Feeding competition "tetra vs cory"

[chooz]

Hi Guys, I will need advise on this .....

I am feeding cory pellets to my corys. However, they are such slow eaters; they basically just graze at the pellet surface for a long time. The tetras will swoop in and carry the whole pellet away in their mouth. The tetras will bite off chunks of the pellet and swallow them. In the end, all my tetras have hughly bloated stomachs from eating the pellet.

How can I prevent this, so that the corys can get their share of the food? I have fed the tetras with flakes first before I throw in the pellet for the corys. That doesn't help. I have also try to put the cory pellet in at midnight hoping that the tetras would have gone to sleep then (I know I sounded very stupid ). That doesn't help also.

How should I go about making sure the tetras would not steal the corys' food from right under their mouths, literally?

[moonstone]

Corydoras are bottom dwellers so if your pellets floats on the surface of the water then it will be difficult for them to eat it. For me I feed them with sinking type of algae tablets or flakes soak with water till they sink when being put to the tank. Hope this helps.

[Burnz]

As for me the sinking pellets i feed my tetras goes down onto the substrate and the corys join in the feeding frenzy. The corys are becoming quite fat from this diet.

[Freshman]

Reduce the tetra population.
Increase the corydoras population.
Feed after lights out. (perhaps a few hours after light out when tetras are in deep sleep.)
Feed bigger pellets. (IMO Algae wafer should be big and heavy enough.)
Change to a bigger tank while retaining the same number of fishes then feed in separate location. (different corners for different fish)

Question:
What kind of tetras are you keeping?
I have no problem with my ex-comm tank of cardinal, rummynose tetras with corydoras. Using Hikari lionhead sinking pellet and Hikari algae/corydoras wafer

[chooz]

Thanks for all the prompt responses.

Guess I did not make it clear. I am using sinking pellets meant for plecko and cory from Oceanfree. The diameter of the pellet is about 5mm and about 1mm thick. I usually sink it down to where the corys are resting/hiding so that it kinda fall on them. The tetras do not realize that until the commotions among the corys attracted them to the site. Then one of the tetras will swoop in and literally snatch the pellet away in its mouth. It then swims to another location where other tetras join in to take bites from the pellet.

It is kind of fun to see those tetras turning into bottom feeders. But the poor corys will be starving and they are not aggressive enough to snatch it back. I think the cory's mouth can't hold the pellet; it can only graze on it.

I have also try feeding them at different corners of the tank. But the tetras, being fast eaters, will finish their floating flakes fast and swim over to the cory corner and snatch the pellet.

I have not tried feeding the corys after lights out when the tetras are in "deep sleep", will try that tonight. But how am I to tell whether this will work? since I can't see it

I have equal population of tetras and corys. The tetras are black tetras ( Gymnocorymbus ternetzi).