What live food can I give...

[FreedingFrenzy]

To my community tank?

I have..

1 Gourami, 15 or so Misc. tetra species, 2 female swordtails, 2 clown loaches, 2 chinese algae eaters, 2 peppered catfish and 1 rainbow shark...

And I decided that for a treat I would give them something else to eat - would live food be appropriate?

What else could I feed them besides the flakes and tablets - as a treat ?

[David R]

If you get a male swordtail they'll probably bread and the live young would make good life food for the other fish. Mosquito larvae or water boatmen are another option.

[alanmin4304]

Daphnia, microworms or white worms.

[SpidersWeb]

Daphnia is easy to do in large populations.

What I do is buy a rubbish bin (one of those big ones that holds 2 bags of rubbish with the lids), fill 3/4 with water, throw in some lettuce. If it gets really gross, maybe a little less lettuce, if nothing happens after 2 days, maybe some more. I'd start with 1/4 lettuce, but that could be considered too much. Dont put the lid on the bin, and put it somewhere with light.

Anyway eventually the water goes this browny/green colour. This is when its time to add the Daphnia. Daphnia eat the browny green bacteria in the water, so to feed the culture you need to put in more lettuce. I used to put in leaves once a week. If the water goes clear, more lettuce, if its starting to smell and go icky, less lettuce. You can also breed water snails in here (ramshorn or pond snails).

The result is thousands of daphnia, so you can get a couple of net fulls a day to feed your fish live food. Just scoop in your fishnet, and let them go in the tank. If you've got larger fish with teeth or a puffer, you now could also have a good stash of water snails that is also constantly on the go. At the right time of year you also get mosquito larvae (better in your fish tank supply than your local pond!!).

I'm going on about it because I think it was a fantastic solution. Especially if you or your partner eats lettuce, but not enough to finish it. We used to be throwing out half an old lettuce each week anyway. Setup needs no maintenance, just put it somewhere out of the way, maybe behind the shed.

Microworms are great for baby fish, but the containers need regular cycling etc, I found it too much work so I just use decap brine shrimp instead.

I haven't tried whiteworms or tubifex.

Freshly hatched brine shrimp are the best things ever, but hatching is a pain in the bum for those of us without the time.

[Guest]

This is going to sound weird but you could feed them ants as long as they havn't been sprayed with anything.

[SpidersWeb]

Yes but I wouldn't becuase of insectisides etc they might have picked up, and would be kind of tricky to feed I imagine?

[Guest]

Yeah you just have to be careful where you get them from. We use to have a ants nest under a orniment in our garden and thats where I got them from.

[ryanjury]

Its not live food but your fish would love it if you got some cooked pealed shrimp from the supermarket and cut or grated it up small enough for them to eat.

[FreedingFrenzy]

Daphnia, microworms or white worms.

What are Daphnia?

Where can I get them all from? LFS?

[SpidersWeb]

Daphnia are water fleas.

When you get a netfull you'll get all sorts of sizes, so great for a range of fish to hunt down and snack.

Best place is to go to Private Trade and Exchange and say you want some. Many local fishkeepers will give you a small amount for free, or charge a minimal fee of about $5 (+ postage if needed). Doubt you'll be able to get them from the LFS unfortunately.

[FreedingFrenzy]

Cool - thanks And also do I just put them into the water and the fish will eat them?

[SpidersWeb]

Yep, they swim around and the fish will go crazy for them.

Loved the expression on my angels when they first saw them, had a few seconds of shock before they realised exactly what was going on, after that they were like pirahna, put the net in the water and they'd jump in it trying to get the dapnia before anyone else.

Also they eat water born algae, so are handy if you ever get your tank going solid green, will clean up the water like magic.

[Heir]

also, you can often buy some daphnia on trademe, which will be enough to start a culture

:bounce:

[skaffen]

This is going to sound weird but you could feed them ants as long as they havn't been sprayed with anything.

Ants have lots of formic acid in them - I don't know if they'd be good for your fish?

[DutchKiwiCowboy2]

As a treat ants are fine, however too many ants will eventually kill your fish.

Here is a piece I found somewhere else on how to catch ants.

ants are tasty morsels for your fish. Place a small piece of ripe fruit in a clean jar tipped on its side (a peanut butter or mayonnaise jar works well). Once the fruit is covered with ants, pick it up and add enough water to cover the fruit. Cap the jar and swirl it gently to wash the ants off the fruit. Remove the fruit and pour the water with the ants into the tank. If you are fortunate enough to locate an ant nest, scoop up the eggs and feed those to your fish as well.

[Slightly Blue Dalmation]

white worms are easy as, once you have the culture set up, a bit of lunchion meat and constant supply of them