Easiest live foods for smaller fish, particularly tetras

[Naughts]

@Naughts … I did look into Daphnia cultures… assuming they need a somewhat mature bucket or??? Outside…

Yes my tub has been out for years.

I was reading they can be fed spirolina algae powder… do we think they’ll survive in a tank in doors, if fed algae powder???

Only one way to find out!

 

[sharkweek178]

Do you have a supermarket that sells fresh or frozen seafood?
If yes, buy some frozen prawns and use a pr of scissor to cut them into little bits for the fish. Take a prawn out of the freezer, defrost it, remove the head, shell and gut (thin black tube in body) and throw these bits in the bin. Then use a pr of scissors to cut the remaining prawn tail into little bits and offer a few pieces at a time. feed until fish are full and remove uneaten food.

You can do the same thing with white bait or any white flesh fish or even blue sardines, squid, etc.

I have a small food processor I got at a Dollar General that I use for a similar purpose. These days I mostly use it to chop up Repashy gel into small pieces that are more manageable for my pygmy corys.

 

[sharkweek178]

We had a drought year last year, and I inadvertently have lots of things around the farm, that hold water… it wasn’t a problem last year, this year is a flooding year, and I’m going around dumping them ( and mosquito larvae, out ) we have a record amount of mosquitoes here this year.. I could probably go around, with a fish net, and make a couple swishes, before dumping, frankly I’m a little worried some will go unnoticed, and hatch out in the house ( our only mosquito free zone ) and I’d expect Mrs. would have a cow, if she thought I was bringing mosquito larvae in the house… think I’ll skip those, even though they sound easy to do…

If you do it right, it's actually mosquito population control. Because otherwise, those mosquitos would lay their eggs somewhere else where they would probably get to grow to adulthood instead of becoming fish food.

 

[Colin_T]

I actually just bought a couple of silicone small square ice cube trays, I might have to dedicate a small fish net, to outside use, and go around, and scoop up some next weekend ( running out of time this weekend ) I suppose they should be lightly rinsed in RO water, and packed as densely into the small cube tray as possible, before freezing… I’m thinking I’m going to try that.. anything I can do, to reduce the number of mosquitoes outside, and give the fish more variety

Use a fine mesh net to scoop the mozzie larvae up. Rinse under tap water. Then put them in containers and freeze them.

Daphnia cultures should be started regularly just in case one crashes. The easiest way to keep them is in containers of green water. Get a pond or plastic storage container and fill it with dechlorinated water. Add some fertiliser and let the water turn green. Then add Daphnia. After a month take some Daphnia and put them into a second container of green water. Try to do this each month so you have back-ups and you get more fish food. Freeze surplus Daphnia and use when the live ones aren't available.

The following link has info on making green water and culturing some live fish foods.

Back to Basics when Breeding Fish

STARTING OUT Make sure you have a pair, (1 male + 1 female). There is nothing worse than spending your hard-earned dollars buying a couple of fish to try and breed and ending up with a pair of fish of the same sex. Let's face it, to reproduce fish you need a male and a female. Two males won't do...

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