What's an easy, cheap and nutritious live food culture? Blood worms? Vinegar eels? Something else? I'm talking along the lines of protein. It would be for community fish in addition to wafers, plants, pellets and flakes.
Live food?
- Thread starter captmicha
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I feed mine live black worms. It costs me about a $1 every 1-2 weeks. If you are looking for something to culture yourself I don't really know. People have had success with brine shrimp and some people collect their own blood worm cultures but I would worry about them having parasites.
I culture white worms. They are easy, very low maintenance and the fish love them!! The discus just about jump out of the tank when I'm feeding white worms. I wanted a food that I could feed to all my different fish and be a good conditioning food too....and these are awesome. I also use microworms but they are geared toward the "no-see-ums" size fry I have!
I should have added that I live a ways from any stores that sells frozen so it's kind of inconvenient to go all the way out there to buy some. So that's why I want to culture it myself.
Lol. I was feeding blood worms today and my loaches went crazy, so did my pygmy cories but they were too small to really be successful in eating them.
Lol. I was feeding blood worms today and my loaches went crazy, so did my pygmy cories but they were too small to really be successful in eating them.
Bloodworms are hard to culture indoors because they have a flying adult stage. During the warmer months you can place a bucket of water outdoors with a little crushed grass or similar in it; this will attract adult insects, such as midges and mosquitos, who will lay eggs in the water. Just be sure to harvest the larvae every few days and toss out the old water so you don't start a mosquito factory.
Blood worms has a flying stage?ok, that's scary. Mosquitos would be nice,not sure on culture tough.
Yes, bloodworms are the larvae of midges in the family Chironomidae, part of the "True Fly" order Diptera. The adults looks similar to mosquitos (family Culicidae) but do not bite. They are abundant in most parts of the world. Glassworms are also midge larvae, but from a different family, the Chaoboridae.
With all three families, indoor culture is difficult because of the needs of the flying adult stage. The midges are non-feeding as adults, but must have room to swarm in order to mate properly. Mosquitos of course must take blood meals before they lay their eggs. But you can get one generation at a time just by providing an outdoor egg-deposition site (the bucket I mentioned previously).
Blackworms, tubifex, and white worms are easier to culture because they are permanently aquatic.
With all three families, indoor culture is difficult because of the needs of the flying adult stage. The midges are non-feeding as adults, but must have room to swarm in order to mate properly. Mosquitos of course must take blood meals before they lay their eggs. But you can get one generation at a time just by providing an outdoor egg-deposition site (the bucket I mentioned previously).
Blackworms, tubifex, and white worms are easier to culture because they are permanently aquatic.
I would say there is nothing easier to culture than white worms. BBS seems like rocket science compared to that. (And BBS isn't all that hard.)