Live Foods Made Easy

[MickS77]

I didn't realize how cheap and easy live foods are until I did it. For about $30 I was able to get four cultures of Vinegar Eels and Microworms started. 

I got the cultures off Aquabid for $10 shipped. The four glass bottles are from Michael's craft store. I got them for $15 using a 20% off coupon. The plastic containers are from Dollar Tree, $1. 

The rest of the required items I had. Apple cider vinegar, an apple, and instant unflavored potatoes. 

If you're thinking about getting a breeding program going don't hesitate to get some live foods going before you have fry. Also it's like infinite free fish food for like ever, what's not awesome about that. 

Cory has two great videos on setting up these cultures, which I followed exactly. 

https://youtu.be/-kkQS6XgG00

https://youtu.be/AMrU6S3DZRQ

[DaveSamsell]

Very nice article, Mick.  👍

[Tanlefan]

I had a grindal worm culture that I neglected and allowed to die out.   I'm planning on restarting it because all of my fish absolutely loved them.

[MickS77]

2 minutes ago, Tanlefan said:

I had a grindal worm culture that I neglected and allowed to die out.   I'm planning on restarting it because all of my fish absolutely loved them.

I've never heard of those, make sure to post about it! 

[Daniel]

Other than blackworms, the livefood most eagerly taken by my fish is whiteworms.

 

[Bill Smith]

Never done either. Thanks Mick, and thanks for digging out the YouTube videos and dusting them off! Must try!

[Tanlefan]

6 hours ago, MickS77 said:

I've never heard of those, make sure to post about it! 

They were nice. As far as appearance/care they're like bigger versions of a micro worm. I don't think they're in the same family though.

[Brandy]

Which would most closely match blood worms in terms of how well loved they are, in your opinion?

I discovered I am literally deathly allergic to blood worms--like epi-pen level allergic. I would like to find my best alternative though, because almost every fish ever loves blood worms and they come in every form--flaked, pelleted, freeze dried, frozen, live...

[Daniel]

Blackworms are super, super well-loved. Whiteworms are super well-loved. Blackworms are expensive, whiteworms are cheap. Blackworms are easy, whiteworms take a small amount of work.

Blackworms are expensive because you have to buy them. Strangely 1/8 lb,  1/4, lb,  1/2 lb, and 1 lb  all cost the same amount $60 (I get them from Craig Shaubach at Eastern Aquatics) which indicates the entire cost is the cost of overnighting them to you. You don't have to put them in the fridge, you can just put them under a drippy faucet. All in all maintenance is easy.

Whiteworms are cheap. Once you buy the $10 starter culture, you put them in a Tupperware container with, bread, or fishfood, or cat/dogfood and keep them cool (60°F – 65°F). You should have a spare culture and restart the culture every 1 to 2 months. Maintenance is very reasonable.

Both Blackworms and Whiteworms are the pro move for getting your fish in to condition to breed.

@Brandy I don't see you as a blackworm person (no offense), maybe whiteworms though. The first culture can be frustrating as it might not take, but once it gets going, your fish will love you forever.

David Ramsey is the King of all whiteworms

 

[Brandy]

Pity you can't culture blackworms easily... @Daniel you read me right. 🙂 Thanks for the video!

[Wmarian]

Daphnia are I think my fishes' favorite, although maybe it's just my favorite because the fish have to hunt and chase them down so its more active to watch.

White worms are too big for my nano fish. Grindal worms (basically one size down) are just right size and I use same instructions for them as for white worms.

But also the Daphnia and the brine shrimp. Even adult Daphnia are too big sometimes. Bought starter batch of Daphnia from Sachs Systems Aquaculture in Florida along with their daphnia start up food mix (although i feed a lot more than they suggest, 1 capful per 3 g tank 2-3x per day; and will be switching to my own food mix soon). It's been pretty successful, supplementing occasionally with a little live yeast or a little spirulina.

