Commonly Available Live foods guide

[colegamby]

thanks ill go get some today

 

[FoundMoney]

I started feeding my fishes frozen bloodworms as a dietary supplement to the flake and now that's all my female cockatoo will eat!

 

[Torrean]

can you just throw the crickets into the tank. I have a little bit of land area in the tank i am thinking of putting them in. should i put them on this? I am trying to give my red-spotted newts a treat as they really don't seem to like the shrimp pellets i've been feeding them. thanks

 

[GTP2002]

Great info, I need to run to Des Moines and pick up some bloodworm. Also, does anyone know what the best thing to feed an iridescent shark would be?

 

[Avinitlarge]

http/www.livefoodsdirect.co.uk/

This is where my brother works, they do various sized mealworms, Waxworms, Micro crickets, Earthworms, Locusts, Fruit flys.

They are really high quality, They can post too.

 

[platyfreek]

great info!
IM currently waiting for brineshrimp to hatch for my wittle platie fry

 

[SusieJG]

Will any of the species used as live food for livebearers live in the gravel of a tank? What I'd like, ideally, is to stock some live food in my tank, and give them a little time to hide before letting the fish in-that way the fish will be able to get some of them, but the others would be able to live and breed and make more food for my fishies. Is there any such thing?

 

[SirMinion]

Bloodworm will burrow into the gravel or sand of your tank and can live quite some time like that, but be warned, bloodworm is the lavae of a midge (gnat) and will metamorphose and fly away if they escape being eaten for long enough.

Thankfully though the bloodworm gnat isn't a biter.

 

[Opcn]

As apose to bloodworms live tubiflex worms or black worms will not metamorphose (as they are true analids rather than larval arthropods) and are entirely beneficial, especially ina mud bottomed tankwere they burrow and provide tilling services.

 

[SusieJG]

thank you both for your help.

A few questions about any of the worms you suggested:

1) I have small fish (mostly guppies) and they have babies in the tank often. Are these types of food appropriate for smaller fish and/or will they harm the fry who also tend to bury in the gravel?

2) How will having these in my tank affect my cleaning? For example, will I need to take them out before vacuuming the bottom or putting my hands in? Will I need to clean more/less often? Will they harm or be harmed by my filter?

3) For a 40-gallon tall tank how many worms should I add initially and where can I buy them?

4) I do not have a mud bottom tank and do not plan on using anything other than gravel on the floor of my tank in the immediate future. Are tubiflex or black worms still appropriate?

Sorry for all the questions-I really appreciate your help.

 

[Opcn]

Answering incompletely and in no particular order:

I'm not sure about predatory abilities of bloodworms but tubiflex worms cannot eat a living fish of any size. You wont clean your tank as often with a blood worm colony IMO because they will eat uneaten food in the gravle and smaller fish will eat them, especially the offspring of the tubiflex/ black worms. No you wont have to take the worms out when you clean the tank or take any special precautions for yourself, however the gravle vacume will take a good number of them out of tha tank, When I maintained a colony I would scoop them out of my bucket after a water change and toss them back into the water.

 

[SirMinion]

To be honest, fish love eating bloodworms so much that I doubt there'd be any left for you to have to worry about when vaccuming anyway.
And bloodworm are harmless to fish.

As for tubifex worms, I've always understood that's it's best not to use live worms as they carry a rather nasty fish parasite that can wipe out your tank.

Frozen or dried is fine though.

 

[SusieJG]

you guys are great-thank you.

I think I will go and see if I can figure out where to get some live blood worms. Out of curiousity, do they have to live underwater? Is there any chance that they could climb out of my tank and get into my house?

 

[SirMinion]

Ha. no. they are strictly aquatic in the worm stage and despite the name of 'bloodworm' they do not suck blood! it simply refers to the blood-red colour and the fact that they are high in haemoglobin- an adaptation to living in oxygen poor waters in the wild.

 

[Jox]

I have a question. I have an African Knife fish along with a striped Peacock Eel in one of my tanks. The African knife Loves Earthworms and will feeding him just Earthworms be fine? I tryed hand feeding the Peacock but I haven't seen him eat yet. I heard they take Ghost/River Shrimp, is that mostly true. Also will an African knife take them and is their shell harmfull to the African knife? Thanks