Live food for dummies

[Colin_T]

@Colin_T I've been researching Rotifers, and one of the things I cannot get my head around is the different sizes. I don't want to end up cultivating live food that my fish might not even see (I am not saying that is the case with rotifers, just in general).

Newly hatched brineshrimp, micro and grindal worms, and Daphnia. If you want Rotifers, get some that grow to 1-5mm long.

 

[Colin_T]

Should grindal cultures be kept in light or dark?

If they have a lid on the culture, it doesn't matter if they are in a brightly lit room or a dark cupboard, but they are worms and do prefer dark environments. So keep them away from windows and bright lights.

I kept most of my cultures on a shelf in the fish room.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

You don't remove the worms when feeding. You put a small amount of dry baby cereal (or whatever you are using) onto the peat/ potting mix. You leave it until all the food is gone and the worms have gone back underground. Then you wait until the next day and feed them again.

If you put too much food in it can get mouldy or go rotten. Try to use a dry food rather than wet food because it's cleaner and less likely to go off.

If you have a piece of glass or Persex (with a handle), you put a thin layer of the food on the peat and the glass/ Perspex on top of the food. When there are lots of worms on the underside of the glass, you lift it up and rinse it off in the aquarium. If there are lots of worms on the glass, don't put them all in the tank at the same time because most will drown. Just put a corner of the glass in the tank and the remaining worms can go back into the culture. The moisture on the glass (from the aquarium water) will help keep the culture moist but not too wet.

I'm using dry kitten food, I'll switch to dry dog food when I run out...I have a dog so makes sense.

I've made a little thingy to put on top of the worms to feed the fish with, I cut a rectangle from a plastic container and stuck a bit of cork on it for a handle.

I'm going to have a go at starting a culture in some green scourer pads, it seems easier to maintain from what I've seen online and would be a good experiment between the mediums. I'm just using a bit of potting soil at the minute. I'm keeping them on top of one of my kitchen cupboards

 

[sharkweek178]

So I was thinking about where I could put a couple of 20 gallon plastic bins to culture daphina. I want to have 2 cultures in case one crashes.
Anyways, I had a thought. If I put aquarium heaters in and kept lids on them, could I keep them on the porch in winter? And when I harvested them, would the exposure to cold air kill them?

 

[sharkweek178]

So I'm starting another grindal worm culture with scouring pads. Just some cheap ones from Target. And while I was doing that I had a thought. I wonder if coarse filter foam would work as a culture medium for grindals.

 

[sharkweek178]

I just ordered a microworm culture. They seem easy to cultivate and like they would be a good live food for my pygmy corys. Plan is to drop grindal worms into one side of the tank to distract the bigger fish and the microworms on the side the pygmys like to sift through.

 

[Beastije]

I just ordered a microworm culture. They seem easy to cultivate and like they would be a good live food for my pygmy corys. Plan is to drop grindal worms into one side of the tank to distract the bigger fish and the microworms on the side the pygmys like to sift through.

They do fall to the bottom so are easy to eat and i do feed my pygmy corydoras with them too. And the culture is super easy. Oats work better for me than bread / breadcrumbs and i use normal yeast, not dried. And i do not poke holes in the lid, I just open it every day/every other day and blow on it drier medium is better, never runny one. Beware of types of plastic, onetime plastic used in supermarket works better than hard plastic like ikea bowls or food containers.

 

[sharkweek178]

They do fall to the bottom so are easy to eat and i do feed my pygmy corydoras with them too. And the culture is super easy. Oats work better for me than bread / breadcrumbs and i use normal yeast, not dried. And i do not poke holes in the lid, I just open it every day/every other day and blow on it drier medium is better, never runny one. Beware of types of plastic, onetime plastic used in supermarket works better than hard plastic like ikea bowls or food containers.

I bought a box of instant mashed potatos for this purpose. Although I have oatmeal on hand so I might try that as well. Having a bowl of soggy bread is just gross though.
I got some reusable plastic bowls. Like the containers I use for grindals only bowl shaped. I like to cut an air hole in the top and tape coffee filter over it.