[RovingGinger]

What would be easiest for bumblebee gobies? My pea puffer eats snails and they go for them too, but I’d like something more reliable as they don’t seem as skilled at gulping tiny bladder snails from their shells as the puffer. 

[StephenP2003]

3 hours ago, Daniel said:

Blackworms are super, super well-loved. Whiteworms are super well-loved. Blackworms are expensive, whiteworms are cheap. Blackworms are easy, whiteworms take a small amount of work.

Blackworms are expensive because you have to buy them. Strangely 1/8 lb,  1/4, lb,  1/2 lb, and 1 lb  all cost the same amount $60 (I get them from Craig Shaubach at Eastern Aquatics) which indicates the entire cost is the cost of overnighting them to you. You don't have to put them in the fridge, you can just put them under a drippy faucet. All in all maintenance is easy.

Whiteworms are cheap. Once you buy the $10 starter culture, you put them in a Tupperware container with, bread, or fishfood, or cat/dogfood and keep them cool (60°F – 65°F). You should have a spare culture and restart the culture every 1 to 2 months. Maintenance is very reasonable.

Both Blackworms and Whiteworms are the pro move for getting your fish in to condition to breed.

@Brandy I don't see you as a blackworm person (no offense), maybe whiteworms though. The first culture can be frustrating as it might not take, but once it gets going, your fish will love you forever.

David Ramsey is the King of all whiteworms

 

Yep, definitely going to do this. What's the smallest fish that can handle whiteworms?

[Daniel]

@Wmarian Sach Aquaculture is first class and carries the strangest stuff you can't find anywhere else. There is a Daphnia Jr. called moina that's about 1/2 to 1/3 the size of Daphnia magna. I collected mine in the wild but Sachs sells moina also.

[Daniel]

1 minute ago, StephenP2003 said:

Yep, definitely going to do this. What's the smallest fish that can handle whiteworms?

Approximately 1/2 inch, just depends on how motivated they are. Grindal worms, which are smaller versions of whiteworms could be fed to 1/4 inch fish. I've seen tiny fish eat a relatively massive worm just by lining it up properly.

[Tanlefan]

26 minutes ago, Daniel said:

Approximately 1/2 inch, just depends on how motivated they are. Grindal worms, which are smaller versions of whiteworms could be fed to 1/4 inch fish. I've seen tiny fish eat a relatively massive worm just by lining it up properly.

My fish would slurp the grindal worms down like spaghetti. Super fun to watch.  I'm not sure on what the smallest range would be, but my emerald dwarf rasboras were able to handle them, and they're fairly small.

[Wmarian]

1 hour ago, Daniel said:

@Wmarian Sach Aquaculture is first class and carries the strangest stuff you can't find anywhere else. There is a Daphnia Jr. called moina that's about 1/2 to 1/3 the size of Daphnia magna. I collected mine in the wild but Sachs sells moina also.

Yes, I want to try D. Moina sometime. I ordered magna (although Sachs said they were the larger type) because I had to just pick one type to see if I could raise them and how they would work with my fish. Plus all the earlier/smaller stages in daphnia growth are edible too, so only the full adults are a challenge.  My fish are micro Gobies, sparkling gourami and tinwinis Danios. All an inch or little bigger as adults...but with small mouths. I tried white worms for awhile and the Gobies and tinwinis Danios couldn't deal with adult white worms very well...and it's easier if I am raising foods that work for all.

And although maintaining the daphnia is cheap, I should add that purchasing them from Sachs was not (particularly shipping). But was very successful culture with their food from the get go. I keep three 3 gallon containers with crushed coral and some floating water wisteria, snails, a light shining next to them 24 hrs, keeping them a little warmer. I change 50 percent of water about every month (straining out the daphnia using a cloth over a sieve), replacing with used aquarium water. And I use an air pump bubbling slowly in each (no air stone). I feed several times daily with Sachs food mix, but will eventually use a mix of spirulina, yeast and flours for feeding. A piece of Wonder shell added whenever I remember. I use a turkey baster to transfer to tanks.

