Can someone help me with my cory cats and feeding? I accidently posted in the Tropical Fish discussion board instead of here. Im new to the boards.
The topic title is "New To Forums! How To Feed Cory Cats..."

Thanks.

You can offer them bottom feeding pellets and wafers, frozen brineshrimp, mysis shrimp, bloodworms, earthworms, small pieces of prawn and fish. Generally anything that sinks to the bottom is fine.
Don't put too much food in the tank and any food that hasn't been eaten after 15 minutes should be removed to prevent water quality problems.

I have tried that but the problem is often times the damn tiger barbs seems to get to the food before the cats even notice.
Just tonight for example I tried breaking p the wafer into several pieces, and while they do float to the bottom, I think most of it is still being consumed by the tiger barbs.

I just dont know if they are getting their share and I dont think they are. They tend to be slower moving then the tiger barbs.
By the way, I am (trying) to feed them Hikari sinking wafers for bottom feeders and shrimp pellets. Im thinking of adding more food, but at the same time as you mentioned, Im afraid to pollute the tank.

By the way, ive had them for about a week now. I just dont want them to go hungry, and even when trying to feed when the lights go out, the darn tiger barbs starts swimming around quick and ends up finding them.

This post has been edited by tameem: May 16 2008, 02:43 AM

you can either feed the tiger barbs more so they are full and will ignore the wafers. Or you can offer the wafers an hour or two after you turn the lights out at night. The tiger barbs should be asleep by then and the catfish will have more chance of getting something to eat.

Hi tameem.

With me it's the platies. Little piggies.

If the tank it big enough you can lure the other fish to one end of the tank and drop the wafer into the other. Another trick it to use a plastic tube of approx. 3/4 to 1 inch diameter. Extend the tube into the aquarium till it just about touches the bottom. Drop the wafer into the tube and it will sink to the bottom. An opaque tub is best so the other fish don't see the wafer drifting down. You can also use flake food at the same time to distract the other fish.

I don't think that 15 minutes is enough time for the corys to consume some of the harder wafers, I personally just drop a single wafer down a day and leave it. What the corys don't eat my other fish will eventually find. I also do a 25% water change via gravel vacuum once a week so any food that doesn't get eaten gets swept up. My gravel stays pretty clean.

Cheers.

My mollies prefer the catfish stuff so now don't even bother with the lure of flaked food - they go straight for the algae wafers / catfish pellets. The corys do get a bit a look in and spend all day hoovering -with twice weekly bloodworm or daphnia where everyone gets plenty!

I always drop my wafers in just before i go to bed after all lights have gone out, my corys all so get some of the flake, bloodworm, and spinach that i feed the other fish.


Cheers Gordon

Thanks for all your replies. Well this morning I dropped a wafer right next to a cory. He did see it, seemd to eat it for a sec, and then drifted away. Im not sure they even like the wafer Im using, which is designed for catfishes; its the hikari brand. Soon the tiger barbs noticed and for fear of overfeeding and polluting, I took out the wafer.

I tried feeding the fish on one side of the tank (I have a 55gal), and then drop the wafer on the other side; that did work as the tiger barns didnt notice the food sinking, but the corys dont seem to respond. I also tried breaking it up in several pieces before throwing it in there, and the tiger barbs managed to get to most of it, too.

Once I managed to drop a wafer into one of the fake driftwoods that the cory often rests in, and the tiger barbs got in there too. Maybe the cory's are getting their share at night, btu I certainly cant say Ive seem them to actaully eat, other then bury their nose in gravel here and there.
I dont understand the point and use of a tube method. Is the point supposed to be able to drop the wafer to the bottom, without the tiger barbs noticing?

yep
Theoretically if the barbs don't see the food sinking they will be less inclined to racing over and eating it before the catfish get some.

Hikari catfish wafers are pretty good and most catfish take them. If yours are getting enough food from the flake they might not be interested in the wafers. You can try them on frozen bloodworms, if they don't eat them then there is something wrong.