 

[Beastije]

I bought a box of instant mashed potatos for this purpose. Although I have oatmeal on hand so I might try that as well. Having a bowl of soggy bread is just gross though.
I got some reusable plastic bowls. Like the containers I use for grindals only bowl shaped. I like to cut an air hole in the top and tape coffee filter over it.

I never myself used mashed potatoes because in my mind there is a lot of salt in the mix and additives an i believe oats are cleaner, given the fish eat what the worm eats. Also buying instant mashed potatoes is almost impossible here. Breadcrumbs don't gross me out but the whole mix will smell like bread dough never the less because of the yeast
Some people find it disgusting, i think it smells nice unless spoiled.
On the other hand grindal creeps me out (never had it, just seen it, too wormy i think)

 

[sharkweek178]

I never myself used mashed potatoes because in my mind there is a lot of salt in the mix and additives an i believe oats are cleaner, given the fish eat what the worm eats. Also buying instant mashed potatoes is almost impossible here. Breadcrumbs don't gross me out but the whole mix will smell like bread dough never the less because of the yeast
Some people find it disgusting, i think it smells nice unless spoiled.
On the other hand grindal creeps me out (never had it, just seen it, too wormy i think)

I made sure to buy the mix that didn't have extra flavors added.

 

[seangee]

I never myself used mashed potatoes because in my mind there is a lot of salt in the mix and additives an i believe oats are cleaner, given the fish eat what the worm eats. Also buying instant mashed potatoes is almost impossible here.

Probably just my weird ways but I would not feed instant mash to myself. It takes 10 minutes to boil a potato, they cost pennies and you know exactly what you are eating. Same goes for instant oats.

 

[sharkweek178]

Mike Hellweg - Culturing and Using Live Foods

Join Mike Hellweg for a webinar on live foods. Mike has been breeding fish since Hair Bands were cool. Mike is a local legend, but fish nerds around the worl...

www.youtube.com

I found this pretty informative. Apparently this guy, Mike Hellweg, wrote the book on live foods. Literally. Culturing Live Foods: A Step-by-Step Buide for Culturing One's Own Food for the Home Aquarium. It's $99 on Amazon. And that's a reduced price. I'd love a copy but that's a bit much. Anyways. I thought the video was interesting.

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[Beastije]

Probably just my weird ways but I would not feed instant mash to myself. It takes 10 minutes to boil a potato, they cost pennies and you know exactly what you are eating. Same goes for instant oats.

sorry for hijacking, I laughed a bit, since I saw potatoes for like 3 euro per kilogram the other day in the store ( some fancy one, regulars are around 2 euro or just under) and I was like "pennies, sure" ) I also didnt know what instant oats was, but it is instant oatmeal, that makes more sense, with like dried milk and sugar and flavors. Not like you can insta your oats which is already a product right )

 

[sharkweek178]

In my excitement, I started the instant mashed potato culture before the worms arrived. Wanted to be ready. They still aren't here yet. Maybe today. I figure the culture will be fine. Unless it develops mold. Then I'll start a new one before adding the microworms. Otherwise, I'll give it a mist with my handy bottle of dechlorintated water add some dry yeast and put the worms in.

 

[Magnum Man]

so, now that my 45 gallon is running, & I've moved some fish into it, from my 10 gallon holding tanks... I have an empty 10 gallon aquarium... I'm thinking I'm going to order a culture of scuds to add to the empty 10 gallon...

anyone bought from...

Hyalella azteca, Scuds - Goliad Farms

Hyalella azteca, also known as Scuds, is a shrimp-like crustacean. It is an easy to culture live food that is an excellent size for many larger tropical fish. Even adult guppies can eat scuds. Cichlids and many killifish love them. This crustacean reaches about 1cm (0.4 in.). This shrimp-like...

goliadfarms.com

looks like their cultures are 1000 scuds... so I could feed a bunch, & add the rest to culture in my 10o gallon...