Anyone still feed freeze dried brine shrimp cubes...

[WhistlingBadger]

I keep some frozen brine shrimp, frozen bloodworms, and freeze-dried tubifex. I feed my hillstream tank twice a day with high quality flakes. Every other day, I substitute one of these feedings with non-flake food, alternating the above. With the high current in the tank, the worms and shrimp look like they're alive, and the fish seem to enjoy chasing them around. But honestly, the fish seem just as excited about flakes. They're just pigs. ha ha

 

[Back in the fold]

I keep some frozen brine shrimp, frozen bloodworms, and freeze-dried tubifex. I feed my hillstream tank twice a day with high quality flakes. Every other day, I substitute one of these feedings with non-flake food, alternating the above. With the high current in the tank, the worms and shrimp look like they're alive, and the fish seem to enjoy chasing them around. But honestly, the fish seem just as excited about flakes. They're just pigs. ha ha

You ever go to a fish hatchery and feed the fish ? I don’t think fish are as particular as we think .

 

[Magnum Man]

I could hand feed my Tilapia right now… they get pretty excited when I open the covers

 

[Back in the fold]

I could hand feed my Tilapia right now… they get pretty excited when I open the covers

That’s a big fish Man . You could pull back a stump .

 

[Magnum Man]

Reviving an old thread… I‘be been feeding frozen cubes lately ( limited by what the semi local pet store stocks ) so most of my brine shrimp anymore are frozen shrimps cocktails … it’s been quite awhile since the fish have seen Tubiflex cubes… everyone still seems to like them… I’ve not fed them, since the giant Oto’s were introduced… they seemed to go particularly bonkers, once they started floating around the tank… the electric blue rams seemed to particularly like them, they are not usually the 1st to hit the food, but they definitely were the 1st to hit the Tubeflex

 

[powerdyne6]

I feed a couple different types of pellets and high quality flake foods. I also feed frozen cubed Bloodworms and Brine Shrimp once a week and my Yoyo Loaches and Tetras go crazy for this.

Actually come to think about it I don’t think I have put anything in my tank that the fish haven’t gone crazy for.

 

[GaryE]

Most fish will eat anything, but they're like us in that. A lot of what we feed may not be good for them.

I used to feed whatever flake was cheap. Then I learned about different digestive systems, herbivores, omnivores, etc, and started trying to vary. I started using freeze dried tubifex, brine shrimp and mosquito larvae 40 years ago, and only gradually phased them out for practical reasons - cost mainly with more tanks here. They're good food.

Flake and pellet food have improved, but I still use them as sparingly as I can. In my own life, I largely stopped eating processed foods because of a health issue, and have been pleasantly shocked at the weight loss I've experienced since then. I figure it's the same with my fish - I see less egg binding in tetras with 'bare bones food' (freeze dried, frozen, insects and cultured live foods), better colour, more breeding and overall better lifespans.

The downside is it takes a little more time and space, and costs more. Still, compared to feeding my dog, it's nothing.

Leaving aside the live foods, I now have decapsulated brine shrimp eggs, bug bites (veggie and colour), algae wafers and a few powdered foods for tiny fry. If I could get a deal on tubifex cubes, I would use them. If freeze dried black mosquito larvae were still available, I'd buy it. I wouldn't buy freeze dried brine shrimp (too fractured by the process) or daphnia (not very effective food freeze dried), and bloodworms are an allergy problem for me, and many others.

 

[Country joe]

My fish love frozen Blood worm, and Daphnia they go daft at feeding time for these two

 

[Magnum Man]

I was really disappointed with freeze dried Daphnia, seems like just empty shells, & the fish don't eat them... I would try frozen ones, if they were available locally...

 

[GaryE]

I find live Daphnia to be an excellent food, but the thing I use as an indicator is egg numbers from my killies. It doesn't have as large an effect as mosquito larvae or whiteworms. I think it's more the live, chase effect that stimulates the fish, as well as the excellent roughage from Daphnia.

As a freeze dried or frozen food, I'd pass on it, as you're mainly getting the crunchy bits. I suspect a lot of the nutrition comes from the gut load the Daphnia carry - they have a healthy diet.

I notice that when I overfeed Daphnia in a tank (on purpose), the fish settle down and eat as they feel hungry, after they fill up on the initial frenzy. But over the 2 or 3 days the Daphnia dance around the tank, they become paler and paler as the microscopic food sources dry up, and they digest the food they ate in the outdoor culture bins. By day three, they are crunchy snacks without a lot of apparent food value. You start with fresh potatoes, and finish with freeswimming potato chips...