Corydoras Julii Feeding Question

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shewlett

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Dec 25, 2003
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We recently set up a 5 gallon tank and three days later, after getting rid of the chlorine and chloramine and adjusting the pH to 7.0 with Proper pH 7.0, we purchased two 1 inch corydoras julii. There are two small live plants in the aquarium. I didn't notice the fine print in the Proper pH 7.0 about not using with live plants since it is a phosphate inhibitor. Hopefully the plants will overcome this.

We started feeding them Hikari sinking wafers (one per feeding, two feedings per day) and it looked like they were eating them. Tonight we got home after being out all afternoon and four of these soggy things are floating around on the bottom ... I think the fish were burying them. I netted out most of the food particles and then siphoned out from the bottom 1 gallon (20%) of the water and then replaced it with some distilled water at exactly the same temperature (79 degrees F) as the water in the tank. I re-checked pH and it is approximately 6.8/6.9.

My feeding questions are this:

How much should I feed these two 1 inch corydoras julii in one day and what kind of food would they like?

I called the aquarium store where I bought them and they said they were feeding them frozen brine shrimp. Does this seem okay?

I don't want to starve the fish but I don't want to feed them something they won't eat and that will just pollute the tank.

How long can they go without eating and not compromise their immune systems and/or get ill?

Any suggestions on feeding would be most welcome. Since they seem to be burying the food it is very hard to tell what if anything they are eating.

Thanks,

Steve
 

sumoschro

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Aug 16, 2003
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1. That is about 4 times as much food as they need. Are these spirulina wafers of shrimp pellets or what. Beacuse if they are spirulina which it sounds like, then that is way too much. Pellets you could feed them more because they are smaller.

2. Yes that sounds fine. Corydoras love brine shrimp, and I feed them sinking shrimp pellets every day.

3. Once again Corys love shrimp, and will eat them like pigs.

4. Fish like corys are very hardy, and I would say one could survive a week without food, but it's not recommended unless absolutely necessary, however if im going on a two or three day trip i dont even bother asking someone to feed them, because they can last that long without a problem.

5. Any sinking food. They are botom feeders naturally, so they need food that will get to the bottom quick. I doubt they are burying it, but mroe likely digging for food that has sunk under the gravel a little.

Hope that info helps:)
 

Grandmastr

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i feed my main tank a big meal every 2 days and i have 4 juli corys

and never had problem wit the tank for 5 yrs, never change filter pads, water change 4-5 times a year

more u feed them=dirtier the water

just feed ur corys like once a day if u want or every other day some flake food, i never had a problem doin that

make sure its tropical flake food, a while ago, my sister bought goldfish flake food(it was cheaper) than tropical flake food

i lost 4 fish 2-3 weeks later
 

shewlett

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Brine Shrimp & Flakes (How Much?)

The Hikari sinking wafers are made of white fish meal, shrimp meal, wheat germ meal, wheat flour, soybean meal, alpha starch, brewers dried yeast, spirulina, and a lot of differenet vitamin supplements. I don't think they like this stuff. I may try it again down the road.

I tried TetraMin Tropical Flakes (The Rich Mix) and they did eat some of those. I also tried some San Francisco Bay Brand Sally's Frozen Brine Shrimp and I think they ate some of those.

The problem with the flakes and brine shrimp is that I have to turn off the power filter when I feed this stuff or it soon gets sucked up the filter intake tube and collects on the filter bag. I leave the filter off for a couple of hours and then turn it back on, using the net to scoop up any obvious particles that get stirred up and after awhile I pull the filter bag and clean shrimp/flakes off the filter bag with tweezers.

Approx. how many frozen brine shrimp should I feed two one inch long corydoras julii at one time?

Sumoschro, what brand of sinking brine shrimp pellets do you use and how often do you feed?

Approx. how many flakes should I feed the same two one inch long corydoras julii at one time?

Any more suggestions are most welcome.

Thanks,

Steve
 

lesley

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I also tried the hikari wafers, and my cories didn't seem to like them. I have had good results with nutrafin complete sinking tablets. The nutrafin stuff seems to be flakes that are compressed so that they sink, so shewlett, that could work for you to avoid the flake/filter issues.

I also occasionally feed frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp, and daphnia. I use the kind that are frozen in little cubes, so I usually thaw a cube or two and distribute it between two well-populated tanks (a 10 and 29 g.)
 

promethean_sprk

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wardleys shrimp pellets

All my fish seem to like these things.

You probably only need a pellet or two a couple times a day. You could add some maylasian trumpet snails to clean up the leftovers.

The ph down should actually ADD phosphorus, so the plants won't mind, but the algae may go nuts.
 

shewlett

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Proper pH 7.0; Nutrafin Tablets

I used a product called Proper pH 7.0 to adjust the pH, not pH Up or pH Down. In the pamphlet that came with it is the following: "Proper pH 7.0 is a phosphate buffer and should not be used with live aquarium plants." I have since found that Poland Springs spring water has a pH of 6.8 which is fine so I am using that.

I have tried the Nutrafin Max sinking tablets and the corydoras julii like them. They also like frozen brine shrimp but these are easily sucked up by the filter intake. I am switching to a Cascade 100 filter which has adjustable flow as I've read that turning the filter off for a period of time is not good for helpful bacteria.
 
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