Live Food

[Andrew C]

My adult A. baenschi only ever eat freshly hatched baby brine shrimp and am looking for alternative live food they might eat, though i will use the live food on my other fish, plecs, corys, etc.
I am thinking of trying live daphnia as i have read that it is good live food for fish.
On my search for a starter culture, i found an "INSTANT DAPHNIA CULTURE KIT" from Blades Biological, which is "dried eggs, growing tub, buffer, food and instructions".; http://www.blades-bio.co.uk/pond_life.htm

Has anybody cultured live daphnia and fed it to their fish, just trying to find out the pros and cons before getting some ?

I have used "Blades" blackworms before; http://www.blades-bio.co.uk/annelids.htm, but think they are a bit big for apistos.

On the "Living Annelids" page, they also stock white worms (same page as the blackworms), are white worms easy to culture and a small enough size for apistos ?

Is any of the other worms on the Living Annelids page any good for feeding fish with ?

[Apistt_ed]

hello,

live foods in my opinion are best and I have used daphnia in the past and it's excellent food for apistos. If you can get a culture going and sustainable, you're in pretty good shape. I've never been able to keep a culture alive for more than a few weeks. Some other great options of live food are diced up earthworms! It makes for a great supplimentary food item. Blackworms are fairly ok, if you have a reputable source of them. I also have a decent culture of vinegar eels which has been great fry food but somewhat of a hassle to prepare for feeding. White worms are also great sources of food also! aside from the great live foods mentioned, there are still a great selection of frozen food (different from freeze-dried) that work great! it's best to mix up their diets so that your fish will have variety. best of luck. john

[Andrew C]

Thanks John.
I do use frozen food in my fishes diet and also homemade food, but do not feed large amounts to the baenschi and the larger food such as frozen brineshrimp has to be removed uneaten from the tank after a few hours, though it is harder to tell if they are eating frozen cyclops and daphnia, or if its just in the substrate.
These are the only fish i have, that i think are mainly eating the freshly hatched brine shrimp.

Apart from trying some blackworms on my plecs, who just ignored it, i have mainly use freshly hatched brine shrimp for my apistos and fry, just trying to find some alternatives and which are the easier ones to work with.

[mummymonkey]

I keep a daphnia culture going in an old tank out the back. It dies down in the winter though and has to be re-seeded each spring. I've kept daphnia going indoors but it's a bit of a pain and uses up space I need for fish.

I use grindal and white worm as live food mostly. I've found the only frozen food worth much is bloodworm.

Staple food is decent quality flake from Tetra mixed with ground up trout pellets.

Fry get microworm, bbs and ZM foods.

If you want a starter culture let me know, I'm in Glasgow most weeks.

[Andrew C]

Thanks Mummymonkey
I have already ordered a Daphnia and Whiteworm culture, if i fail with my first try with Daphnia, i'll send you a pm.

[Adam - Sydney]

I fed fry that were just under 1cm live black worms. The worm was 3 or 4 cm long and the fry loved it (i only have 2). Now i feed them it when ever i feed any of them live black worms. Its something that i never get tired off watching a tiny fish wrestle with a worm.

Adam

[farm41]

Another good source for a daphnia culture is DallasDiscus on Aquabid. I have bought daphnia magna and moina from them over a year ago, still have the magna producing like crazy.

I feed them yeast and roti-rich, and change a lot of water. Daphnia need harder water, so don't use any RO with them.

[farm41]

Is any of the other worms on the Living Annelids page any good for feeding fish with ?

I feed blackworms to my to all my apistos, even when small, as said above the fry can be quite entertaining to watch wrestle with the blackworms.

[Andrew C]

Thanks Again.
I will try to get some blackworms added to the order.

Do fry actually eat the blackworms, they seem too long for adult apistos, never mind the fry ?

Is too much live food bad for fish, as i have read that white worms are meant to be fed only sparingly as they have a high fat content ?

[Adam - Sydney]

Too much live food isnt bad, as thats what id assume they'd eat in the wild. Too much of certain foods could be a problem, but what foods exactly I am unsure of. If only feed live worms about 1 in 3 or 4 feeds, I feed frozen foods 1 in 4 and flakes the other 2. I feel variety is better for them.

And they do actually eat the black worms. It may take a while but they get them. Little fish like harlequin rasboras, cardinal tetras and little rainbows all will eat the worms. Think about you eating a subway foot long, looking at it there should be no way to fit that into your mouth, but we manage.

Adam

[Adam - Sydney]

I just want to put a caution on my advice. Live food i had also assumed was good for pelvicachromis etc and it turns out im wrong. I think it would be better to refer to someone more knowledgable on this topic. Sorry if my information was misleading (although i had best intentions).

Adam

[mummymonkey]

I just want to put a caution on my advice. Live food i had also assumed was good for pelvicachromis etc and it turns out im wrong. I think it would be better to refer to someone more knowledgable on this topic. Sorry if my information was misleading (although i had best intentions).

AdamI feed live food to all my dwarfs, including pelvicachromis spp. No problems whatsoever. Just don't overdo it and make sure you offer a varied diet including good quality flake and plenty opportunity to nibble on algae covered wood. A tankful of young kribs really keeps the place clean. All you need to do is syphon the crap out regularly.