Little Piggy Betta Eating All The Tank's Food.

[CrazyDiamond88]

Kasai, my betta, lives in a well planted 12 gallon with 8 pygmy corys. 
 
If I drop sinking wafers in, he eats them. If I drop frozen bloodworms in, he eats them. All of them.
He gets bloated to the point of me really worrying about him.
 
I don't know what to do. The catfish are not very proactive with their eating. I haven't really seen them eat the food I drop in - Hikari omnivore wafers. They seem to enjoy foraging though, and cleaning the plants for algae. They do sometimes hover their mouths over the food I drop in for a few seconds but that's about it.
 
So the catfish are too slow and Kasai gets all of it
 
Do any of you know a good way to distract the betta, or is there some way I can prevent him from stealing everyone's food and bloating himself?

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Maybe you could make a temporary tank divider and fence him off during feeding time?

 

[DerpPH]

I do agree with prairie sunflower..
 
or put him in a breeding box when you feed him so the corydoras have a chance to nibble away at food

 

[CrazyDiamond88]

I like the idea of a divider! How do I make one?

And what exactly is a breeding box? I googled some images but I can't make sense of it
Ah I see, I've seen breeder boxes at the LFS. Excellent idea!

Thank you!

 

[ReiRei]

A breeding box can be internal, or external, and fits into your tank. It's like a mini tank, sucking up water from your big tank, and circulating it around the box, before dribbling back into the big tank again.

 

[Wildbetta]

You will find with the pygmy corys that they prefer smaller foods since they are so small themselves.  I suggest frozen baby brine shrimp if you are able to get a hold of some.  When I had pymys that is what they seemed to eat the best.  As suggested above, it would probably be best to separate Kasai for a while when you go to feed the corys.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Not sure how well this would work, but when I feed my betta, I use tweezers. 
So, maybe you could try feeding Kasai with tweezers so he is distracted from the pygmys food for longer.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

If I was making a divider to pop in and out I'd use this stuff... plastic art canvas.  I am using this for when my honey gourami mate and the male becomes aggressive.
 

 

[Hmongol]

I use to have that issues but they are right. I used a breeding box from petco.

 

[CrazyDiamond88]

Thanks guys. I went with a breeding box.

It's good, the Corys know when the tank is all theirs and they forage and I assume eat the food I drop in.
I turn the lights out at this time too to make them feel more confident.

On another note, the corys sometimes school with kasai, it's too cute x)

 

[DerpPH]

Thanks guys. I went with a breeding box.

It's good, the Corys know when the tank is all theirs and they forage and I assume eat the food I drop in.
I turn the lights out at this time too to make them feel more confident.

On another note, the corys sometimes school with kasai, it's too cute x)

 
 
Good that they finally eat! hopefully all goes well for the corydoras and kasai

 

[CrazyDiamond88]

Thanks Derp ^^
I think they will be great together

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Awww, that's so cute!
 
Glad you resolved the problem