Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So right now I'm feeding my 4 albino corys Wardley's sinking shrimp pellets. They're still very small (about 1.5 in) and the gouramis I have almost eat more of the sinking pellets than the corys do. (I feed the gouramis their own food).
The problem with the shrimp pellets is that they become waterlogged extremely quickly, and become bloated and disintegrate. My substrate is not large, but it is big enough that most of the shrimp pellet dissolves and sinks straight down into the substrate, out of reach, as all the fish peck at it. So the question I'm wondering is: do corys eat algae? I've seen algae discs at the store for plecos and such, and they look like they would stay together better...
I've also tried feeding my corys tubifex worms, but they don't seem very interested, and it's hard to waterlog that stuff so that it sits on the bottom. Any recommendations for what to feed them that won't sink into the substrate would be appreciated! Sorry for the long message, I'm just an anxious new fish owner =

Cory cats do not, as a rule, eat algae. Their favorite foods seem to be live tubifex and black worms, and other live food in the substrate.

Many of us feed cory cats shrimp pellets. But you are correct, most shrimp pellets dissolve very quickly. One brand that does not is Omega One Shrimp Pellets. I am very impressed with these, as well as their algae disks for herbivorous plecos (but not cory cats!)

You mentioned that you had trouble getting tubifex worms waterlogged to sit on the bottom. It sounds like you are using freeze dried tubifex. This is a great food for many fish, but as you have observed, your other aquarium residents may devour them while they are floating on the surface, long before they hit the substrate.

Here's an idea: many pet stores feed live tubifex to bottom feeders by placing them in a small glass jar turned on its side on the gravel. The fish swim in the open end to eat their fill. Maybe try the same thing with the freeze dried worms? The cube will float initially, but if you float it inside the jar, maybe the worms that hydrate up will sink to the bottom of the jar. I just thought of this, I'm going to try it tonight.

Good luck!

Corys love Hikari Sinking Wafers too.

Try frozen foods (not freezedried) such as blood worms, brine shrimp, tubifex worms, beef heart, mysis shrimp. Once or twice a week you can give them an algae wafer so they get their vegetation too. They also like shrimp pellets.
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Melissa
Aquariphiles.com - where I blog about aquarium stuff