# Feeding Cory Cats With Bettas



## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

I'm planning on putting my four panda cory cats in with my sorority soon but I'm a little worried for a few reasons. One is the cories are still pretty small, only an inch long so I worry about them getting lost in the bigger tank or getting picked on. Also, I'm not sure about feeding them. My girls are gluttons, I'm afraid they'll eat all the cories' food and get bloated. I know you're supposed to feed the pandas at lights out but my girls never seem to sleep. Any tips would be appreciated. Should I leave my cories in their quarantine tank until they're bigger or not put them in at all?


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## Kytkattin (May 15, 2011)

For the cats, feed them a sinking pellet. That is what I did with my cats and they did great (now living in my mom's tank). Just toss the pellet in and turn off the light. Should work just fine. Most of the time bettas don't like to eat off the bottom.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Okay. They're getting Hikari Sinking Wafers right now but it takes them all night to eat. I was afraid the girls would swoop down and eat everything. Thanks.


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## Kytkattin (May 15, 2011)

If it is taking them all night to eat, are there still leftovers in the morning? If that is the case, you are definitely overfeeding. You can always break the pellets in half. I had 4 cats and they got one pellet a night. I broke them in half and sometimes only gave them half. Other times I would still break it in half so it dissolved faster.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Thanks, I wondered about that. There's usually no leftovers in the morning but I still think I'm overfeeding. Do you feed one pellet per cat or one for all four? And what brand do you use?


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

I feed 2 but I might go over to 1... My betta will eat off the bottom.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

That's what I'm worried about. :/ Hmm. My room is never completely dark because of various other lights on here and there, I wonder if that's why my fish never seem to sleep. What do you feed your corys, fishman?


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

Wardley Shrimp formula pellets- They were $5 at petco.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

I should try those. I think the Hikari Sinking Wafers are too big.


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

They are pretty small. My cories are usually all over them by the time they reach the bottom. All 4 were eating from the same one last night.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Do you feed 1 per cory, then? How fast does it take for them to finish eating? I think I'm definitely overfeeding mine.


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

No I feed 2 every night and I have 4. And It takes them about 10-20 minutes I guess. The pellet is usually disolved by then.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Yeah, I'm definitely overfeeding. I'm guessing the sinking wafers are just too big. I feed 3 wafers for 4 cats and it still takes them all night. But my guys are only an inch long.


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## Kytkattin (May 15, 2011)

I used to feed 2 pellets for 5-6 corys. Remember the golden rule: a hungry fish is a happy fish! I used to feed Hikari, the ones that had a picture of a cory on the front. Not sure of the name. 

Plus, unlike bettas, corys have no problem sharing their food. They are just such lovely, friendly creatures!


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## GunsABlazin (Jun 1, 2011)

My coreys are only about in inch, and they stand up to my girls. I cant count the number of times one of them has shot up from the bottom to gut check one of my girlys...


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

GunsABlazin said:


> My coreys are only about in inch, and they stand up to my girls. I cant count the number of times one of them has shot up from the bottom to gut check one of my girlys...


:rofl: That's good to know, it makes me feel better putting them in with mine.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Kytkattin said:


> I used to feed 2 pellets for 5-6 corys. Remember the golden rule: a hungry fish is a happy fish! I used to feed Hikari, the ones that had a picture of a cory on the front. Not sure of the name.
> 
> Plus, unlike bettas, corys have no problem sharing their food. They are just such lovely, friendly creatures!


I know, I'm loving my little guys. They're so funny scuttling around and I love seeing the little "finprints" they leave in the sand.


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

GunsABlazin said:


> My coreys are only about in inch, and they stand up to my girls. I cant count the number of times one of them has shot up from the bottom to gut check one of my girlys...


 Last night my guy was trying to get to the food and they kept swimming into him... It was really funny. And Sakura lol "finprints"


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

It's true, though, they really do leave finprints!  I have the same sand in my sorority and it's perfectly smooth but in the cory tank, it's all covered in little dents the shape of their pectorals. Well, tomorrow I'm putting them in the sorority so we'll see how it goes.


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

Haha cute! Hows it going in the soroity? And with the girls in the soroity?


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

So far so good in the sorority. I added in my fifth girl yesterday and she settled right in so I think I have a full house of girls. The cories are in there now too as of this morning. So far so good there, too. They're just scuttling around leaving new finprints. They're happy to be in a big 10g instead of their tiny 2.5g quarantine tank. I think I may get 2 more cories. They're so darn small I keep losing them. How's Quicksilver doing with his cories?


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

Fine, he refuses to quit eating though... I think I'll have to use epsom salt. He started tailbiting.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Maybe you could put the cories in the new 10g when you get it and divide Quicksilver's. Otherwise he'll eat himself into oblivion. Silly guy. Sorry about the tailbiting. Hopefully he'll get over that. Is it very bad?


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

Not really. I was thinking that he will have to stay and the cories moved. I might use sand in my next 10g.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Then you can have little finprints too.  Be sure to rinse the sand really thoroughly before putting it in the tank. It might take hours to get the water to run clear, though. It took me all morning to rinse one bag of sand. :roll:


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

I don't understand -- how are you supposed to clean sand?


