in calcium.

Yeah, I understand, ICEEGRL. I was just repeating what I remember Ian posting when we were discussing getting Bryan's juliis. He said that sources lie about the place of capture in order to get the best price and that it was impossible to ID a julii without a knowledge of the capture site. Well, that's the best I can remember it. I will look for the thread later. The implication was of course that Bryan couldn't know for sure what he had. My response was much the same as yours. Others could breed them I assume. Of course it is unlikely that a rare fish would be bred and sold in an lps but not impossible. You would have to catch them yourself then to know what you had if the premiere Cory expert in England can't tell the difference.

As you can see, Snake, you have opened several kettles of worms. Too bad you can't feed them to your fish!

When I first started I tried to get an ID from the mod, Inchworm, on my lps Corys. She sent me to PlanetCatfish. I still don't know for sure what they are. Just have a best guess. I posted a pic one time and my best guess and got shot down in flames. The debate was hot over the ID and it was not settled. Of course the pic was a bad one for an ID. I have settled for C. leucomelas. But like many Corys they are common and tank bred and have a wide possibility of characteristics. In addition it is not unknown for Corys to cross breed in the aquarium and the wild. So IDing Corys gets very problematic.

Also I saw a post in PlanetCatfish yesterday from Ian saying that 5 new species are discovered a year. It takes time to classify those. It is really a mess and a man made system. The systems are just a way to try to identify and classify, but they are artificial. "It's a jungle out there!"
 

Most reactions

Back
Top