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Hey guys,
I have wanted to feed my community tank live foods for awhile now, particularly blood worms (for my pandas!)But neither of my LFS carry them? So my question is where can i get some? And how do i keep them/raise them etc? I am compleltely clueless!
Sam

Hi,
Here is some information on bloodworms that you might
find to be just what you need:

http://fins.actwin.com/live-foods/month.9901/msg00033.html

Also, a caution for folks with alergies:
Quote:
Aquarists with a history of allergies should be cautious using bloodworms (midge larvae), whether they are frozen or freeze-dried. Many people react badly to this excellent fish food.
EndQuote. (Taken from http://www.thepetprofessor.com/secPetInfo/Fish/Fish_food.asp

Frankly, after reading just these two, if you are still
interested in feeding your fish these critters, I think
I'd find a LFS of some sort, that has them, live or frozen,
and purchase them rather than try to raise them myself.
Additionally, I think I'd feed the dead (read frozen) ones
rather than risk them maturing and flying around the house.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Any decent LFS should suppply live foods as a matter of course. Mine does.

Also, I've had no problems feeding live foods in 10 years. I wasn't aware of possible allergy risks though. Guess I've been fortunate in that respect!

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I use live blackworms, they're way cooler than bloodworms, and don't have that nastiness about them!

Black worms? Same deal as blood worms? Or different needs for raising them? That link helped but ive hear of ppl rasing them in pop cans? Or is this something else?

We put a bucket outside in the summer and wait for mosquitoes to lay eggs in them, and then we collect the larvae and feed our fish with it. It would be better to use aged water from the tank as the mosquitoes prefer them to fresh tap water. We also get some blood worms in the pond filter in the summer, but they get there themselves.

The only live food which is relatively easy to raise are brine shrimps (artemia). This is popular food for fry, but large fish won't be bothered with the small newly hatched brine shrimps, and they lose their nutritional value as they grow. You can find more information about brine shrimps here.

Ask the people at your fish shop, maybe they could get some live food, which is really the easiest. Here in London most shops get the live food on thursday and some run out of their supply quite quickly. It's also advisable to ask the people at your shop if they have a delivery day and get it on the same day or the next day.

Finally, I avoid tubifex worms altogether. They usually harbor parasites which are then transferred to the fish. I have only fed my fish with tubifex worms once, but then spent another two months dealing with the consequences.

sxp8397

Is there any reason you do not prefer to use frozen blood worms? I buy 10 packets at a time and the price is reduced by 50%. I just keep them in the freezer.

If you are importing bought live foods into your tank (which I never do or will) you have no controll over the water quality no matter how small the amount that could get into your tank

Keith

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If you are importing bought live foods into your tank (which I never do or will) you have no controll over the water quality no matter how small the amount that could get into your tank

This is somewhat at variance with my experience, and I've been feeding live foods for 10 years now. Mind you, I perform large water changes and gravel vacs with a vengeance, which probably helps, but that's for the benefit of my Pandas, which need scrupulous attention to such matters. And, if my water quality was out of control, I wouldn't be able to keep Pandas at all, let alone have them spawn nearly 70 times in 2 years!




Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002