# Best food for Pygmy Corys



## Sarpijk (13 Apr 2020)

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?


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## Lew44 (13 Apr 2020)

Where did you manage to get these with lock down?! I am after some!


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## Sarpijk (13 Apr 2020)

A shop here in Greece got an order from Ruinemans last week. I was lucky because they are not readily available.


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## dw1305 (14 Apr 2020)

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.


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.


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


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## Sarpijk (14 Apr 2020)

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.


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## Dr Mike Oxgreen (14 Apr 2020)

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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## Sarpijk (14 Apr 2020)

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.
> 
> ...


Exactly my problem , due to the lockdown I do not have access to shops carrying frozen food. Thankfully grindals should do it.


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## dw1305 (14 Apr 2020)

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.


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


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## zozo (14 Apr 2020)

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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## dw1305 (14 Apr 2020)

Hi all, 





Dr Mike Oxgreen said:


> if there are any other types of small frozen food.


I was looking the other day at <"ReefPhyto"> and wondering about <"lobster eggs">?

I don't know if anyone has tried them?

cheers Darrel


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## zozo (14 Apr 2020)

dw1305 said:


> I'd go for it, I'm an Alder cone fan.



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..


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## Sarpijk (15 Apr 2020)

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.


Cheers Zozo, thanks for the heads-up I fed them some spirulina/algae tabs and they seem to like them.


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## dean (18 Apr 2020)

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 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Sarpijk (22 Apr 2020)

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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## zozo (22 Apr 2020)

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.


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## dw1305 (22 Apr 2020)

Hi all, 





Sarpijk said:


> They seem happy so far and the good thing is I haven't had any casualties


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


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## castle (22 Apr 2020)

@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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## dw1305 (22 Apr 2020)

Hi all,





castle said:


> 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.


Thank you, that is a really useful tip. I'm definitely going to try lobster eggs and food "dots".

cheers Darrel


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## Sarpijk (26 Nov 2020)

Hi, last night I recorded a quick video of one of my cories enjoying some grindal and thought I might share! Really hoping to breed these guys.


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## Majsa (27 Nov 2020)

Really nice! I am still to get these for my low tech.


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## dino21 (28 Nov 2020)

Hi,

Any recommendations as to a supplier of these Grindal worms  / kits  and are they easy enough to culture /keep ?
Several on the usual sites but hard to know which are better ?


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## Sarpijk (28 Nov 2020)

I got them from a fellow hobbyist, never had yo buy any. A small amount of soil with somd worms from an established culture is enough to start a new one.

I would ask if someone close to me had some to share otherwise you can try ebay.


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## brhau (29 Nov 2020)

On frozen foods:
Chiming in late, here. I also don't use full-size frozen cubes at feeding. To avoid excessive freeze-thaw, I keep a small ceramic dish in my freezer (the kind used for serving soy sauce) and use it as a cutting board to cut the cubes into 1/8 aliquots, which I store in small ziplocs.

On mysterious Cory death:
Like the C. habrosus I've kept before, I also lost about half of my C. pygmaeus, one by one, with nothing apparently wrong in the tank. The remaining ones seem to be robust, however.

@dw1305 Is the structural leaf litter important for infusoria, tannins, or some other reason? My C. pygmaeus live in a smaller tank (15g) and I've found that it's difficult to maintain leaf litter without it getting pushed around and eventually blocking light to my Echinodorus tenellus. That said, I have a large wodge of java moss and lots of alder cones. Wondering how important it is to keep adding leaves.


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## dw1305 (29 Nov 2020)

Hi all,


brhau said:


> I also lost about half of my C. pygmaeus, one by one, with nothing apparently wrong in the tank.


If you look at <"PlanetCatfish"> a lot of people have found the same, without any exact resolution of why. 


brhau said:


> I've found that it's difficult to maintain leaf litter without it getting pushed around and eventually blocking light to my Echinodorus tenellus





brhau said:


> @dw1305 Is the structural leaf litter important for infusoria, tannins, or some other reason?


My guess is that the unexplained deaths are a diet issue. We don't know why the leaf litter helps, but it certainly seems to. I gave up on carpets in my tanks quite early mainly because of this issue. I'd rather have a dark and gloomy leaf strewn bottom, <"with Crypt. leaves sticking out above the debris">. It isn't aesthetically very pleasing but it works for the fish.

cheers Darrel


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## brhau (29 Nov 2020)

Thanks, I’m thinking diet as well. They live with Amanos that are quite aggressive at feeding time, so they may be getting outcompeted. Switching their dry foods to ones that break apart more easily.


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## dw1305 (29 Nov 2020)

Hi all, 


brhau said:


> They live with Amanos that are quite aggressive at feeding time, so they may be getting outcompeted. Switching their dry foods to ones that break apart more easily.


I've found they like really small food items. Could you keep <"Micro/Banana worms?"> They won't interest the shrimps, but _Corydoras pygmaeus_ are really keen on them. 

cheers Darrel


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## brhau (29 Nov 2020)

I’ve been hesitant to culture them, because I don’t know how many of my fish will take them. I also keep two different kinds of pencil fish (unifasciatus and marginatus) as well as usually having apisto juveniles around. Do you think the microworms would be of interest to them? Would grindal worms be a more versatile choice?


