Cory catfish are a popular fish to have in the aquarium tank. They are easy to care for and one of those fish that will eat just about anything that falls to the bottom of the aquarium. With all the commercially available food out on the market, you’ll probably be wondering what do Cory catfish eat, right?
What do Cory catfish eat? Cory catfish diet consists of fish flakes, fish pellets, algae pellets, and algae. Besides their diet, Cory catfish are bottom feeders and will eat just about anything that falls to the bottom of the tank.
What Do Cory Catfish Eat In The Aquarium?
Cory catfish are herbivorous bottom-feeding fish. This means their diet consists mostly of food that is plant-based. This includes freshwater plants, algae, and vegetables.
Besides the food above, they will eat all other kinds of food that drop to the bottom of the aquarium as well. If you have a fish tank with other fish, Cory catfish will eat the leftover foods that fall to the bottom.
However, most people think that Cory catfish get their daily nutrition requirements by all the leftover foods that sink to the bottom. That’s not true and not feeding them their correct food could cause them to have health problems.
To help keep them healthy with a well-balanced diet, you should feed them omnivorous foods as well. These types of food come in pellets form that sinks to the bottom. These can be freeze-dried brine shrimp or tubifex worms.
In addition, make sure they get plenty of vegetables as well. Vegetables are loaded with a lot of vitamins and minerals, which is perfect to keep your Cory catfish healthy.
Flakes And Pellets
Can Cory Catfish Eat Flakes?
The great thing about Cory catfish is that they are not picky eaters. For fish flakes, they will consume it if given the chance. In addition, flakes are great for Cory catfish. The only bad thing about when trying to feed Cory catfish flakes is that it only floats, which will make it difficult for them to eat it. However, they are known to swim toward the surface of the water and consume flakes.
Flakes are not part of their diet so it’s not important to try to feed them.
Can Cory Catfish Eat Pellets
Fish pellets are a great food to feed Cory catfish. When feeding them pellets, you’ll want to get the pellets that are formulated for Cory catfish. These pellets are made specifically for bottom feeder fish. There are two varieties of fish pellets- floating pellets and sinking pellets. For Cory catfish, you’ll want to buy the sinking pellets.
Do Cory Catfish Eat Algae?
Most bottom feeder fish eat algae and are usually part of their diet. However, Cory catfish are bottom feeders as well, but they don’t eat algae. They will usually just scrape some algae off the ground while scavenging for food.
If you were to feed them a strict algae diet, Cory catfish will not eat it. They may just nibble on some of the algae food, but they won’t eat the entire thing.
Do Cory Catfish Eat Algae Wafers?
However, algae wafer is great as a supplement to their main diet. You can give them algae wafer every 2 days or so. When feeding them, drop about 3 pieces of algae wafer into the aquarium. If you have other bottom feeder fish in the same aquarium, stay and watch to make sure if Cory catfish are eating it.
If you want the Cory catfish to eat them, you can introduce the catfish to the algae wafers as a fry. Once they get older, they will feed on it like their staple food.
Frozen Food
Do Cory Catfish Eat Bloodworms?
Frozen bloodworms should not be fed to them daily. It should be fed to them as treats and should be given to them 3 times a week at the most.
When buying frozen bloodworms, buy only high-quality food. Low quality frozen bloodworms may contain parasites and other diseases because there’s no quality check.
Do Cory Catfish Eat Brine Shrimp?
Brine shrimp have excellent protein content, especially baby brine shrimp. However, like the bloodworms, you want to only give it to them as treats. 3 times a week should be enough for the Cory catfish to eat.
When buying freeze-dried brine shrimp, make sure to only buy high-quality food. Frozen brine shrimps are popular and there are many manufacturers that make them. For that reason, some will offer low quality or low-grade frozen brine shrimp. To ensure the health of your Cory catfish, buy only high-quality frozen brine shrimp.
If you’re planning to feed them live brine shrimp, it’s going to be more of a challenge. Cory catfish are slow and will not chase after their food. They will wait for the brine shrimp to come down and hover over it and suck them up.
Vegetables
What Vegetables Can You Feed Cory Catfish?
Besides, the usual fish foods that you feed them, vegetables can be fed to Cory catfish as well. Vegetables have a lot of nutrients that make a well-balanced diet for your fish. Some of the vegetables you can feed them are zucchini, squash, romaine lettuce, and cucumber.
When feeding them vegetables, you’ll want to cut them into small cube pieces. This will make it easier for Cory catfish to eat them.
