No to blood worms?

[Colin_T]

I think it was @Colin_T who once posted why frozen bloodworms weren't the best food for tropical fish. Something about a hard undigestible body part if I remember right.

The bloodworm (Chironomid midge larvae) has a hard head that can't be broken down or digested and that can sometimes cause blockages in the digestive tract of fish. Fish that swallow their food are more likely to have problems compared to fish that chew their food.

The other issue with bloodworms is they aren't always collected in sanitary environments and quite often contain some pretty gross bacteria that can survive freezing and make your fish sick.

Finally, live bloodworms have nippers/ pincers on their mouth and these can bite fish's stomachs/ intestines while they are being digested. This usually kills the fish.

Some brands of bloodworm are irradiated and are much safer than other brands that aren't irradiated because the bad bacteria get killed by the treatment.

NEVER feed bloodworms to Tropheus cichlids.

 

[momsspaghett]

UPDATE
The picky guy now eats whatever I give him. Frozen brine shrimp, frozen blood worms, fluval bug bites, and NorthFin Betta Bits. I was wanting to get another type of frozen food for him if there was any. Do ya'll think this is a good enough diet so far or should I include another type?

 

[DragonScales+Doubletails]

yes half of my bettas don't like bloodworms

 

[Colin_T]

Marine Mix or prawn/ shrimp, maybe mysis shrimp

 

[Byron]

UPDATE
The picky guy now eats whatever I give him. Frozen brine shrimp, frozen blood worms, fluval bug bites, and NorthFin Betta Bits. I was wanting to get another type of frozen food for him if there was any. Do ya'll think this is a good enough diet so far or should I include another type?

Have read this thread just now, and will concur with Colin and those on the same vein, which brings us to this post--and this is a good choice except either leave out the bloodworms or only feed frozen BW once a week as a treat.

The quality prepared/dried foods available to us today--and nothing is much better than Bug Bites, along with some of the foods in the Omega One line or the New Life Spectrum, and a couple other manufacturers I cannot remember or know about--is very different than it was only a couple of decades ago. With very few exceptions, being some wild caught fish, any species is going to have a normal life expectancy, and a very healthy one, if fed a good blend of these prepared foods.

Live foods generally are fine, but the problem is getting a good balance. Analysis of the stomach contents of most any wild fish reveals some pretty diverse appetites. But most carnivore or omnivore species I have ever encountered such data for have a high content of insectivores, be they insects on the surface, larvae, or intermediate stages. Bug Bites is thus one of the best "all cover" foods, which is probably why most fish quickly learn to relish them. And it is no surprise that fish spawn during the wet season when the flooded forest affords them such a plethora of insect goodies. We can learn much from the habitats of our fish.

 

[Avel1896]

Hi,
Here is how I fed twice a day my Betta CT who was a kind of........ "swimming stomach" :
- mosquito larva (homemade)
- vinegar eels (homemade)
- daphia pulex homemade)
- JBL plankton pur
- JBL novofil-novofex-novodaph
- Ocean Nutrition Community Formula Crumbles
- from time to time, trout eggs, small pieces of mussel
- twice a week 2 pieces (pellet size) of garlic.
I kept him 7 years.

 

[DragonScales+Doubletails]

very healthy and diverse diet! Kudos to you!

 

[momsspaghett]

Hi,
Here is how I fed twice a day my Betta CT who was a kind of........ "swimming stomach" :
- mosquito larva (homemade)
- vinegar eels (homemade)
- daphia pulex homemade)
- JBL plankton pur
- JBL novofil-novofex-novodaph
- Ocean Nutrition Community Formula Crumbles
- from time to time, trout eggs, small pieces of mussel
- twice a week 2 pieces (pellet size) of garlic.
I kept him 7 years.

Hi,
Here is how I fed twice a day my Betta CT who was a kind of........ "swimming stomach" :
- mosquito larva (homemade)
- vinegar eels (homemade)
- daphia pulex homemade)
- JBL plankton pur
- JBL novofil-novofex-novodaph
- Ocean Nutrition Community Formula Crumbles
- from time to time, trout eggs, small pieces of mussel
- twice a week 2 pieces (pellet size) of garlic.
I kept him 7 years

I have never thought to feed them garlic, what does it do?

 

[Avel1896]

Garlic, in small pieces pellet size, is efficient as a vermifuge (dewormer).