Corys vs. Snails

[Josh W]

Hi all, looking for a little advice about a snail issue I'm in the middle of.

I've setup my first tank (130L) and currently have three guppies (down from eight thanks to a bogus supplier), five corydoras (julii) and an ever-expanding host of red ramshorn snails. Everything has been moving along, but the snails are starting to get out of control. After weeks of trying to control them manually by removing them, I've decided just to let them flare up and help clean up the tank and then hopefully settle down to a reasonable amount once that's done and food becomes scarce.

However, I've been using sinking pellets to feed the corys and it feels like the snails are able to find and swarm those pellets faster than the corys can! I turn away for a minute and the snails come out of the woodwork while the corys blissfully run all around the tank, seemingly completely unaware there's food around.

My concern is that I'm just rocketing up the snail population by giving them these sinking pellets, all while the corys aren't getting the food that's meant for them. The corys don't seem to touch the pellets once the snails are around (that I've seen). My gut says that the corys probably just aren't that hungry and I should dial back the amount I'm feeding them, and that if they were really hungry they'd get there faster and compete directly with the snails. But as this is my first tank I don't have any experience with how corys role. So I'm hoping you all could help lend some advice on how to approach this.

Thanks!

Edited November 2, 2020 by Josh W

[Cory]

Chances are there is too much food going in the tank. I would stop feeding bottom foods, and just keep an eye on the corydoras until the snail population dies back. Might take a month or more before the corydoras would even lose any weight, so you've got plenty of time to notice it, if that is going on.

[Josh W]

Thanks, I'll dial this back a bit and keep an eye on them.