Feeding cories?

M

moboe

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Feb 17, 2004
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Greetings,

While another thread I started is being of great help curing our betta of fin rot, we have another question about feeding our cories.

We have 3 panda cories in a 6g tank with our betta. The betta gets 3 betta gold pellets, 2 times a day, and enjoys them thoroughly. (read: there is no wasted food.) We got Hikari Sinking Wafers for the panda cories, and the 1/2 we put in yesterday after bringing home the cories was eventually found and devoured by the cories after several hours. The betta didn't seem interested in the wafer.

How often, and how much should we feed the cories? Concerned that the cories weren't finding the wafer yesterday, I sprinkled a small amount of food granuals into the tank which sunk immediately. So far today we have fed the cories nothing. They are swimming up and down the sides of the tank a lot...are they starving?

The package says feed as much as they will consume in an hour...once a day? everyother day? 2times a day?

Thanks for any suggestions...and in general for the wealth of kindness and expertise that this forum offers. It's a wonderful thing!

Margaret
 
I would probably feed them once a day. If you're still having ammonia or nitrite problems, then you may want to consider feeding every other day to cut down on waste production. Some people routinely feed their fish only every other day. You're unlikely to starve them. Swimming up and down the side of the tank is normal for cories--they will often go to the surface to get a gulp of air, but if they are doing it too much it may be a sign of too much ammonia/nitrite in the tank. Cories can be sensitive to bad water quality. Do you know what your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are?

Melissa
 
Thanks, again, for the help, Melissa.

While the cories have been going up and down the side of the tank, they aren't reaching the top, so I've been hopeful that they aren't doing it because of ammonia poisoning.

I tested the water yesterday (before the fin rot treatment started today) and the ammonia was almost 0, but the nitrites were higher than I'd like...I can't remember the number right now, but definitely not 0. I did a 25% water change, and was going to test again today. I will test for Nitrates tomorrow.

Now, with the Fungus Cure in the tank, can I still test the water, and get accurate results? The water is green from the treatment. I bought some Stress Zyme (no stores anywhere near me sell Bio Spira) today...can I add that to the tank? Will it help? Will it interfere with the fungus treatment?

I hope I haven't ruined everything for our 4 special fishes!

Margaret
 
I doubt you've ruined it for your fish. I think most of the people on this forum have cycled a tank with fish either intentionally or accidentally. It's not ideal, but that doesn't mean it can't be done. Do you have access to a healthy, cycled tank? If so, borrowing some gravel or decorations to put in your tank could help speed up the cycle.

I've never used Stress-Zyme, but my understanding is that bio-spira is the only 'cycle starter' that is actually useful. No idea how it interacts with Fungus Cure. You could try running a search to see what has been said about it on these forums. I'm also not sure if Fungus Cure interacts with test results. I would assume it probably doesn't, but honestly I don't know.

My cories in a fully cycled tank with nitrates <20 ppm routinely swim up and down the sides. If they are acting alright otherwise, I wouldn't worry too much.

You'll need to keep an eye on the ammonia levels as well as the nitrite levels. Even though they were at 0 yesterday, since you added three new fish, they may spike again. I know your treating your betta, but if either value gets too high you may have to do extra water changes anyway to protect your cories.
Nitrate testing is good to do, but based on where you are in the cycle, ammonia and nitrite will be the bigger concern.

Good luck.

Melissa
 
Hi Melissa,

Thanks so much for your kind words of support. I'll search the forum for references to Fungus Cure. I also will check out Aquarium Pharmaceuticals web site for any information about their medicinal products interacting with chemical testing.

I will do water changes...I promise! The cories seem to be acting fine. One began to worry me a bit this evening, but he ate ravaheously along with his tankmates, and everyone seems fine this evening.

Thanks so much for the help. We're crossing our fingers that all will be ok soon. I'll keep you posted!

Margaret
 
my cories swim up and down the glass quite often and will eat topwater at times. I found my cories love tubifex worms. I have hikari cubes and shred them a little and put them in the tank and the cories go after that more than anything else. Kyle
 
The Hikari sinking wafers are different from algae wafers. Algae wafers are fine for cories, but they're probably not all you'd want to feed them. Cories are omniverous and so need some meat products in their diet as well. For my cories I alternate sinking wafers, algae wafers, and sinking shrimp pellets.
 
When I had cories I always fed them sinking shrimp pellets which seemed very popular, but I'm sure throwing in some algae wafers now and then would be a good idea as well.
 
I have 2 (used to be 3) peppered corys, and I feed them 2 small Wardley's shrimp pellets every day and an algae wafer once a week.

Only problem with the algae wafer is that the snails like it too, and I find them clustered around it in the morning. Stupid things, I'm not feeding you, I'm feeding my fish!
 
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