Best in tank live food

[Various Vivaria]

I recently fed my 10 gallon community tank some mosquito larvae, and the fish went crazy. Since then I have been wondering if there is a live food that can live in the same tank and be eaten when the fish are hungry.

[Various Vivaria]

There are 2male guppies, 6 pygmy cories, and 7 ember tetra.

[Dkshadowwolf]

Daphnia might work 

[Various Vivaria]

Don't bbs need salt water?

[Patrick_G]

On 8/19/2021 at 9:57 PM, Various Vivaria said:

I recently fed my 10 gallon community tank some mosquito larvae, and the fish went crazy. Since then I have been wondering if there is a live food that can live in the same tank and be eaten when the fish are hungry.

I’m looking to start a culture of black worms. I know it’s possible for them to live in the tank. 

[Various Vivaria]

@TankseekerI am looking for something to live in the tank with the fish

[Various Vivaria]

Oh, ok. I will just have to find another way to be lazy, I mean efficient lol

[Various Vivaria]

@TankseekerI do to but I am always so busy that I don't always have time to feed all of my pets.

Edited August 20, 2021 by Various Vivaria

[Various Vivaria]

Aren't those kinda pricey? To clarify I am 13 and on a very limited budget.

[Patrick_G]

Here’s a good video on culturing black worms. 

 

[Various Vivaria]

Oh wow that's a lot less than I expected, I am officially on the market for auto feeders.

[Various Vivaria]

The only problem with an auto feeder is that it doesn't stimulate the fish's natural instincts as much as live food.

[Various Vivaria]

If only there was an IV type device that live food could live in the bag and be slowly sucked into the tank.

[Various Vivaria]

That's going to be my next project after I set up my tree frog vivarium.

[Various Vivaria]

I found a magic tadpole in a 3.5 I was cycling, no idea how it got there. After some research I think it's a Cuban tree frog. So I am about to start building his/her adult size home.

[Various Vivaria]

You can get the whole scoop on this thread (Planaria and Cyclops appear from thin water)

[Odd Duck]

On 8/19/2021 at 11:57 PM, Various Vivaria said:

I recently fed my 10 gallon community tank some mosquito larvae, and the fish went crazy. Since then I have been wondering if there is a live food that can live in the same tank and be eaten when the fish are hungry.

Blackworms would be your best shot at this.  In an aquarium they reproduce by regenerating after breakage.  They live in the substrate and you would have to add quite a few to a tank in order to get enough established that your fish wouldn’t wipe them out quickly.  Some people add a bunch to the tank when cycling, and before adding any fish, so they have a chance to get entrenched before the fish arrive.

If you want to establish a population now with fish in the tank, you would need to provide them a protected area.  You could potentially try putting them in the tank through a tube so they can go straight down into your substrate, then placing a bowl over top of that area for a few days and let the worms spread under the substrate.

With cories in the tank, they would fairly likely still find them pretty quickly and gobble them up.

Daphnia would be about the only other option and the same idea would apply of adding a very large number with loads of hiding places for the live food, except you would have to have extremely dense, fine plants like pearlweed, water sprite or wisteria, a big moss ball, floaters like frogbit or red root floater, etc, for daphnia to survive long in a tank with fish.

[Odd Duck]

On 8/20/2021 at 2:40 AM, Tankseeker said:

@Odd Duckwhy did you send so many..

It didn’t send right.  I’ll see if I can delete some.

[Odd Duck]

On 8/20/2021 at 2:40 AM, Tankseeker said:

@Odd Duckwhy did you send so many..

OK, it let me “Hide” them.  Did it hide them only from me or are they gone for you, also?

[Odd Duck]

On 8/20/2021 at 2:57 AM, Tankseeker said:

Yup all good for me now

Thanks!  I knew it was acting weird, but I went out, then back in, and it still didn’t show that it posted, the “Submit Reply” button was still there, I figured it was glitching and not posting, I kept clicking the button. 😆 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Guppysnail]

The best live in tank foods in my experience are microfauna. Daphnia ostocods amphipods scud etc. plus they are very beneficial to your tank. If you have small fry growing infusoria in your tank does wonders for them but you have to monitor water quality.  It’s very easy just hang a piece of lettuce in the tank and allow it to deteriorate.  Then replace with another piece. 

[Guppysnail]

On 8/20/2021 at 5:50 AM, Tankseeker said:

@Guppysnaili don’t think you should leave vegetables like that In the tank causes ammonia spikes

I have done it for many years. If your tank is long established it does not at all. And as I said you do have to monitor your water. It is no different than squirting infusoria in the tank except it is a gradual release vs a squirt. 

[KentFishFanUK]

Good thread/question!

This is something I think about a lot, I like the idea of self sustaining live food cultures in the tank - as a form of enrichment for the fish (give them something to do/hunt). When I first added fish I had lots of copepods and was fun to watch my Endlers hunt them but they disappeared very quickly haha.

Would love a nice mixture of live foods in the tank but not sure how to go about it. 

Would daphnia survive in the tank with enough hiding places? They eat green water right, would they have enough food to survive without cultivating the green water? 

What would be the best plant etc for things like daphnia and copepods to hide in so they don't all get eaten immediately? 

I will be adding some cherry shrimp soon, hopefully they will breed and provide snacks that way but enough would survive to be a self sustaining population as well. 

Would a population of black worms get out of control in the substrate? They are kind of ugly. Would fish other than Corydoras hunt for black worms if they are only in the substrate?

Eventually I will get around to trying out bbs but would like things that are always available not only at feeding time. 

Apologies everyone for the wall of text and million questions (again) 

[Guppysnail]

On 8/20/2021 at 6:58 AM, KentFishFanUK said:

Would daphnia survive in the tank with enough hiding places? They eat green water right, would they have enough food to survive without cultivating the green water? 

I have tried daphnia several times and still occasionally do but they never last long my fish are piggies 🐷.  I do not know if there is a correlation or just coincidental I am not the sciencey type but They seem to hang around a bit longer when I do the lettuce thing. It would be cool to see someone sciencey actually find out though. 😀

[KentFishFanUK]

On 8/20/2021 at 12:39 PM, Guppysnail said:

I have tried daphnia several times and still occasionally do but they never last long my fish are piggies 🐷.  I do not know if there is a correlation or just coincidental I am not the sciencey type but They seem to hang around a bit longer when I do the lettuce thing. It would be cool to see someone sciencey actually find out though. 😀

When you say lettuce thing, what's going on there? Literally just feeding them lettuce or is there more to it?