Feeding Corydoras properly

[Cory Lover]

Hello everyone,

Corydoras are one of the most mis-fed species of fish there is in the freshwater aquarium hobby. Most people (as pet stores lead them to believe) think Cories will live off the leftover flakes and grunge on the bottom of the tank, which is very mistaken. Corydoras need a variety of food just like other fish, and in these next couple paragraphs you'll learn how to feed your Cory properly.

To start, a good staple diet for Corydoras are shrimp pellets. They are healthy, and sink right away. Look for the HBH brand, they make good quality ones (stay away from Wardley shrimp pellets, they have been known to cloud water and they get very messy). A good ratio is two shrimp pellets a day per Cory, but if you have other fish, like cichlids, that may eat them before the Corydoras can get them, give your Cory at least four.

Then, start adding algae/veggie wafers every second day. Try to get the Hikari Brand, they make excellent Cory food. It gives the Cories some vegetable matter, which is essential in their diet.

Once you start feeding your Corydoras both of those, you're doing well, but you should still give your Cories more variety.

Hikari Sinking Wafers (a Cory favorite) is even better for your Corydoras then shrimp pellets or algae wafers. So if you can pay a little more, I would highly recommend getting these too.

Like all fish, Corydoras need some non pellet/wafer food, and they need something thats more 'real', and also for you, not outragously expensive. Hikari Bio-Pure Freeze-Dried Tubifex Worms fit the bill perfectly. They are cheaper then live or frozen foods, but in my experience Corydoras like them more. They come in small cubes, and the problem is they float so Corydoras can't get them easily. But, there is a way to get them to sink. Wrap some aquarium metal weigths (plant anchors work well) gently around the cube, then throw it in the tank and watch a feeding frenzy begin at the bottom of your aquarium.



If you feed your Corydoras properly, you'll have more lively and beautiful Cories then you've ever had before.


Matt

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[Corydora_FREAK]

I agree with you, about feeding the cories although i must say my feeding schedule is a bit defferent.

HBH brand

Omega One has the best on the market. In my opinion and most Corydoras fans i know. i don't like HBH because earlier this year they had a recall on one of their foods. I don't like that. Aqueon also is a good brand, still i prefer Omega one hands down.
Hikari sinking wafers however are an excellent choice. Still i prefer Omega One Veggie rounds.

A good ratio is two shrimp pellets a day per Cory

Sometimes the food is a wafer or disc. My rule is as much as the cories can eat in 2 hours because they are slow eaters. The tubifex is a good idea. Also frozen make an excellent easy sinking meal for them.

Overall good article Cory Lover!

[Cory Lover]

Originally Posted by Corydora_FREAK

I agree with you, about feeding the cories although i must say my feeding schedule is a bit defferent.

Omega One has the best on the market. In my opinion and most Corydoras fans i know. i don't like HBH because earlier this year they had a recall on one of their foods. I don't like that. Aqueon also is a good brand, still i prefer Omega one hands down.
Hikari sinking wafers however are an excellent choice. Still i prefer Omega One Veggie rounds.

Sometimes the food is a wafer or disc. My rule is as much as the cories can eat in 2 hours because they are slow eaters. The tubifex is a good idea. Also frozen make an excellent easy sinking meal for them.

Overall good article Cory Lover!

Omega is a good brand also, if you can find it. I can't find it any where.

Frozen is good too, but its messier and you get much more bang for your buck with buying freeze-dried (Hikari) tubifex worms.

Thanks for your input!

[livebearer_love]

I've had corys for about 2 weeks now I've been feeding them only the hikari sinking wafers that you mentioned which are dime sized. I'm glad I bought the right stuff. Thanks for the information I will defintely get some tubifex now.
You said that these are better than the shrimp pellets. If I feed these should I also feed shrimp pellets too?
How many hikari wafers do I feed per corydora? You mentioned that quantity for shrimp pellets but not for the wafers.

Very good and very informative thanks!

[Obsidian]

I have found that my cory's come to the top for both worms and flakes. Of course they don't have to do anything special to get to their shrimp pellets or algae wafers they know when I feed and they come out the same as everyone else, even if they were sleeping just prior to my lifting the hood. I feed them along with everyone else in the tank so they are on the same schedule in terms of variety. I feed pellets 2-3 times a week, algae wafers when not feeding pellets, and flakes almost daily. When I am not feeding flakes I am feeding worms. Everyone on the community seems to enjoy everything I give them. I have not ever considered sinking cory pellets, I will take a look the next time I go for food!

