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Abstract Species that use the same resources present a paradox for understanding their coexistence. This is especially true for cryptic species because they are phenotypically similar. We examined how competition affects food-resource use in three cryptic species of Hyalella Smith, 1874, a freshwater-amphipod genus. We hypothesized that competitively inferior species would use high-quality algae patches when alone and competitively superior species would displace inferior species to low-quality patches. We compared use of foraging patches varying in algal content (i.e., quality) when species were alone or with another species. Our results showed that the competitively inferior species spent more time on the low-quality patch in the presence of the competitively superior species, but the behavior of the competitively superior species was independent of heterospecifics. This study provides insight into the role of interspecific competition in shaping resource use and patterns of coexistence in nature.