Do you suppose a .50ppm ammonia reading is keeping them from eating??
Ive had this reading for awhile, even my tap water has ammonia readings, and Ive been told by many that although its higher then ideal, leave it alone.
I havent seem a change in this reading for as long as Ive set up the tank, at least two weeks now. 0 nitrites

everyone in the hosue thinks they are starving..they are out during the day, but no one really knows whats normal behavior for the catfish.
Im really thinki g of getting some divider to put in there to ensure they get their share,,but it does seem uneccessarily complicatec

This post has been edited by tameem: May 17 2008, 01:14 AM

Most catfish are nocturnal and come out after dark. Corydoras are no different, they will cruise around during the day but spend most of the night going all over the place.
Unlike mammals that use most of the food they eat to keep warm, fish take their body temperature from the surrounding water. This means any food they eat goes straight into muscle development and movement (swimming). As such fish can go for weeks without feeding and show little to no effects from this. If they are taking a small amount of food every now and then, that is fine and they won't starve.

There is a possibility your ammonia test kit reads 0 ammonia as 0.5ppm. Some kits do this and it is just the test kit. If you have the same reading in your tap water then it is likely your test kit reads no ammonia as 0.5.
Take a sample of your tank water and your tap water to the LFS and get them to test it for ammonia. Take your test kit as well and see what the results are. If there kits says you have 0 ammonia in the water, but yours says there is 0.5 ammonia in the water then you know your kit reads 0.5 as 0.

Thanks for the reply. Well, I have been taking my water samples to LFS as well. I enjoy testing regularelry my water, but to double check my work, I have taken to LFS here and there, at times. The ones I go to, Petsmart, and a coupleLFS all use the same testing type, the API test kits. And yes, their results show the same readings .5. None of them however mentioned the possibility that the reading is actually 0, so this is new to me. I beieve these kits are most accurate then test strips, so I would be suprised to hear this. I also like to test the water from LFS, I remmeber once I did do a test where a parrticular LFS came out as 0 ammonia. so I dont know...

However, as Ive said, for more then 2 weeks, my ammonia reading has always been .50, consisntently. My nitrites show 0. I have no idea really where Im at with the cycling. I kept a log wher eI write the date and results, but so far no indiciation of any movement one way or another.

Oh, I wanted to add something else.
its night here and I just went down to observe my tank. The tigher barbs are all asleep, they are poiting downward. such a cute thing! I have 12 and many of them I couldnt even find many of them! Some just floating around the plastic plants.

The cory cats are quite active right now! Very cute! and poking around the tank, espeically on decorations. I just hope they are not hungry! I didnt want to add any wafers because im sure the barbs will notice and get up. its hard to not wake them up when u approach the tank and lift the hood, and I dont want to startle or stress any of them.

This post has been edited by tameem: May 17 2008, 06:08 AM

Hi tameem

What kind if wafers are you using? When mine are hungry they'll eat the Hakari Sinking Wafers but they REALLY gobble up the Nutrafin Max sinking wafers. But remember, they need a varied nutritious diet.

I suspect that it's what Colin_T said about them getting enough food from the flakes the other fish missed. You definitely don't want to over feed your fish. You may even want to to take a feeding break for a day, once a week. The day after the holiday feed em either frozen brine shrimp or frozen blood worms. If they're bellies are rounded, they are not starving. Concave bellies are bad.

.5 ammonia is not nice. If you test your tap water and it's 0 then you do have a problem.

Questions:

How long have you had your tank set up?
What is it's size?
What filter are you using?
When (if ever) did you clean the filter?
Did you remember to only clean 1 of the bio filter media?
How often do you do water changes?
How much water do you change?
Do you vacuum the gravel during a change?
Do you have live plants in the tank?
How many? (heavily or light planted)
How many fish do you have in the tank?

These all can and will affect the tank's biosphere.

Cheers.

