Help with feeding cories

[Zeaqua]

Hi all! So I've been keeping cory cats for just over a year now, and so far i've had pygmaeus, aeneus, and elegans. I've had a small amount of trouble feeding them, as they will eat none of the common prepared foods that most people reccomend. Right now, all three species have had a staple of Xtreme nano pellets, mixed in with the occasional flake and frozen tubifex/bloodworm. My main problem is that they refuse to eat anything that won't entirely fit in their mouth. Of course, i'm not trying to get them to eat monster fish pellets, but they completely ignore any wafer or tablet foods that are usually recommended for them, with the main ones i've tried being the Hikari and Xtreme bottom feeder wafers. I try to give them as varied of a diet as possible, and i'm a bit annoyed that I have all of these foods that apparently most cories eat, that mine wont. Do cories in general just not eat these foods, or do i just have a few schools of very picky individuals?

[FishyJames]

Mine will eat pellets and wafers once they start disoulving.  They also love blood worms.  

[dmurray407]

Mine seem to eat almost anything. They especially love Repashy Soilent Green, Hikari Sinking Carnivore Pellets and Hikari Algae Wafers. They clean up almost every bit of food that lands on the bottom of the aquarium.

[mynameisnobody]

@Zeaqua have you tried fasting them for a bit and then feeding wafers or whatever else you’d prefer feeding? A hungry fish will eat what most full belly’s won’t. 

[Zeaqua]

On 9/24/2023 at 10:39 PM, mynameisnobody said:

@Zeaqua have you tried fasting them for a bit and then feeding wafers or whatever else you’d prefer feeding? A hungry fish will eat what most full belly’s won’t. 

I haven't yet, that seems like a much better idea than how I approached it before. 

On 9/24/2023 at 10:05 PM, dmurray407 said:

Mine seem to eat almost anything. They especially love Repashy Soilent Green, Hikari Sinking Carnivore Pellets and Hikari Algae Wafers. They clean up almost every bit of food that lands on the bottom of the aquarium.

My LFS doesn't carry repashy, but the latter options seem like great ideas, especially the carnivore pellets as the extra protein would be great for my C. elegans, which I'm trying to grow out a bit. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 9/24/2023 at 6:30 PM, Zeaqua said:

My main problem is that they refuse to eat anything that won't entirely fit in their mouth.

If you can, try repashy and see if you notice any behavioral change. As far as granules, they do have krill pellets and even the newer aqueon nutrinsect line that is a great source of food they eat naturally in the wild. In my own experience as well, the more difficult it is for the food to break down the more difficult it is for the corydoras to "chew" that food and enjoy it. Some wafers, some pellets, they can just be so dense and they don't really break down easily. Once the fish try to eat that food and give the "nope" reaction, then it could take hours for them to get the courage enough to eat that food. They will naturally graze all day long and they don't mind waiting for the food to break down for their later enjoyment.

Something like the nutrinsect granules, flake foods, repashy, and certain wafers are very easy for them to eat and enjoy. Frozen brine shrimp is another go-to for me.

On 9/24/2023 at 6:30 PM, Zeaqua said:

Do cories in general just not eat these foods, or do i just have a few schools of very picky individuals?

It could also just be a size of the group thing. Are you closer to 6 or do you have 12-15+?

Edited September 26, 2023 by nabokovfan87
random typo

[TOtrees]

Think of cory feeding like chewing your food with your tongue. Small foods, check. Soft foods, also check (though a bit of work may be involved). Larger harder foods, no check. As pellets soften, they can either rub pieces off with their lips or barbels, or suck it in and try to break it down into smaller softer pieces. Food they don't swallow is either spit back out, or ejected past the gills. 

With this in mind, try feeding larger pellets at night, or close to lights out. The cories will come out and be active as the foods become softer. I feed the larger vibra-bites this way and my cories and kuhlis love them. They're also big enough that guppies can't swallow them. 

[Guppysnail]

All mine go crazy for these. They soak through quickly and fall apart into tiny granules almost. Even my Pygmy Cory go nuts. They like the Xtreme wafers but don’t touch them until they almost disolve  they also love the Kens fry growth granules that come in 3 sizes  

[Stef]

My pandas go bonkers for Xtreme nano pellets that I sprinkle in the output of the hob to sink it quickly to the bottom (coarse sand substrate)

[Ken Burke]

My corys luv tetra shrimp wafers, Repashy and extreme nano.  Try feeding just after lights out.  

[Milliardo Peacecraft]

My cories all seem to love the Rapshy Super Green that I put in there each evening.  It's available directly from Rapshy if your local store doesn't have it.  In powder form in the container it lasts quite a while.  When I make it I freeze it in mini icecube trays so it's 3/8" cubes, then once froze I put them in a zip lock in the freezer and it keeps a long time.  Each night I drop a few frozen cubes in the tank and within minutes it's thawed out and the fish are after it.

Edited September 26, 2023 by Milliardo Peacecraft

[dmurray407]

Aquarium Coop has several “flavors” of Repashy. 

[Zeaqua]

On 9/25/2023 at 3:50 PM, Guppysnail said:

All mine go crazy for these. They soak through quickly and fall apart into tiny granules almost. Even my Pygmy Cory go nuts. They like the Xtreme wafers but don’t touch them until they almost disolve  they also love the Kens fry growth granules that come in 3 sizes  

I've been trying to find a food that dissolves a bit more quickly, ill see if i can get some of these. 

On 9/26/2023 at 4:17 PM, Milliardo Peacecraft said:

My cories all seem to love the Rapshy Super Green that I put in there each evening.  It's available directly from Rapshy if your local store doesn't have it.  In powder form in the container it lasts quite a while.  When I make it I freeze it in mini icecube trays so it's 3/8" cubes, then once froze I put them in a zip lock in the freezer and it keeps a long time.  Each night I drop a few frozen cubes in the tank and within minutes it's thawed out and the fish are after it.

Interesting, I wonder why they prefer the plant-based repashy considering that they mostly eat protein. 

[Milliardo Peacecraft]

@Zeaqua I originally bought it for my Otos and plecos, but every night the cories flock to it as well.

Edited September 27, 2023 by Milliardo Peacecraft

[RadMax8]

How long are you letting the food stay in there before they won't eat it? Is it a deal where they don't touch it at all and after 5 mins you take it out, or does it just sit in the tank for an extended period of time and it breaks down itself?

In my experience, my cories eat just about anything. Granted, they definitely have preferences. Hikari bottom feeder wafers? Love them! Xtreme bottom feeder wafers? Meh... That said, they do get eaten, especially if I let them soften til lights out. Everything is cleaned up and good to go a couple hours later.

I also like to let them explore their natural behaviors; I'll bury a cube of frozen bloodworms just barely under the substrate and let them snuffle around and find it. It's very fun to watch, especially as they try to get the last bits.

Good luck!