[Cory Lover]

Originally Posted by livebearer_love

I've had corys for about 2 weeks now I've been feeding them only the hikari sinking wafers that you mentioned which are dime sized. I'm glad I bought the right stuff. Thanks for the information I will defintely get some tubifex now.
You said that these are better than the shrimp pellets. If I feed these should I also feed shrimp pellets too?
How many hikari wafers do I feed per corydora? You mentioned that quantity for shrimp pellets but not for the wafers.

Very good and very informative thanks!

I feed my Cories both shrimp pellets and the hikari sinking wafers, but its really up to you if you want to feed your Corydoras shrimp pellets too.

If you don't have any other fish that will steal the wafers, probably half of one to one a day per Cory (though it really depends on what else you feed them). I currently have 21 Corydoras, and they get four of the hikari sinking wafers each day, but they also get the tubifex worms, shrimp pellets, flakes, and algae wafers.

Matt

[livebearer_love]

So then would I feed 1 shrimp or tubifex pellet per cory in the morning and then 1 wafer per cory again in the evening or is it like 2 shrimp pellets per cory one day in the evening and then the next day is shrimp.
What I am asking is that if you are supposed to feed your corys twice a day or only once at night. When I feed my corys none of the other fish seem to bother them so I think it would be ok to feed in the day but would twce a day be too much?
Thanks

[Cory Lover]

Originally Posted by livebearer_love

So then would I feed 1 shrimp or tubifex pellet per cory in the morning and then 1 wafer per cory again in the evening or is it like 2 shrimp pellets per cory one day in the evening and then the next day is shrimp.
What I am asking is that if you are supposed to feed your corys twice a day or only once at night. When I feed my corys none of the other fish seem to bother them so I think it would be ok to feed in the day but would twce a day be too much?
Thanks

Tubifex worms don't come in pellets that I know of, they come in freeze dried chunks. So if you gave one freeze dried chunk of tubifex worms (once a day for all your Corydoras, not per Cory). Then you would probably want to feed one wafer and 1-2 shrimp pellets per day per Cory (doesn't really matter what times you feed what, just in the morning and night).

Twice a day is best, preferably morning and night.

Matt

[jones57742]

Originally Posted by Obsidian

I have found that my cory's come to the top for both worms and flakes. Of course they don't have to do anything special to get to their shrimp pellets or algae wafers they know when I feed and they come out the same as everyone else, even if they were sleeping just prior to my lifting the hood. I feed them along with everyone else in the tank so they are on the same schedule in terms of variety. I feed pellets 2-3 times a week, algae wafers when not feeding pellets, and flakes almost daily. When I am not feeding flakes I am feeding worms. Everyone on the community seems to enjoy everything I give them. I have not ever considered sinking cory pellets, I will take a look the next time I go for food!

Obsidian:

We are paddling the same direction except for some of the specific types of foods.

TR

[Corydora_FREAK]

So if you gave one freeze dried chunk of tubifex worms (once a day for all your Corydoras, not per Cory). Then you would probably want to feed one wafer and 1-2 shrimp pellets per day per Cory

That seems to be a overfeed IMO!

I feed 4 hikari sinking algae wafers broken up into pieces at night and 5 Aqueon bottom feeder shrimp wafers all broken up into chunks in the morning. Thats for 15 Adult Peppered Corydoras And 5 Adult Corydoras Trilinatus, and i know they get enough, they are huge! Also the peppered Corydoras spawn at least once a week, so i know they arent starving by any means!

[Cory Lover]

Originally Posted by Corydora_FREAK

That seems to be a overfeed IMO!

I feed 4 hikari sinking algae wafers broken up into pieces at night and 5 Aqueon bottom feeder shrimp wafers all broken up into chunks in the morning. Thats for 15 Adult Peppered Corydoras And 5 Adult Corydoras Trilinatus, and i know they get enough, they are huge! Also the peppered Corydoras spawn at least once a week, so i know they arent starving by any means!

Everyone has different feeding routines, and for me, the one I use works.

Also, when I say wafer I don't mean a large algae wafer, I'm referring to the little hikari sinking ones.

[jones57742]

Originally Posted by Cory Lover

Everyone has different feeding routines, and for me, the one I use works.

Yep.

Mine also works for me.

I may slightly overfeed but I have a "ton" of biological filtration media in my sump and a turnover rate of approximately 9/hour.

TR