What do panda corys eat at the bottom of the tank?

[Whitecloud09]

Hi all, 

Q of the day for me here. What do panda corys do when they are scavenging around on the sand or gravel? Eating debris or algae? Mine refuse to eat since I have had them (got them Wednesday online) they are healthy and swim around a lot and are active, but they refuse the following,

Micro hikari pellets.

sinking carnivore pellets,

and algae wafers. Ik they don’t eat these a lot but I thought it was worth a try. 
My tank has good parameters, ammonia shows up every once in a while but barely any, and I do a 25 or 50% change when needed. 
nitrite 0. 
nitrates 20. Ph. 7.4.

So, are they just still exploring they’re new home? Or just not hungry? And are they eating something at the bottom, you know when they scavenger around with their whiskers and kinda stir around the sand.

TIA!!!!!

[GoofyGarra]

Worms! I have a tubifex worm colony growing in the sand in my 5 gallon tank and my Albino Cory fry love digging down into the substrate to find the worms to eat. I would try offering some live or frozen foods like Bloodworms, Grindal Worms, or BBS, or if you can't get those try FD tubifex worm cubes.

I would also not stress too much if the fish haven't eaten yet, it can take new fish a while to get used to a new setup and start eating.

[Whitecloud09]

On 8/4/2024 at 11:29 AM, GoofyGarra said:

Worms! I have a tubifex worm colony growing in the sand in my 5 gallon tank and my Albino Cory fry love digging down into the substrate to find the worms to eat. I would try offering some live or frozen foods like Bloodworms, Grindal Worms, or BBS, or if you can't get those try FD tubifex worm cubes.

I would also not stress too much if the fish haven't eaten yet, it can take new fish a while to get used to a new setup and start eating.

Thanks @GoofyGarra. I will get some frozen bloodworms ASAP and also, do you think freeze dried BBS would be good for them? I have some that I feed to my other fish. Thanks for clarifying, I feel much better now, @GoofyGarra.

[GoofyGarra]

On 8/4/2024 at 12:21 PM, Whitecloud09 said:

also, do you think freeze dried BBS would be good for them? I have some that I feed to my other fish.

 I suspect they would eat it, but I have not tried FD BBS with my cories so i'm not %100 sure. If you already have it though, it cant hurt to try

[Whitecloud09]

On 8/4/2024 at 12:54 PM, GoofyGarra said:

 I suspect they would eat it, but I have not tried FD BBS with my cories so i'm not %100 sure. If you already have it though, it cant hurt to try

They are now eating, carnivore sinking foods, pellets, and algae wafers! @GoofyGarra.

[redmare]

I'm glad they're eating now! All the cories I've ever had are little piggies, happily devouring any food that hits the bottom. Their favourite thing is bloodworms though- you should get some frozen bloodworms in there, make sure some make it to the bottom, to watch how happy they are rummaging around for them! 

[Whitecloud09]

On 8/16/2024 at 5:39 PM, redmare said:

I'm glad they're eating now! All the cories I've ever had are little piggies, happily devouring any food that hits the bottom. Their favourite thing is bloodworms though- you should get some frozen bloodworms in there, make sure some make it to the bottom, to watch how happy they are rummaging around for them! 

Wow! That is awesome I have some! I will! Thanks @redmare.

[reefhugger]

My corys dearly love Repashy foods.  I feed Community Plus and Soilent Green.

[Whitecloud09]

On 8/17/2024 at 3:57 AM, reefhugger said:

My corys dearly love Repashy foods.  I feed Community Plus and Soilent Green.

Yes gonna get those from ac soon.