Live Food or not?

[Stefanie]

Hi All,

I have a general question:

I have a few dwarf puffers, and know they would like live food. I have so far not fed live food (specifically black worms), because I heared about parasites that I might bring into my tank/fish...
Is there anyone who has any experience to share, maybe how to tell "bad" worms from "good" ones, or is there any way to prepare them, so they are healthy to feed? Or should I just stick to frozen (which they like a lot).

Thank you!

 

[zave2340]

if they like it... leave it. Live food is spose to help them grow better, but youa re risking stuff every time. When i had a puffer i fed him frozen plakton, it was 8.99CDN at petsmart. He lvoed it, and stay happy all day. Then, one day i deced to feed him some shrimp i had gotten from the store, i sliced it into small peace fed him one, and the next day he was dead. SO..... i would suggest going with what he likes, and what you KNOW is safe for the tank.

 

[fishpoor]

Be really careful feeding live blackworms. They WILL kill your fish if they are "bad". I obviously was unable to tell what constituted bad. I lost my much loved clown loaches and several other fish to them. Haven't fed them since. But mosquito larvae in season my fish love, and frozen just about anything goes over well. If you could get healthy small snails , puffers seem to really like them.

 

[Snake Eyez]

The only live food I feed my DP is snails and an occassional treat of brine shrimp. Other than that they enjoy the frozen blood worms. I swear I think they'll explode by the way their stomach looks after eating the blood worms.