Feeding cories and not danios

[RogerMcAllen]

Every time I try to feed my cories bloodworms I end up with zebra danios so stuffed that they have worms hanging out of their mouths. I have tried things like placing a piece of wood, or a rock over the worms, but the danios always seem to find a few sticking out. This causes them to swarm around the spot and crowd the cories out. My next thought was to completely bury the worms under a thin layer of sand. It seems as thought the cories should have no problem locating the worms, but I am a bit worried about losing worms to rot under the sand.

Another idea I had was to take a 32oz gatorade bottle (1 3/4" mouth), and cut it in half top to bottom. This would create a cave structure that I could put the worms in that would hopefully be easier for cories to access than danios.

[snowball]

I would suggest using an opaque pipe to drop the food down to the substrate level, but once the danios work out that it is coming there they will be ready for it every time.

Burying it might work, I regularly bury frozen bloodworms in the gravel for my brochis and corys to dig out and they really seem to enjoy it. However the brochis are big and the gravel is small and only an inch deep, so they have no trouble finishing them off.
I bury the cubes in mounds of clean gravel after a water change, so there is never any muck to be stirred up. You wouldn't want to bury it too deep if the gravel is big and the corys are small, but they are fairly persistant when it comes to tasty food so it's unlikely they'd leave any unless you seriously over do it. Give it a go with one lump and see if the cats get it all.

btw I am allergic to bloodworms so I use chopsticks to put it in with, much easier that way

[southpaw]

Hey all, first time poster and new to the fantastic world of cories. Trying to pick up as much info as I can to take care of these little guys (or gals, they're still juveniles.)

Know how to turn an otherwise laid back betta into a bottom feeder with a chip on his shoulder? Stick a turkey baster tube filled with grindals into the tank and try to get some worms past him.

Right now I have a betta, 2 cherry barbs, and 2 C. trils in a cycled 7 gallon, 1/2 gravel and 1/2 sand substrate. Everyone gets along fine with zero aggression, until worms hit the water. I can get sinking foods and the odd flake down to the cories, as well as refrigerated live brine. So far, no luck with worms.

I'm interested to hear what other methods people use to get worms down to cories in a community tank. I make sure mine eat well as it stands, but since they're still growing I'm sure a few worms would be good for them. I might give the baster/ tube idea a couple more tries. Feeding the other fish first doesn't seem to work either, as they are shameless little pigs.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[RogerMcAllen]

As much fun as it is to watch the cories feed, I think the best and simplest method might just be to put the worms in after 10-25 minutes of lights out.

[southpaw]

As much fun as it is to watch the cories feed, I think the best and simplest method might just be to put the worms in after 10-25 minutes of lights out.

Damn, that sounds like a good idea. Maybe combine lights out with the PVC pipe down to the substrate?

[southpaw]

Feeding with the lights off is the trick. This way I can drop chow to the bottom straight past Bernard (the betta) and the two barbs, and even though they can tell something is in the water, they don't quite know where. Meanwhile the corys just do their usual search pattern, and can eat in relative peace.

Thanks for the idea!

[mona o]

I use the same trick when I want to feed only the Corys and not the other greedy fish in a tank. Feeding an hour after lights are out usually does the trick:-)