Another option is to cut the vegetables in slices and take a fork and fork the vegetable. Then drop it into the tank for the Cory catfish to feed on.
Feeding them too many vegetables isn’t healthy for them and should be fed to them as a treat. Feeding them vegetables 3 times a week is perfect for Cory catfish. Try to rotate different vegetables at every feeding so they won’t get bored of the same vegetable every time.
What Do You Feed Corydoras Fry?
For Cory catfish fry, the best food to give them is a food high in protein. Baby brine shrimp is great for Cory catfish fry. They are small and packed with proteins.
When feeding Cory catfish fry, you should give baby brine shrimp to them as much as they can eat in 5 minutes. If they still seem hungry, add more baby brine shrimps to the tank. There’s no limit on how much you should feed them. You want to give them as much food as possible while they are growing.
Other foods you can give them are daphnia, microworms and commercial fry feed. You want to give them a well-balanced diet.
How Much And How Often Should Cory Catfish Be Fed?
Cory catfish are one of those fish that don’t know when to stop eating. These fish are classic overeaters, so you’ll need to control how much they eat. If they are given the chance, they will keep eating until there’s no food left in the aquarium.
Overeating can lead to many problems for the fish. One problem it could cause is heath issues for them. Over eating can make them bloated and cause their stomach to expand than the normal size. In the wild, food is scarce so when there is food available, Cory catfish will consume as much as they can.
Another problem due to over eating is the Cory catfish will produce excessive nitrate and ammonia into the water. When they eat a lot, they will also poop a lot too. Fish waste contains nitrate ammonia. When there is too much of it in the water, it will contaminant the water and could kill the fish.
To prevent them from over eating, you should feed Cory catfish once per day. This may seem less when compared to feeding other fish species, but Cory catfish will scavenge for food all day long.
When feeding fish food, feed them a small quantity of food that they can consume within 5 minutes. If they still seem hungry, give them some more fish food and that should be the feeding limit for the day. Don’t worry, Cory catfish can actually live without food for a couple of days.
Commonly Asked Questions
Do Cory Catfish Eat At Night?
Actually, these are one of the bottom-dwelling fish that sleep at night. When the lights are out, they will find a nice quiet place to hide and sleep. For that reason, Cory catfish do not eat at night.
Can Cory Catfish Eat Betta Food?
One good thing about Cory catfish is that they are not picky eaters. These fish are known are bottom feeders and scavengers, but they are omnivores as well. Anything that seems tasty, they will go after it.
Therefore, Cory catfish can and will eat Betta food. Betta food is usually packed with high protein content, which is good for them. However, too much protein is also a bad thing too.
If you decide to feed them Betta food, feed them moderately and make sure they get a decent amount of plant matter in their diet.
Will Cory Catfish Eat Baby Guppies?
If you have baby guppies in the same tank as Cory catfish, it’s a bad idea. Cory catfish will eat baby guppies when the chance arises. However, the guppy fish has to be small enough for them to eat it. If the baby guppies seem too big for them to swallow, they’ll just leave them alone.
Do Cory Catfish Eat Snails?
When there are snails in the aquarium and the population seems to drop, most people would assume it’s the Cory catfish eating them. Cory catfish are industrious scavengers and will eat just about anything on the aquarium floor. As for eating snails, these fish will not eat snails. However, they may eat or damage snail eggs.
The other usual culprit is the Loaches. Loaches are known to feast on snails. In addition, to control the snail population, Loaches are the recommended fish for that purpose.
Do Cory Catfish Eat Fish Poop?
Cory catfish are a bottom feeder and will eat anything they can find on the bottom of the aquarium. Most of the time, when they are scavenging for foods, they may unintentionally suck fish poop into their mouths.
So do Cory catfish eat fish poop? No, they do not eat fish poop. Fish poop has no taste and there’s no nutritional value to it.
Conclusion
Cory catfish are bottom feeders and will eat anything that drops to the aquarium floor. You don’t want to depend on the uneaten food as Cory catfish need a well-balanced diet. Feed them their own food like you would for the other fish. Feeding them correctly and a variety of food, they will be healthy and give you many enjoyable years.
Fred has been a fishkeeper his whole life. At the age of 3 yrs old, he got started with a goldfish that was given to him on his birthday. Ever since then, he loved caring for fish of all types and species. Beside fishkeeping, he enjoy fly fishing and the outdoors with his 4 kids.