Some internet people say air isn't needed, and research has shown that too many fine bubbles can catch in their shells and keep them at the surface, thereby killing them. I figure small containers might be a little challenging to keep healthy, so I keep a slow air bubble flow going to keep it stirred up.

Other advice from internet world: keep more than one culture. This I can endorse, three identical containers right next to each, my one that was producing the most heavily so that I was using it for food daily quickly crashed down to none. Other two are fine. Go figure.

Other advice from internet world: don't be hesitant about using your cultures...daphnia multiply so quickly you have to keep culling them for food or they will crash their culture within a couple weeks (or even quicker)

Would be interested if people have experiences that agree/disagree with these pieces of internet advice. And what food combos others are using.

Edited July 31, 2020 by Wmarian

[Daniel]

Okay, this source of live foods is very easy and totally free. There's a ditch in front of my house that dries up from time to time, but when it has water in it, it has mosquito larva and Daphnia. Recently I've been keeping it from drying out by running a water hose into it. You can see from the video just what a couple swipes of the net produces. My fish love this stuff.

 

[StephenP2003]

Here in Louisiana, I think keeping mosquito larva intentionally is punishable by death 😄

Otherwise I'd definitely have unlimited fish food, more than I'd be able to feed before making more mosquitos.

[Daniel]

33 minutes ago, StephenP2003 said:

Here in Louisiana, I think keeping mosquito larva intentionally is punishable by death 😄

 

The beauty of being a reasonable person is that I can come up with a reason for anything I want to do. @StephenP2003 If you're arrested for growing mosquito larva, just point out that you're not the problem, you are the solution. All those mosquito larva that your fish are eating are never making it into adult mosquitoes. Tell them you're a one-man mosquito control machine!

[Tanlefan]

1 hour ago, StephenP2003 said:

Here in Louisiana, I think keeping mosquito larva intentionally is punishable by death 😄

Otherwise I'd definitely have unlimited fish food, more than I'd be able to feed before making more mosquitos.

I lived in Mississippi for years and my mother would have various containers out to catch rain water. Uncovered, stagnant, for long periods of time. Then didn't seem to understand why she was constantly being bitten by mosquitos...

Edited July 31, 2020 by Tanlefan

[Brandy]

You want to know the weirdest thing? Seattle has multiple lakes in the city, and my apartment has a large natural looking water feature in the middle that they SWEAR they don't treat in any way, and our storm-water treatment runs through various grasses and reeds in a 10 foot wide swale on either side of the street. I have yet to see a single mosquito. I used to be eaten alive by them in N. WA, but here they are just missing. I don't know if it is the amount of pavement or what...It weirds me out.

[Daniel]

1 minute ago, Brandy said:

I have yet to see a single mosquito... they are just missing. I don't know if it is the amount of pavement or what...It weirds me out.

Fish

[gcalberto]

21 hours ago, RovingGinger said:

What would be easiest for bumblebee gobies? My pea puffer eats snails and they go for them too, but I’d like something more reliable as they don’t seem as skilled at gulping tiny bladder snails from their shells as the puffer. 

I think they would just love daphnia. I have a culture in my flat. It's no the easiest live food to culture, since the population is prone to crashing, but it's not terribly hard either. 

All my fish go absolutely nuts for daphnia. They like it as much as live bloodworms, which sometimes appear in my daphnia culture. I'm 100% sure your pea puffers will love the daphnia as well 

[ForestJenn]

8 hours ago, Brandy said:

You want to know the weirdest thing? Seattle has multiple lakes in the city, and my apartment has a large natural looking water feature in the middle that they SWEAR they don't treat in any way, and our storm-water treatment runs through various grasses and reeds in a 10 foot wide swale on either side of the street. I have yet to see a single mosquito. I used to be eaten alive by them in N. WA, but here they are just missing. I don't know if it is the amount of pavement or what...It weirds me out.

I know! When I first moved her 20+ years ago from ND, I thought that Seattlites were crazy for building houses around mosquito factories.   But that's not the case at all.