Pygmy Cory Feeding

[sabrinah]

I recently got 6 pygmy cories and they're so tiny! Some are about half an inch while others are just over. They seem to be having trouble eating because their mouths are so darn small! I've tried Hikari wafers (not the algae variety), presoaked because my betta will eat it if I drop it in there solid, and they try to eat it but eventually they all give up and my betta takes over. I've also tried breaking up and soaking some betta pellets just for the heck of it but that was also a failure. The only things they seem to be able to eat are frozen daphnia and frozen bloodworms, cut up into small pieces.

Is this an adequate diet (in addition to whatever plant material, algae, or shrimp moltings they take a liking to) until they grow large enough to eat other foods? I found New Life Spectrum .5 mm sinking pellets online, but are those small enough for their tiny mouths? Thanks!

[bekateen]

Hi sabrinah,

What about just regular flake food or brine shrimp flake food, crumbled between your fingers to crush it into bite-sizes pieces?

Also, have you read the Cat-eLog page for this species (here:

Corydoras pygmaeus

) to get more information? Also, even if you don't plan to let them spawn, here is an article that has basic care and feeding advice: Breeding Corydoras pygmaeus.

Good luck, Eric

[MarlonnekeW]

I feed my pygmy cory's a variety of small foods. Four times a week they get very small frozen food, Cyclops and Rotifer. Beside that, I feed them small granulate. I use Dennerle NanoGran which is 0,3-0,4mm (I'm not sure if this is being sold in the States). Before I had this food, I used a mortar and pestle to grind normal granulate into almost powder.

I hardly ever see my pygmaeus feeding from the bottom like other cory's, so I rarely use tablets. I do use Hikari sinking wafers sometimes, but I break them into little pieces or put them in the mortar as well. I also use Sera viformo tablets that are very easy to crumble into little pieces.

If you make sure the food is spread throughout the aquarium, your Betta won't be able to grab it and the pygmaeus have a better chance to get to the food before he/she does. To be quite honest, I try to feed my other cory's the same way (so food that spreads out through the aquarium, only not as small as the pygmaeus food). This way they have to work a bit for their food by searching for it.

I hope this helps!

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I recently got 6 pygmy cories and they're so tiny! Some are about half an inch while others are just over. They seem to be having trouble eating because their mouths are so darn small!

They really like Micro-worms (or Banana/Walter worms), they are very easy and cheap to culture. Have a look at <http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... 6&p=280800>.

cheers Darrel