Ember Tetras and Tubifex Worms

[Macready]

Howdy,

I've got a 20G High, pretty heavily planted (IMO) with 8 Rummynose Tetra and 8 Ember Tetras. 

I've been feeding a mix of nano pellets, and community crave flakes, but I had taken recently to throwing a cube of ACOOP Freeze Dried Tubifex worms in the tank on Saturdays. I had one ember tetra die the day after feeding the Tubifex worms 2 weeks ago, I had fed the tank a cube maybe 3 times (a week apart) before this happened.  I have stopped feeding the tubifex for now and finally got around to making this post, after searching the forum. 

I did "hydrate" the tubifex in a separate cup of tank water before dumping it in the tank. I'd smash it up pretty good so it was mostly loose worms and not a cube when it entered the tank. 

I wonder if the tubifex worms are a little big for the Ember Tetras, they went crazy for them, but I wonder if it contributed to the death of the Ember Tetra. This is not to say there is anything wrong with the food, except that I worry it might be too big for the Ember's.  The rummy nose at it up and also went crazy for the tubifex. 

Does anyone feed their Ember Tetra's Tubifex? 

TIA

[clownbaby]

I personally do not have ember tetras but I do have pygmy corydoras which are a very similar size. I only feed three or four kinds of foods to my pygmy cories because their mouths are insanely tiny, and chiefly one of these is tubifex. I think your fish passing was a coincidence. Considering you did hydrate and mash the worms, I don't think your fish couldn't have digested the worms or anything like that. If this was the problem, just mash up the worms a bit more after you hydrate them!

I also feed my black neon tetras freeze dried bloodworms on occasion and sometimes a brave cory will dart up and grab one. Never had an issue with that either!

I think you are a-okay and safe to feed tubifex. 

[cmo1922]

I also agree with @clownbaby. When I kept very small nanos like ember tetra,  emerald rasboras, and pygmy cory, they would eat frozen blood worms no problem. They would tear them apart and eat the smaller pieces. I've never really been concerned with feeding foods that are too big. But maybe I've just been lucky!

I don't feed a lot of freeze dried foods but when I do, I do soak them for a few minutes first. This is mostly to get them to sink so the bottom feeders get a chance at them. I also do it just in case the expansion from soaking up the water causes issues after ingestion. I don't know if this is actually a problem but I figured it doesn't hurt!

[Macready]

Thank you! I will give the tubifex worms another try. 

I will continue to hydrate them before feeding.  I learned to do that the hard way with some bloodworms.