Cory catfish can eat a few vegetables which include kale, romaine lettuce, cucumber, peas, zucchini, squash, spinach, and cabbage. Vegetables can be given fresh to your cory catfish, but harder vegetables should be cooked first before being served to your corydoras.
Vegetables provide a good amount of nutrients for your cory catfish. Many cory catfish prefer specific vegetables. Once you start incorporating vegetables into their diet, you’ll know which ones they like and which to avoid.
What Vegetables Can Cory Catfish Eat?
Cory catfish can eat many vegetables and can even eat fruit too. Corydoras are omnivores and require a diet that includes shrimp, worms, vegetables, fruit, and other nutritional foods.
Nutrient-dense vegetables are perfect for cory catfish. As bottom feeders, corydoras will eat whatever is left behind from other fish, including vegetables.
Feeding your cory catfish vegetables can get messy, especially if the vegetables are fresh. When serving vegetables, you’ll need to clean the tank more frequently or remove the vegetable waste as soon as your corydoras have finished consuming them.
Vegetables that you can include in your corydoras diet are:
Lettuce
There are different varieties of lettuce; one of the most common varieties fed to cory catfish is romaine lettuce. Lettuce improves vision and bone strength and hydrates your corydoras. In addition, most forms of lettuce include vitamins like vitamins A, C, K, and iron.
Spinach
Spinach is high in fiber and a good source of vitamins and minerals, including folic acid, vitamin K1, iron, and vitamins C and A. Other vitamins and minerals include magnesium, potassium, and vitamins B6, B9, and E. Spinach is one of the most nutrient-dense vegetables and an ideal vegetable to feed your cory catfish.
Cucumber
Cucumber is known for its anti-inflammatory properties and potassium, fiber, and vitamin C content. Cucumber contains mostly water, so it may not offer as much nutritional value for your corydoras, but due to its anti-inflammatory properties, it’s a good option for your cory catfish.
Peas
Peas are mostly carbohydrate-rich but contain protein and a small amount of fat. Peas also have other nutrients, including fiber, folate, manganese, iron, phosphorus, thiamine, and vitamins A, K, and C.
Peas have digestive benefits, too, and when given to your cory catfish can help improve their digestion and add a good amount of fiber to their diet.
Carrots
Carrots are root vegetables and are known for improving eyesight. Carrots contain many antioxidants and come in various colors. Vitamins in carrots include vitamin A, biotin, K1, Potassium, and B6.
Feeding carrots to your cory catfish will give them a few essential vitamins and a good amount of carbohydrates.
Green Beans
Green beans are packed with antioxidants and provide many health benefits. These antioxidants prevent cell damage in cory catfish and can improve your corydoras’ heart health.
Potatoes
Potatoes are a staple in many diets and are rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Potatoes provide a good amount of vitamin K and potassium for your corydoras and provide your cory catfish with lots of energy due to the high carbohydrate content.
Turnips
When feeding cory catfish turnips, you’ll need to boil them or pre-cook them until soft, so your corydoras can eat them. Turnips protect against harmful bacteria, offer anti-inflammatory effects, and help improve bone health.
Turnips are a great addition to any corydoras diet, and you can feed turnips to your cory catfish once a week.
Marrow
Cory catfish are prone to digestive issues like bloating and constipation. Marrow is high in fiber and can aid digestion.
It’s best to provide your corydoras with several different kinds of vegetables and only a few high-fiber vegetables in one feeding.
Broccoli
Broccoli is a high-protein vegetable and can be fed cooked or raw to your cory catfish. The broccoli stems tend to be quite hard, so it’s best to boil these if you want to also feed your corydoras the broccoli stems.
Broccoli contains a large amount of water and fiber, carbohydrates, and protein. Broccoli is also great for keeping your corydoras’ eyesight healthy.
Celery
Celery is one of the best vegetables you can give your cory catfish. Celery has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and you can give it to your cory catfish raw or cooked, but the stalks tend to be quite hard and should be softened before feeding them to your cory catfish.
Celery has vitamins A, K, and C and 12 antioxidants that are beneficial for the health of your cory catfish.
Zucchini
Zucchini improves eyesight, benefits heart health, and contains vitamins, minerals, and plant compounds. Zucchini is an easily digestible vegetable for your cory catfish and can be added to their weekly intake of vegetables.
How Do You Feed Cory Catfish Vegetables?
When feeding your cory catfish vegetables, it’s essential to cut them up into bite-sized pieces. You can use fresh vegetables or thawed frozen vegetables. Harder vegetables can be boiled to make them softer and easier to feed your cory catfish.
Vegetables should only be given to your cory catfish at most three times a week. Anything more than this is too much. It’s also recommended that you rotate the types of vegetables fed to your corydoras weekly so they won’t get bored of eating the same thing.
The best way to feed your cory catfish vegetables is to use a veggie clip or place the vegetables on a fork. This eliminates the amount of mess created by vegetables that are left floating in the aquarium. If vegetable particles are floating around the tank, they should be removed within 24-48 hours.
As a general rule, cory catfish can eat a wide variety of vegetables, and you can, in theory, feed them any vegetables. If they are interested in it or won’t eat it, it’s best to avoid feeding it to them again.
Conclusion
Cory catfish can eat many different vegetables, and it’s best to include fresh, raw, and cooked vegetables into their diet. You can feed your corydoras vegetables three times a week to meet their nutritional requirements and alternate between different vegetables to provide them with a balanced diet.