Will Cories Eat Fry?

[Lindsey88]

This tank will have 1 bulldog pleco and 4 platy and 4 balloon molly fry. The cories will stay in my community tank.

 

[jollysue]

I didn't read very carefully.

Nevertheless, I doubt that Corys will go swimming to the upper levels to search for fry with their barbells--unless they are starving.

 

[5teady_2012]

The fry that venture to the bottom of the tank will be at high risk of being eaten by the corys..

 

[jollysue]

Again, Corys search for food with their barbells by raking the substrate, moving it around. Any fry that sits still for a Cory to blindly grab it is very slow and has a problem. I have watched black worms wiggle away, and the Corys don't find it a fraction of an inch away. They will eventually find the worm, as they spend lots of time combing the sand for food. (I keep my Corys on sand. They have less luck on gravel.) But what swimmer will sit around waiting for the Cory to grab and hold on to it. I don't say they won't eat something they get hold of, but they are not evolved for eating swimmers. They are insectavores and are developed to search for crawling things.

 

[Lindsey88]

Since these are my first fry and there aren't many of them i'm not going to take the risk. My cories are happy anyways in my community tank.

 

[5teady_2012]

Again, Corys search for food with their barbells by raking the substrate, moving it around. Any fry that sits still for a Cory to blindly grab it is very slow and has a problem. I have watched black worms wiggle away, and the Corys don't find it a fraction of an inch away. They will eventually find the worm, as they spend lots of time combing the sand for food. (I keep my Corys on sand. They have less luck on gravel.) But what swimmer will sit around waiting for the Cory to grab and hold on to it. I don't say they won't eat something they get hold of, but they are not evolved for eating swimmers. They are insectavores and are developed to search for crawling things.

You seem more experienced at corys than me, so il put it in a diffrent way... I have seen my big cory eat fry, but thats just my personal experience.

 

[jollysue]

Of course it is not impossible and no doubt happens, but it just seems unlikely to me to happen to a healthy fry.

I am not really suggesting that Lindsey keep her Corys with the fry. I am just questioning the characterization of Corys as rampant fry eaters. The rule of thumb is that is "if is small enough to fit in the mouth then it is at risk to be eaten." That actually is generally applied to all fish. Even an herbavore Plec will eat something that lands in its mouth. I am interested to hear what you saw your Cory do and what species she is. I am always ready to learn, but I will question blanket statements that seem to me unlikely to be the rule.

I do see the guppy fry go to the bottom to search for food. They seem to get in more trouble from the harlequins than the Corys.

 

[5teady_2012]

Of course it is not impossible and no doubt happens, but it just seems unlikely to me to happen to a healthy fry.

I am not really suggesting that Lindsey keep her Corys with the fry. I am just questioning the characterization of Corys as rampant fry eaters. The rule of thumb is that is "if is small enough to fit in the mouth then it is at risk to be eaten." That actually is generally applied to all fish. Even an herbavore Plec will eat something that lands in its mouth. I am interested to hear what you saw your Cory do and what species she is. I am always ready to learn, but I will question blanket statements that seem to me unlikely to be the rule.

I do see the guppy fry go to the bottom to search for food. They seem to get in more trouble from the harlequins than the Corys.

Here is the big fella that thought he would eat my fry for his sunday lunch...

 

[Lindsey88]

Thanks for the help everyone! Well I got the bulldog pleco and he is tiny only like 2 inches long. I looked for bristlenose but they only had commons, blond something or other, and these guys. I am floating him and my fry in bags. I will take pictures of him later and put them in the pleco forum.

 

[Inchworm]

About corys eating fry..........

I agree with jollysue on this one. Corys are bottom feeders and might eat a small fry if it is on the bottom of the tank. It will not, however, hunt for fry as they swim above them.

 

[drewry]

iv keep endler fry at 1 day old with my bronze corydoras before and never lost any

 

[jollysue]

I suppose if the fry and the Cory were after the same bit of food, the fry could get in the Cory's barbells. But it is unlikely that the Cory went after it. The same thing could happen with a Plec I would think. Plecs don't give up their food easily and could pounce on a wafer with a fry grazing. As I said the rule of thumb is any fish small enough to fit in another fish's mouth could be eaten.

I hope your bulldog works out for you Lindsey. I have BN, but I had to buy them from a breeder. I have only once, I think, seen them in the lps. I actually do not know what a bulldog looks like anything about them. But I am very fond of my BN. I have 6 BN (3 different varieties, with at least 2 pair. I am not sure if the albinos are a male and female.) and 5 Jari zebras.

Actually some Cory keepers keep their breeding Plecs and Corys in the same tank. But the Plecs protect and care for the eggs and fry.

Do you feed your Cory bottom feeder food, or are they kept as scavengers?

If you post a clearer pic, 5teady we might be able to tell you if your fella is a gal. I am inclined from the discription to conclude that it is a female. She looks like she might be a bronze/C. aeneus. Although I am notoriously wrong IDing Corys from pics.

Waiting for pics of your Corys Lindsey.....

 

[Lindsey88]

I have a mixmatched group of three the bronze is the largest and the albino is in the middle while the false julii is the tiniest of the three. They scavenge for dropped flakes and they are fed frozen bloodworms and algae wafers. When these fry get a little bigger I will probably move them over to this tank as well.

The three of them shoal together very well.

 

[5teady_2012]

With the majority of the people saying they will be fine, id go with them, maybe my little fry was just unlucky and got in the way and the cory didnt mean to eat it..

NIce corys you got there, nice clear pics as well

 

[Lindsey88]

I think I will wait 1-2 weeks for my fry to get bigger before I add them. Thanks everyone for your help!