Feeding my leetle albinos...

W

wraxa

New Fish
#1
Oct 22, 2002
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#1
Hi everyone! This is my first post!

I have a question about feeding my three little albino corys. I am feeding them Tetra Tabimin, and they swim ravenously once they have detected it in the tank. But I am unsure in what form to feed it.

I read about someone grinding up the tablets, so I tried, but it all just swirled around and my filter sucked it up.  :(

This morning I cut up half a tablet into smaller, yet still whole, pieces. They sank to the bottom this time, but they seem to be having trouble finding the pieces. They just swim around the and will occasionaly skim over them.

Should I just drop the whole half tablet in there? I figured it may be to difficult for them to bite it off because they are so very small.

Forgive me if I sound like a dumb-butt!  :p
 

C

colesea

Superstar Fish
#2
Oct 22, 2002
1,612
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NY USA
#2
What size tank are these baby cories in?

I usually find it easier to train my bottom feeders to one location. I took the plastic top of a shot glass (well, the one oz platic tupperwear shot glasses) and put it in the front part of my tank. At feeding time I put all my sinking foods on that so all the bottom feeders can find it, as well as making it easier to clean up.

Also what might be easier for tiny baby cories is soaked flake. Usually if you let Wardly Total Tropical soak up enough water, and squeeze a few of the flakes really hard between your fingers while holding it under the water, it will compress enough to sink it. Most of the other fish will pick at it too, which is fine.

~~Colesea
 

W

wraxa

New Fish
#3
Oct 22, 2002
7
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#3
Oh I did not mean to be misleading... They are not babies, but they are still little cories.  :)

I have three of them in an Eclipse 2G. I haven't heavily decorated it, so they have plenty of space on the bottom, just a small silk plant and this little roman-column thing they can swim through and hide behind. (Trust me! Everything is very natural looking! No pink gravel or sharks with sunglasses and  "No Fishing" signs)  ;)

I checked on them a little while later after feeding them and it seems they ate all the little pieces of food. But  I will try the flakes this evening. Thanks!  :D
 

C

colesea

Superstar Fish
#4
Oct 22, 2002
1,612
0
0
NY USA
#4
Considering that cory cats can grow to be about the size of a large human thumb, and reportedly live up to ten years, any cory that is only the size of my fingernail I still consider a baby.

Usually, by biological standards, an animal is not considered an "adult" until it has reached breeding age/weight/size and has started to display sexual characteristic. This goes for animals that have not ever been bred as well. Those that are "in between" stages, "teenagers" if you please, and on the cusp of sexual maturity and independance, are considered juviniles, aka "juvies."

Consider: a horse less than one year is called a foal.  Juvinile horses between one and four years are called colt if male, and filly if female. They are not usually bred because they have not yet reached full sexual and physiological maturity for producing a healthy foal, yet they are independant from their mother.  A female horse older than four years is a mare, broodmare if she's been bred, or a maiden mare if never bred. A male horse older than four years is a stallion if intact, or a gelding if he's been castrated.

Same applies to fish, although most of the time you'll just hear the term "juvies" used. Most fish are not considered adult until they start to display their sexual characteristics. Sexual maturity does not necessarily mean they've reached their full adult size though. Angelfish reach sexual maturity at about four inches, yet may reach a total size of eight to ten inches. You'll get better spawns out of "fully matured" adults then you would from a smaller, less mature juvie. Many fish will breed at smaller sizes and younger ages, but only the best spawns are produced by those that have achieved their full growth potentials.

I'm glad your cories have eaten. I've had three emerald greens for a year now, and got them about the size of my thumbnail. They're now about a good inch in length, so I took them out of my 6G and put them in the 20G. And I couldn't resist it, I got three more of those little itty bitty baby ones tonight to put in my 6G again. I didn't realize how tiny my older three started out until I got the new three home. In one year with good care and feeding, my three older cories have tripled their size!

And the odds are, I have all three females. They look very fat and gravid, but I can't tell if they're truely gravid or just very well fed<G>
~~Colesea
 

C

colesea

Superstar Fish
#6
Oct 22, 2002
1,612
0
0
NY USA
#6
I've had cories about inch and a half to two inches before. That's as big as I've seen 'em. The sterbi I have now is a big fat guy easy 1 1/4. Then again, I have womanly thumbs, so maybe the comparison is all relative. *shrug*
~~Colesea
 

K

koolkatzfish

Medium Fish
#7
Oct 22, 2002
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#7
I have a spotted cory that is just over 2 inches long and 2 pygmy cories. I believe the albinos stay smaller than some cories.  They are scavengers so the will find the food.
I was looking at some neons and harlequin rasboras yesterday they were sooo small!!!
 

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