How Long Can Cory Catfish Go Without Food?

Food plays an essential role in a fish’s life as it helps them grow and develop faster. Cory catfish are bottom dwellers that feed on leftovers, so many beginners let them rely on those leftovers and don’t provide food to them for long. The query of how long they can go without food also rises when you are going out for a vacation for a long time.

So, How long can cory catfish go without food? Let us find out.

Cory catfish can go for 10-12 days without food. However, we don’t recommend keeping them without food for such a long time as it will affect their health. Instead, consider setting up an automatic feeder or asking your friends or family to feed them if you are moving away for some time.

We will discuss how long cory catfish can survive without food and how often to feed them. Also, we will discuss how you can provide food to your cory catfish when you are away and what you can feed them when you are out of food. So, let us get into it.

How long can cory catfish survive without food?

A healthy cory catfish can survive for 1-2 weeks without food.

They can survive for 10-14 days before starving to death.

We don’t recommend not providing them food for such a long time.

Doing this will affect their growth, and they will become weak and prone to various diseases and parasites.

Feed your cory catfish regularly to ensure their faster growth and development.

They are bottom dwellers and will spend most of their time scavenging on the bottom in search of food.

They feed on leftovers and other waste like decaying plants and small dead fish.

So, they will manage on their own by feeding on such leftovers and other waste for days.

However, we don’t recommend relying on only leftovers and other waste as their food and should feed them with various types of food to fulfill their ideal dietary requirements.

How long can cory fry survive without food?

Cory fry can survive for up to 6-7 without eating food.

Cory fry will require more food than adult cory catfish for faster growth and development.

You don’t have to feed them for the first 48 hours when they are born; by that time, they will feed on the leftover yolk.

After 48 hours, feed them powder food twice a day.

Once they reach 2-3 weeks, you can start feeding them live, frozen, or freeze-dried food.

How often should we feed our cory catfish?

You should feed your cory catfish one to two times a day.

Take a gap of 12 hours on every feeding.

Feed them once in the daytime and once at night.

They are bottom dwellers and will feed from the bottom most of the time.

They feed on leftovers, decaying plants, and small dead fishes.

Consider providing them food in a quantity they can finish eating in one to two minutes to avoid overfeeding.

If your cory catfish is taking more time to finish their food, you are overfeeding them, and if they finish their food in seconds, you are underfeeding them.

Also read: How Often To Feed Cory Catfish?

What can I feed to my cory catfish if I run out of their food?

Cory catfish are omnivore fish and will feed on almost anything you serve to them.

So, it is not a tough job to feed your cory catfish.

They feed on all types of worms, insects, larvae, and some vegetation in the wild.

Consider feeding them with bloodworms, blackworms, brine shrimp, mosquito larvae, sinking flakes, veggie pellets, and blanched vegetables in captivity.

When you are out of food, consider feeding them blanched vegetables like zucchini, lettuce, cucumber, etc.

They will also feed on boiled pea. One boiled pea per cory catfish is enough.

However, they are bottom dwellers and will feed on leftovers and other waste from the bottom of the tank.

Also read: Do Cory Catfish Eat Cucumber?

How can I provide food to my cory catfish when out for a vacation?

These are the ways by which you can ensure to provide food to your cory catfish when you are out for vacation.

1. Ask your family or friends.

If your friend also has an aquarium in their home, you can ask them to feed your cory catfish when you are away.

As an aquarist, they will know how much quantity and how often to feed your fish.

You can also ask your family member to feed your cory catfish.

However, make sure first to show them the quantity to feed as they can end up overfeeding your fish.

The best option here is that if you are leaving for just 2-3 days, consider keeping them without food rather than taking the risk of overfeeding them.

Otherwise, make your family member or friend understand the quantity and timing of feeding.

2. Set up an automatic feeder to your cory catfish tank.

Setting up an automatic feeder is the best option as it will eliminate the risk of overfeeding.

Also, you don’t need anyone to take care of your cory catfish feeding as the automatic feeder will play a role of a robot that will feed your cory catfish adequately.

All you have to do is to set the quantity and timings, and then you are good to go.

However, you must know that you can only add dry food to an automatic feeder.

So, make sure not to add frozen food to an automatic feeder.

These are some things to take care of when adding an automatic feeder:

  1. Place the automatic feeder in the right place, not above the air pump or filter, as it will spread the food all over the tank, and half of the food will be sucked up by the filter.
  2. In short, don’t place the automatic feeder over anything that causes surface agitation.
  3. Test the automatic feeder for a few days before leaving to ensure that it is working appropriately.
  4. Add only dry food like pellets and flakes to an automatic feeder.

Conclusion:

Cory catfish can live for up to 10-12 days without food.

However, we don’t recommend not feeding them for these long days as it can affect their health and growth.

You should feed your cory catfish one to two times a day in a regular manner.

They are omnivore fish and will require both meat and plant matter food in their daily diet to ensure their faster growth and development.

If you are leaving for a vacation for a long time, consider asking your friends or family to feed your fish, or the best option is to set up an automatic feeder.


Reference: Oxford, Wikipedia

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