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## dw1305 (30 Nov 2020)

Hi all,


brhau said:


> I don’t know how many of my fish will take them


As well as the _Corydoras_, the juvenile cichlids like them and you may find the pencil fish, even adults, will eat them too.  I always keep my cultures going, even when I don't have any fish that eat them, because they cost pennies to feed and a re very low maintenance cultured on oats.


brhau said:


> Would grindal worms be a more versatile choice?


Grindal worms are a <"bit more work">, but again I would, and do, always have a culture. I consider these cultures indispensable <"for conditioning fish">, and I will always feed some live food.

cheers Darrel


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## Sarpijk (30 Nov 2020)

Personally I find grindals easier that microworms. I only use coco coir and if I do not overfeed I find they keep ok for months. I was given some microworms when I had to rear some peacock gobies ( which actually grew fine on powder food too) but I found them too be smelly to soon because of the wet environment and gave up on them.


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## kammaroon (30 Nov 2020)

Sarpijk said:


> I was given some microworms when I had to rear some peacock gobies ( which actually grew fine on powder food too) but I found them too be smelly to soon because of the wet environment and gave up on them.


I use mashed boiled potatoes for my Walter worms. No smells. I mash in some carrots as well in the hope that it would colour up my Boraras maculatus.


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## Sarpijk (30 Nov 2020)

I had them in dry instant mashed potatoes but they required more often rotation , maybe I was lazy. 

I should mention that my chilly rasboras could accept grindals too.


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## brhau (30 Nov 2020)

Thanks, all! Will give it a try. @dw1305 In terms of live food I always hatch BBS, but I doubt much makes it to the corys.


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## mort (30 Nov 2020)

brhau said:


> I also keep two different kinds of pencil fish (unifasciatus and marginatus) as well as usually having apisto juveniles around. Do you think the microworms would be of interest to them?



My pencilfish don't really go for them (they will eat them but not aggressively and only if there isn't anything else) but ive found that adding a few plus other small foods like bbs really gets them to breed. I heard this trick from an old fish breeder who said if they know there is food for their fry, they are more inclined to breed.


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## brhau (7 Dec 2020)

OK I got the microworms. For those feeding corys, do you just release microworms into the water column and assume they’ll be found wherever they land, or do you pipette them to a defined area on the substrate?


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## shangman (7 Dec 2020)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> As well as the _Corydoras_, the juvenile cichlids like them and you may find the pencil fish, even adults, will eat them too.  I always keep my cultures going, even when I don't have any fish that eat them, because they cost pennies to feed and a re very low maintenance cultured on oats.
> 
> ...


My macmasteri apistos unexpectedly had babies (they came out for the first time yesterday!), will they eat the microworms immediately, or when they're a bit bigger (right now they are tiny)? I don't have a culture yet but could order one today! Luckily got lots of leaf litter on the bottom that they seem to be enjoying, but want to gather more food for them.


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## dw1305 (7 Dec 2020)

Hi all, 


shangman said:


> will they eat the microworms immediately


Yes, they should do once they are free swimming.  Even Banana worms may be a bit big right at the start, but if you have some moss and leaf litter you should get some fry survival.

If you have Cardinal Tetras, or similar, in the tank, they will try and eat the fry and the female may attempt to kill them.

cheers Darrel


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## mort (7 Dec 2020)

brhau said:


> OK I got the microworms. For those feeding corys, do you just release microworms into the water column and assume they’ll be found wherever they land, or do you pipette them to a defined area on the substrate?



If it's just the cories you are feeding then you can pipette them down to a convenient area. With mine as the fish have an odd nibble, I release a few into the water column and then wait for the cories to come out and squirt some down to them. I have a sandy substrate so the worms sit on the top but if you have a coarse substrate you might be better adding only a few at a time or utilising some sort of feeding dish (can use a plastic dish or something like a catappa leaf or piece of slate).


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## dw1305 (7 Dec 2020)

Hi all,


mort said:


> If it's just the cories you are feeding then you can pipette them down to a convenient area. With mine as the fish have an odd nibble, I release a few into the water column and then wait for the cories to come out and squirt some down to them. I have a sandy substrate so the worms sit on the top but if you have a coarse substrate you might be better adding only a few at a time or utilising some sort of feeding dish (can use a plastic dish or something like a catappa leaf or piece of slate).


Same as @mort:

Turn the filter off,
put the oven timer on for ten minutes,
wipe my finger around the wall of the coleslaw pot containing the Micro worms,
wait  poised for the _Corydoras_ to appear, 
wash the micro worms off,
watch the fish feeding for a bit,
forget about the oven timer
be asked by my wife _why is the oven timer is bleeping?_
turn the filter back on
sprinkle some more rolled oats in the Micro worm pots.
cheers Darrel


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## brhau (18 Jan 2021)

dw1305 said:


> Could you keep <"Micro/Banana worms?"> They won't interest the shrimps, but _Corydoras pygmaeus_ are really keen on them.


Well, they definitely interest the shrimps. 😂 It’s fine, as I’m culturing far more microworms than end up getting used. But in this tank, the pygmaeus, the pencil fish and amanos all eat them. I’ve fed some to my juvenile apistos as well. I think they would be good for a growout tank.


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## timdjones10 (16 Mar 2021)

Mine went nuts for live baby brine and good heavy feedings triggered them to spawn, they don't eat there own eggs or young so if in a species tank you can start a little self sustaining/expanding colony


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