Well, after getting different suggestions, I now have three different types of food: sinking tablets, sinking shrimp pellets, and sinking Hikari tropical wafers designed for bottom-feeders and catfish. I should feed em brine shrimp? Oh boy, this is getting expensive!

In another posting, I mention that my tap water has about .50 ammonia. When I test the tap water with dechlorinator and I *think* without, I get .50. I did a 25% water change two days ago and I would say it looks like its now at .25, the tank that is. But Im getting the ammonia from my tap.


Questions:

How long have you had your tank set up?
Hmm. Id have to look at my logs that I keep when testing water daily. Three weeks, I'd say now.

What is it's size?
55 gallon

What filter are you using?
Two Marineland 200 power filters. Only using one filter in each. Its been in there every since I had y tank running for 2 months at least, when I was trying to fishless cycle. I have not replaced these yet.

When (if ever) did you clean the filter?
Haven't replaced them yet. Most of the time it was when fishless cycling, so they seem to be in good condition.

Did you remember to only clean 1 of the bio filter media?
Haven't cleaned the filters yet, they look in good condition, but I havent actually removed them yet, just visual.

How often do you do water changes?
During the cycling process, when I was doing fishless, I didnt change the water. That process was not progressing, taking very long, and I opted for the traditional method of cycling with fish. I introduced 8 tiger barbs, and then shortly later 4 more. I did my first water change two days ago, 25%. Ive also tested pH and that has been unchanged since Ive had livestock in the tank during the last 3 weeks now.

How much water do you change?
My plan is to change 25% every two weeks.

Do you vacuum the gravel during a change?
When I did a water change, yes, I vacuumed the right side of tanjk. My plan was to vacuum differnet portions each time, I could see flake food being vacuumed up.

Do you have live plants in the tank?
No.

How many? (heavily or light planted)
N/A

How many fish do you have in the tank?
12 tiger barbs, 3 melanistius cory catfish. All are still juveniles

were to start
tap water dosent contain ammonia you must ov tested it from the tank after you have added the water.
your tank hasnt had time to cycle and you,ve added to many fish in one go.
if uv added a filter from a fishless cycle it hasnt had time to build good bactaria up before moveing it from the another tank so basicaly ure starting from day 1 and thats were your going wrong.
2 weeks before doing a water change is to long you should be doing it every week at a minimum +

Thank's for the info (very thorough).

A couple of things:

It's better to do a 20% change once a week than a 25% change every two weeks, especially since you don't have any plants. The nitrogen cycle goes from fish/food > (ammonia) > filter bacteria > (nitrite) > other filter bacteria > (nitrate) > plants / water changes, so without the plants it's only the water change that lowers the nitrate. It is however also more of a pain in the ....

About the food, heh, ya I know. I only feed them frozen brine shrimp and frozen blood worms alternated once a week. Nutritious variety is all I'm stressing. It's not a mandatory but if you've spent all the money on a tank, filters, fish, etc. then a couple of extra bucks a week is a pittance.

Ah ha, from your previous comments I had a suspicion that you might be over feeding. That will increase tank ammonia > nitrite > nitrate. Feed sparingly twice a day. You don't want roley poley fish. It's not good for use humans to be fat, same goes for fish.

Cheers.

I may need to get a nitrate test kit. I always htought its really a waste of time, if proper water changes are done. but It would be interesting to see what the levels are after a week. tonight i accidnely fed too much, and food was floating around. So I grabbed a vacuum and siphoned out 5 gallons of water.
to many people in the house see the feed at the surface and tell me they are hungryu they are hungry...u should feed them. we are still in the process of adjusting our feeding and figuring out how much is too much. all at the same time ensuring the some also go to the bottom to feed the corys.
I'll start doing water changes weekly. But when the tank cycles, and if im feeding sparinglty, will I need to keep up with weekly changes, or can I go to two week intervals? and thanks for your help!

This post has been edited by tameem: May 20 2008, 03:34 AM