Learn What Cory Catfish Eat

Cory catfish are the tiny bottom feeders that coexist with other fishes in freshwater. Known for their friendly behavior, cory catfish mind their own business and live peacefully with others. Because they exhibit shyness, cory catfish prefer to live in a group as it’s the shoaling fish. Another impressive quality found among cory catfish is its ability to keep your tank clean! This is why; most hobbyists would have them as their aquatic pets. Typically, cory catfish are omnivorous and feed on the uneaten bits scattered at the bottom by other fishes. However, they can enjoy a myriad of diet options from plant matter to tiny bits of vegetables. To learn more about “What do cory catfish eat?” you’ll get all your answers in this post!

Insects and Animals

Although super tiny, cory catfish enjoy a wide variety of tiny bits of food consisting of insects and animals. Typically, they feed anything that’s dropped at the bottom. But, they’d not shy away from darting upward in the aquarium to reach for the food. Their rounded mouth allows them to take up food bits. Hence, many brands come up with food-specific for cory and designed to fit their mouth.

While it’s true that cory catfish eat dead fish, their babies, and their eggs, they won’t feed on waste. It’s a common misconception among many aquarists who think of cory catfish as a feeder cleaner fish. Besides other food, Cory catfish eat brine shrimp, shrimp pellets, bloodworms, snail eggs, and shrimplets. Because they feed on tiny bits, cory catfish also eat their own eggs, babies, their fry, and more.

For that purpose, it’s better to separate some of these from cory catfish to avoid getting them eaten. They tend to be active in the day, but cory catfish eat at night as well. Their diet isn’t limited to uneaten bits left over at the bottom or the eggs. Cory catfish can eat flakes, betta food, and planaria as well.

Fruits and Vegetables

Cory catfish is a type of omnivore that can feed on fruits and vegetables besides animal matter. However, they can only take up tiny bits of a variety of fruits and veggies. Hence, cory catfish eat vegetables and peas. You can mix these tiny bits with other food that cory catfish feed on to supplement their diet. That being said, cory catfish eat cucumbers, carrots, zucchini, wafers, algae wafers, and veggies.

What Cory Catfish Don’t Eat

Not everything makes it to the menu of cory catfish. There are some types of food, animal and plant matter, that shouldn’t be fed to them. Hence, cory catfish don’t eat algae, fungus, hair algae, brown algae, hydra, java moss, and live plants.

Together with these, cory catfish don’t eat snails, baby snails, shrimps, Armano shrimp, cherry shrimp, red shrimp, and ghost shrimp. Some of these coexist in the same surrounding as cory catfish. Therefore, they don’t eat them.

There are, however, some fish and things that aren’t edible for cory catfish. Cory catfish don’t eat crayfish, diatoms, detritus worms, fry, fish, fish waste, fish poop, guppies, guppy fry, and snail poop. Along with these, cory catfish don’t eat waste, mystery snails, otocinclus, pleco wafers, and tetras.