Something that my fish could hunt ideas

[Meg0000]

Hi, I would like to know if there is an easy thing to breed that I could live feed to my paradise fish? I would like to do that because first she's bored alone in her 10 gallon and because when I hand feed her she follows my finger and will jump out of water to eat the food and then kind of hunt for food in the tank by searching everywhere so I really think it would be nice if there was an actual thing to hunt. Any suggestion?

 

[Colin_T]

Mosquito larvae, it's a natural food they would eat in the wild and can be cultured easily in buckets of water outside. However, it is illegal to culture mozzies due to the diseases they spread. But if there are buckets of water left outside and they should happen to fill up with rain water and a few leaves, and the mozzies lay eggs in them, it would be irresponsible of you to leave the mozzie larvae outside to grow up and become adults.

Daphnia and Rotifers are two more live foods you can culture. They live in green water and are a natural food the fish might encounter in the wild.

 

[Meg0000]

I heard a bit of stuff about Daphnia, could you explain more in details how to do a culture of them? I would be interested

 

[FishGuest5123]

Baby brine shrimp are easy. You can Google how to make a hatchery out of plastic water bottle and an air pump. Very simple. I use to feed them to my fry and would give the leftovers to my adult fish. They went nuts chasing them. You can buy eggs on EBay. I recommend San Francisco Bay brand.

 

[Meg0000]

Baby brine shrimp are easy. You can Google how to make a hatchery out of plastic water bottle and an air pump. Very simple. I use to feed them to my fry and would give the leftovers to my adult fish. They went nuts chasing them. You can buy eggs on EBay. I recommend San Francisco Bay brand.

Ok good I will go do some research about that

 

[Colin_T]

The following link has information about culturing green water, which is used to culture Daphnia and Rotifers.

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...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Meg0000]

The following link has information about culturing green water, which is used to culture Daphnia and Rotifers.

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...

www.fishforums.net

ok thank you

 

[AbbeysDad]

I culture daphnia in both indoor (basement) and outdoor bins. I could never produce enough green water to sustain even a small number of daphnia. Instead, I feed spirulina and pea powder mixed with water and refrigerated between feedings. Some also feed proofed yeast. Also, the outdoor bins get fallen leaves and grass clippings as the bacteria from decomposing organics is also a food source. (In nature clouds of daphnia are often found in ponds with decaying leaves). In my outdoor bins, I use a box like filter filled with bio-media and a slow flow of air for oxygen and to encourage beneficial biology to prevent an ammonia spike as often daphnia cultures crash from over feeding resulting in deadly ammonia. Partial water changes are also important as daphnia is very sensitive to water quality. They are often used to test water quality (like a canary in a mine). The outdoor bins are also a great place to collect mosquito larvae which is an excellent tropical fish food.
I also culture a warm temperature strain (55° - 75°F) of white worms that I highly recommend. They are very prolific and very nutritious - the fish go nuts for them. I culture in shoebox size containers in my basement on the floor under a workbench. (Some strains require much cooler temps and are often cultured in wine coolers). David Ramsey has a good primer on culturing white worms.
You might also check out this collection of Youtube live food cultures.

 

[Meg0000]

I culture daphnia in both indoor (basement) and outdoor bins. I could never produce enough green water to sustain even a small number of daphnia. Instead, I feed spirulina and pea powder mixed with water and refrigerated between feedings. Some also feed proofed yeast. Also, the outdoor bins get fallen leaves and grass clippings as the bacteria from decomposing organics is also a food source. (In nature clouds of daphnia are often found in ponds with decaying leaves). In my outdoor bins, I use a box like filter filled with bio-media and a slow flow of air for oxygen and to encourage beneficial biology to prevent an ammonia spike as often daphnia cultures crash from over feeding resulting in deadly ammonia. Partial water changes are also important as daphnia is very sensitive to water quality. They are often used to test water quality (like a canary in a mine). The outdoor bins are also a great place to collect mosquito larvae which is an excellent tropical fish food.
I also culture a warm temperature strain (55° - 75°F) of white worms that I highly recommend. They are very prolific and very nutritious - the fish go nuts for them. I culture in shoebox size containers in my basement on the floor under a workbench. (Some strains require much cooler temps and are often cultured in wine coolers). David Ramsey has a good primer on culturing white worms.
You might also check out this collection of Youtube live food cultures.

Ok thank you for all of this information. I will probably do baby brine shrimps because my parents don't want a culture of worm, larvea or anything like that at home but they don't mind if I do baby brine shrimps.

 

[Colin_T]

microworm, grindal worm and white worm cultures don't take up much space and you can grow them in 1 or 2 litre plastic icecream containers.

 

[Meg0000]

microworm, grindal worm and white worm cultures don't take up much space and you can grow them in 1 or 2 litre plastic icecream containers.

Maybe that could convince my parents