Live foods & spawning.

[Kaie]

The answer to this might be species specific but im asking generally.

When a species needs 'live foods' for spawning. Do frozen blood worms [midge larva] do the trick or does the food literally need to be alive at time of consumption.

 

[bigbird]

in my view live food is either or but very high in protein. I have used both live mosquito larvae etyc and frozen bloodworm and shrimp etc. cheers jk

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
I think it has to be live really, and some sorts of food are much more successful than others. If you can get them in large amounts live Cyclops are the best conditioning food. I've never tried the frozen or freeze dried ones, but anecdotally they work as well. Other crustaceans are also good, most people feed freshly "hatched" baby brine shrimp (BBS) on grounds of ease of use and food quality. Other Crustaceans are less good, but still useful, and these include Daphnia and Ostracods ("Seed shrimps"). These are both reasonably easy to culture.

Live blood-worms/Mosquito larvae/Ghost Worms are all good, but frozen blood-worms have a questionable reputation, I was just reading that UK Apistogramma great Mark Breeze has stopped feeding them to his fish, because he thinks they have been implicated in sudden unexplained fish death.

I feed all my fish a pinch of Grindal or White/Red worms and some Daphnia every day along with what-ever other live food is available, and I top this up with frozen Mysis shrimp and the Astax Red crumb from TA Aquaculture. Other food is good for conditioning, again I haven't tried them, but both Earth-worm flake and "lobster eggs" have been recommended to me.

The only fish that get/got a different diet are Pseudepiplatys annulatus, Hatchets and Pencils, they get some vestigial winged Drosophila (Fruit flies) and/or Green fly (Aphids) as well, this is because the Hatchets won't eat Grindal worms ansd they all like some floating insect food.

Michael Hellweg's book is worth getting if you are interested in live food sources.

If you are in the UK? PM me and I can send you a Grindal Worm culture, and details of how to keep Daphnia.

cheers Darrel

 

[slimbolen99]

Frozen is great for in-between feedings of actual live food. I think it offers nearly the nutritional value, but the main difference, obviously, is that it is not "live".

Watching our fish react to live blood worms or mosquito larvae being placed in their tank, you really see the hunting instincts come out, rather than the foraging type feeding you see when you drop in frozen or flake.

 

[Kaie]

I think ill try my hand at producing some bring shrimp.

I try not to feed any animals i own processed foods. My dogs eat raw meat and veggies, and my birds eat raw seeds, nuts, and fruits from their region.

I really dont want to feed my fish pellets or flakes.

 

[CopabX]

My fish have done fine on a frozen diet. I think that the key is to vary it so they don't get bored and spit it out. I cycle through worms, mysis, and brine. Pellets also work when I'm lazy