Live food?

Ewww... I don't want flies in the house.

I just read that some consider white worms to be too fatty. And tubifex can be hard to culture and brown type tubifex can even make your fish sick. And that not all kinds of fish should eat black worms.

If my rcs population ever gets large enough, I'll add some to my community tank. I'm also going to try to get some "fairy shrimp" going. I'm considering daphnia but I don't really want to spend like $10 and keep a gallon of water sitting around for them. Or could they breed in my rcs tank?

Btw, I know crustations can be a laxative so I wouldn't over do with them.

It would be pretty sweet if I got my fish breeding by feeding some live foods. I heard that's the way to get them going. That and aquarium salt. I'm not sure if the last part is correct...
 
i second scuds, i accidentally introduced a couple to my shrimp tank and now there are just as many scuds as shrimp, and there are a lot of shrimp. I got mine from having a rubbermaid container outside with an airstone and guppies. They just showed up one day! no clue how they got there
 
It's actually quite simple to condition your fish for breeding using frozen bloodworms regularly. They don't sell the brand I use anywhere near me either, but I place my orders regularly with Drs. Foster & Smith and keep a 6-month supply in the freezer.
 
Daphnia will definitely breed in your RCS tank, as will copepods and other microcrustaceans. There's a "What are these little things swimming in my shrimp tank" thread here every few days.
 
I harvest copedods and daphnia which I breed in huge numbers in sun warmed, atmos exposed 50 litre food grade plastic tanks with 200+ glass shrimp. Just some pea straw and a little vermi caste in the bottom when prep'ing and azolla on top.
When I don't want to 'count' compost worms for my cod, I literally just scoop out a small bucket full and pour it into the cod tank. Daphnia, copepods, blood worms, moz' larvae.....
I bought a second-hand solar HWS panel yesterday with which to heat aquaria, aqatic insect tanks and heat pads for cockroaches and crickets during winter.
When I become a little more capable with the computer, I'd like to start a thread re closed loop, low carbon footprint aquaria.
I thought Nathan, Matt (sploke) and a couple of others might like to contribute.
Cheers
Greg
 
There's a "What are these little things swimming in my shrimp tank" thread here every few days.

Lol.

Are scuds the same thing as daphnia?
 
Scuds (amphipods) are these guys:

65n.jpg


They are considerably larger than daphnia; the scuds I raise are about 3/8" to 1/2" long, but some get a bit bigger. They swim less than daphnia and spend most of their time crawling about or hiding in dense cover, much like shrimp. Scuds are abundant in most freshwater environments. There are also many marine scuds; saltwater enthusiasts usually call them "pods".

Murraycod- That sounds like an awesome setup. I'd love to hear more about it.
 
I've never seen any though when I've been at lakes, ponds or streams. I have small fish in my tank, I don't think they'd work out.
 
You have to search a bit to find them. Dense submerged vegetation or leaf pack usually harbors a lot of them; they are present in smaller numbers in and on logs and rocks and in gravel. I have found them almost every where I've looked, except for a few very swift mountain streams.
 
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