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Best food for Pygmy Corys

Sarpijk

Sarpijk

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Joined
11 Jan 2015
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683
Hi guys, I was finally able to get some of these adorable little fish. Had kept them in the past as well but the mysteriously vanished from the tank one by one.

I bought seven of them they are in a 30 litre Aquael cube along with 5 cpds.

There are listed as omnivores but I want to make sure they get property fed. I feed grindal worms to the cpds and they actively hunt them but I am not sure the little corys really consume them.

What type of commercial food would you suggest?
 
A shop here in Greece got an order from Ruinemans last week. I was lucky because they are not readily available.
 
Hi all,
Sarpijk said:
I feed grindal worms to the cpds and they actively hunt them but I am not sure the little corys really consume them.
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They will eat Grindal worms.
Sarpijk said:
Had kept them in the past as well but the mysteriously vanished from the tank one by one.
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Judging by the threads on <"PlanetCatfish">, and the correspondence that I've had, that is quite a common finding. They definitely do better in a tank with some <"structural leaf litter">.

Mine get Micro-worms, Grindal Worms, live Daphnia, decapsulated Brine shrimp, freeze dried Arctic copepods and some Astax crumb. I grind the crumb up (in a pestle and mortar) so that it is really fine, and I soak the dry food before feeding so it sinks. I swirl the food slurry in and then as soon as its distributed I turn the filter off for about five minutes. The fish will spend a long time hoovering the fine food items from moss, leaves etc.

cheers Darrel
 
Hi Darrel, thanks for the info. Do you think they would benefit from a blacwater setup? I currently keep them with cpds but I was contemplating keeping them to themselves and adding adler cones to give water a tint.
 
I grind up flake food into a fine powder for my ember tetras, and usually hold a pinch of it underwater for a few seconds before releasing it. That way it sinks, and any that the tetras miss is food for the pygmies.

I also feed a small chunk of frozen cyclops most days.

My three pygmies are looking alright: they’re active, and have nice plump bellies.

Once this lockdown is over I might have a look and see if there are any other types of small frozen food.
 
Dr Mike Oxgreen said:
I grind up flake food into a fine powder for my ember tetras, and usually hold a pinch of it underwater for a few seconds before releasing it. That way it sinks, and any that the tetras miss is food for the pygmies.

I also feed a small chunk of frozen cyclops most days.

My three pygmies are looking alright: they’re active, and have nice plump bellies.

Once this lockdown is over I might have a look and see if there are any other types of small frozen food.
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Exactly my problem , due to the lockdown I do not have access to shops carrying frozen food. Thankfully grindals should do it.
 
Hi all,
Sarpijk said:
Do you think they would benefit from a blacwater setup? I currently keep them with cpds but I was contemplating keeping them to themselves and adding adler cones to give water a tint.
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I'd go for it, I'm an Alder cone fan. <"Ian Fuller" (Coryman)> uses them in his tanks, which is a pretty good recommendation.

My tanks are always a little bit tinted, but they aren't really black-water tanks.

cheers Darrel
 
Mine are very fond of Sera Spirulina Tabs. They are extremely good in hiding, but when i break up some tabs and throw it in. Then 10 seconds later all 10 pygmy Cories are present at the dinner table. :)
 
dw1305 said:
I'd go for it, I'm an Alder cone fan.
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Same here, Alder cone fan... And also experience the cories less timid in darker tannin-stained waters... :)

No idea if its the colour or the content making them more happy.. I guess could be both..
 
zozo said:
Mine are very fond of Sera Spirulina Tabs. They are extremely good in hiding, but when i break up some tabs and throw it in. Then 10 seconds later all 10 pygmy Cories are present at the dinner table. :)
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Cheers Zozo, thanks for the heads-up I fed them some spirulina/algae tabs and they seem to like them.
 
Lobster eggs are a great food
I also think cyclops is the best food for small species

If you are struggling to get any frozen foods then try using cheap frozen prawns and mussels let them thaw a bit until you can chop them up easily or for very small fish put them in a food blender and you’ll get a paste

Any species over 40mm can pull mussels apart as they are very soft meat

All my fish get these as they are cheap and easy to get and don’t make the freezer smell

If you want to make your own foods just search for diy prawn mix there’s lots of different recipes


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Thought I should post an update. I feed them grindal worms and I have also bought some corydoras tablets. They seem happy so far and the good thing is I haven't had any casualties. This in my opinion is a testament to the quality of fish. They are from the Netherlands and I vividly remember few years back I had acquired some Peacock gobies from same fish farm and they spawned within three days.

Excuse the dirty side glass , I have a horned nerite in there and I leave it for him.
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As far as i know if healthy than Cories can reach a high age. I still have 1 roaming around since 2015 and it survived a severe Trichodina infection it came with from the shop. Treated it with Fluke Solve, but still, it lost one eye because of it. The others were not that lucky, but this 1 is a tough little blighter.
 
Hi all,
Sarpijk said:
They seem happy so far and the good thing is I haven't had any casualties
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They look really good. That is how like to keep Corydoras, definitely a little bit on the tubby side.

If you notice they've slimmed markedly normally something isn't quite right, even if there aren't any other obvious symptoms.

cheers Darrel
 
@dw1305 I've used lobster eggs.

In a previous life, I used to defrost a single cube of multiple frozen foods, then on a sheet of tin foil create equal sized 'dots' of food. Freezing these sheets so that I could do these dots in a single feed a once or twice a day. Worked very well. I've never had the density in a tank to warrant a whole cube being added, also kinda like giving fish a variety.
 
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