Barrie Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 In yesteryear I used to feed blood worm and white worm along with mozzies as my live food. Has there been any change ? I notice wingless fruit flies now, are they much good? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 Lucky to get any that haven't been been contaminated by the flyers. A year or so back I got some from Bio S. and those were contaminated, got a replacement, that was stuffed too. Got my money back and they admitted that they could not be certain that they would be the wingless completely. The situation may have changed now if they have got in new breeding stock. I'd be interested in some if you can find them Barrie. I have micro worm, white worm and in season, daphnia and mozzies. In your days of last century Barrie, we were able to get tuberfex by the lb. too. The fish loooooooooooved that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrie Posted May 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 yes Your right about the tubiflex. They were the main meal, Age has me forgetting them. I know the family was discusted in me keeping them in the fridge. Plenty of mozzies at the moment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 In the good old days I got my first wingless fruit fly (they actually only have very short wings) from the local university where they are used to study genetics. A student may be able to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new zealand discus man Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Hi Any one got any live tubeflex worms..I have managed to get some breeding in tropical tank but very slow to multiply..Cheers Phill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 T U B E R F E X is the corrct spelling guys. There is NO "L" in it. "Spell police" :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidb Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 i always thought it was TUBIFEX, sincere apologies mr. policemean :oops: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HummingBird Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Wikipedia is god. As for live food though, I feed Daphnia, mossie larvae and bloodworms (the latter two grow unintentionally in my daphnia ponds.) Doesn't really apply to killies, but I also feed my Oscar crickets, centipedes and anything else small enough to fit in his mouth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caserole Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 :lol: snap :lol: :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new zealand discus man Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Hi Please stay on the subject as im interested to know if anyone else has live ones. Mine came from an area that has never had any fish life..they can often be found in puddles in paddocks..K's away from any water or ponds ..Thats where mine came from one day out looking for mushrooms. It is remembered by many as the main food for years sold via pet stores. We used to sell stores around 30 k a week..if i can find quicker growth then it is possible again.. They are unlikely to have any problems ive read about as never been with fish or snails..Cheers Phill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caserole Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 People normally grow there own as you are doing with the same success - just enough to feed now and then. They are often found in large numbers in polluted areas so it is likely the main food source for them in those conditions is bacteria, hence why they are seen with there heads waving above the mud searching for food as it passes. I have a few ideas but don't know whether they would work but either way an out side pond of sorts would be needed. I am not prepared to share them openly as they are untested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HummingBird Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Sort of unusual, you asking us to stay "on subject" when this wasn't even your topic in the first place, and your post asking if anyone had any tubifex was in itself straying from the original subject. Not that I mind straying off subject I've never had live tubifex, but a lot of fish books that I've got mention them a lot. They sound a lot similar to Daphnia in their culturing requirements, in that they need a small amount of decomposition present at all times - it sounds like they require some sort of fecal matter in the mix to thrive though. At least that what the Encyclopedia of Live Foods makes it sound like. A quote from there: "For all practical purposes, tubificids cannot be reared in quantities large enough to make it worthwhile. The author has had sustaining populations in alligator tanks and snail tanks indoors, but even those did not produce enough worms to make this worthwhile for that purpose. Collecting outdoors throughout the year is really easy enough to making culturing unnecessary." It goes on to mention that culturing is at least possible though, and that "The author maintained large numbers of tubifex in a concrete springwater box for several years with a three inch bottom composed of nothing but cottonseed meal." How did you used to culture yours, Phil? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discusguru Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 How did you used to culture yours, Phil? Trade secret!!!!!! ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 We used to collect hundreds of pounds from an area in a river down stream from a freezing works outfall until the regional council got the discharge cleaned up. I understand they need high protein like blood to survive. A few people I know have tried to culture them but not with any commercial success. They are usually present in my turtle tanks and no doubt arrive on weed from the river. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 David said: i always thought it was TUBIFEX, sincere apologies mr. policemean It "is" TUBIFEX... Not Tub ER fex http://www.gsas.org/Articles/1997/tubifex.html Lots of articles for the Google Addict ha ha. Best way to clean them BTW... is to keep them in a container under a dripping cold water tap. This flushes all the crud out of them in a few days.. at which point they can be fed out. Any sewage outlet or settling pond will have them.. but it is a very unpleasant task.. as I well remember from our live food collection days. There was no better food for bring fish into condition.. and it would still rank at the top if it were not on the "no.. no" list Bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 Yep, wrong on that one :oops: But succeeded on getting rid of the "L" which was my main point. I won't go back and make it look as tho you guys are picking on me. I have broad shoulders. Thank goodness some of us do make mistakes, sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new zealand discus man Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 Hi The starters came by accident..Out mushrooming in farm about 2k's away know for good mushrooms. I came accros a mudded area but not a pond to say..Say just few so took a hand full of mud home.. This is just last april..Now i have two bunches of worms.{stay in tight balls} about 30mm dia each. I have a adult discus that stopped feeding after being picked on by mate.. Gave a few worm and is now on blood worms and starting to take meat again.. Discus at any age can just stop feeding and often impossible to get them started.Hopefully this is the answer so ill be just keep for problem fish.. Subject is live food thats why added this thread as thought others later on just want a few to get started, Mine are in rain water and i feed my Discus Tucker.. Cheers Phill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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