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Put it in a bucket and run hose water into it until the bucket is full, then dump the water out. Kind of squish the sand around every now and then. Repeat until the water you're dumping out runs clear or close to clear. Otherwise, the sand will cloud up your tank like crazy.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

My silly sorority won't let my cories eat. They're swarming all over the place, even carrying the wafers around in their mouths. They're fighting over the food, too, which isn't good, since they WERE getting along. And technically, it's lights out too (ie, tank light was turned off but a room light is still on).  If I can't figure out how to feed my cories when they're in the sorority, I'll have to return them because I don't have a tank large enough for them to be happy in except the 10g. I mean, they're teeny guys and I think they could live fine in a small tank size-wise but they need more space to roam to be happy.


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## Ashleigh (May 28, 2011)

When I first saw the title I thought you were going to feed bettas to the cory cats >.<


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Hehe, no, although the cories are small enough my bettas probably could eat THEM if they wanted. :lol:


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## Super Fish (Jun 27, 2011)

I feel your pain. Making sure everyone gets fed can be difficult.

My glowlights are faster then the bettas and eat most of the flakes. :-? My cories have the same problem: Everybody else nibbles on their food! 
The bristlenose pleco doesn't share with anybody and scares away the (larger) bettas. :shock: The shrimp often carry off algea wafers. The otos never eat any of the store bought food that I can see.

But everybody has survived. In the wild, fish don't eat everyday. In the wild, they have to compete for their food. Of course, as humans this is hard for us to see because we tend to impose our own standards on our pets. My tank has been established for a while (though the bettas are new) and everybody is in good weight. Remember that your cories will eat of the flakes/pellets the bettas didn't eat - occasionally I make sure a few flakes sink to the bottom.

I also break the pellets up into smaller sections and then add 2 or 3 of those sections. This creates multiple stations so everything is spread out more. Try to drop one directly infront of the cories - once they latch on they aren't likely to let the bettas in.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Thanks, Super Fish. I don't know about my little guys. It takes them so long to eat, like all night, and this is when they are in their own tank and not being chased around by gluttonous betta girls. Is that normal? I feed Hikari Sinking Wafers which are pretty small, only about 3 wafers for all 4 cories. :/ Maybe I should cut back to 2 wafers?


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

Yeah, cut back. Thanks for the info about the sand.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Thanks, fishman. And you're welcome.


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

I'm gonna have to move my cories into the other 10g because he just won't quit eating their food. Really grating on my nerves.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Yeah, I just experienced that last night. All five of my girls in the sorority swarmed everywhere, carrying the cories' wafers around in their mouths and chasing them away. I was so mad. I ended up tearing the tank apart to get the cories back out. They're now in their 2.5g again and I'm wondering if I'll have to return them because I don't have a tank big enough for them when they grow up.  And now all my girls look like pregnant guppies because they ate all that extra food. Grrr. Needless to say they're being fasted.


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## BettaRepublic (May 22, 2011)

Well the cories and bettas normally eat each others food. Just make sure the cats get their fair share of food.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

That's my problem.  I've got five girls swarming around. If it was just one betta, I think I could manage but as soon as I chase one girl away another comes. I tried multiple feeding stations too and a different girl just ate at each station.


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## Arowan (Sep 2, 2010)

Have you tried feeding them with the lights off? Cories don't need to see their food to find it, unlike bettas...

I say this, when I'm going to start a sorority myself today xD Hopefully my cories will manage. 

Another fun trick is to feed your betta(s) at another end of the tank while you sink the wafers for the cories on another. As long as you make sure the cories are always getting fed in the same corner, it won't take em long to wait there for the food and beat the bettas to it. Especially when the bettas are busy chomping on their own noms at the surface.


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

It takes way longer for the cories to eat than it does for the bettas. That's why it's so hard.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Arowan, I tried feeding them after I turned the tank lights off but my room lights were still on; I have mini Japanese paper lantern lights hung up around my room that are always on so there's always some dim light in my room. (long story, too lazy to turn them off)

fishman, yup. It takes my girls about five minutes collectively to get fed (since they keep trying to jump out of the tank). The wafers aren't even soft enough for the cories to start eating by then; mine wait a good hour or more for the wafers to dissolve before they even go near them to eat.


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## Super Fish (Jun 27, 2011)

I wouldn't have taken them out so soon. I truly think your cories would have managed just fine. You could also beef up their diets with veggies (prepared properly of course). I don't think the bettas would be as interested in cucumbers and the like. 

Maybe I'll take a video of my guys feeding. It's been over 6 months and the cories aren't dead yet, despite the competition.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

:roll: Yeah, I know, I think I overreacted when I took them out but it was 1 in the morning and I was getting sleepy. And I'm prone to overreacting. Would have saved me a lot of trouble if I'd just sat back and calmed down. :lol: I'll give my girls a week to go back down in size (they've shrunk a bit but they're still pretty fat) and then possibly try again. Maybe. After seeing my girls, my main concern shifted from "are the cories going to be able to eat" to "how do I keep my girls from eating till they explode."


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

Yeah... I'm tired of my HM eating... He was down then he chunked up again...


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

At least now you can move your cories to your new 10g.


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## BettaRepublic (May 22, 2011)

yeah.


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

Yep. Can't wait!


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