Live food

[boydie]

Hey all. I won't to start feeding my fish live food.
What do you guys recommend ??
I'm feeding them BH. Dry food and fdbw. But what to get some live stuff into them.
Let me know what you think.
Cheers Marty

[Keith Perkins]

Red wigglers are my personal choice.

[boydie]

Yeah. I'm trying to get some. I'm in Australia. And have been trying to track them down but not having much luck.

[musicmarn1]

Keith do you chop yours up? i was putting the smallest ones in but notice a few being left, im icktified by chopping but if it makes all the difference .....im in, EWWWW but im in

[Keith Perkins]

If thinking about chopping them makes you go EWWWW, how are you going to feel when I tell I break most of them in half with my thumbnail as I feed them.

[Second Hand Pat]

If thinking about chopping them makes you go EWWWW, how are you going to feel when I tell I break most of them in half with my thumbnail as I feed them.

Yup, the thumbnail works great for breaking apart the worms :)

[adapted]

Thumbnail here too since I ran through the smaller worms... maybe it's a little unpleasant but the fish love them. Mine eat everything else in an orderly dignified fashion, but they fight for (chopped up) red wigglers.

[musicmarn1]

oh good lord, thats too much for me LOL im waaaay too soft :)

[LizStreithorst]

I disagree with everyone. I select the right size red wiggler for the size of the Discus. I do not break a worm apart. The fish want them most when the worms are in tact.

[Len]

I disagree with everyone. I select the right size red wiggler for the size of the Discus. I do not break a worm apart. The fish want them most when the worms are in tact.

+1 If your worm colony is thriving, you should have lots of small worms that you don't need to chop or cut. The movement of the worms wriggling tends to get the discus excited and if they are small enough they suck them up like spaghetti.

[LizStreithorst]

+1 If your worm colony is thriving, you should have lots of small worms that you don't need to chop or cut. The movement of the worms wriggling tends to get the discus excited and if they are small enough they suck them up like spaghetti.

lol. We know our worms, don't we Len? The key to a great culture is having a large well fed one and knowing how to maintain it. People want to buy worms and start feeding them right away. I made that mistake my first time with them. I realized my error and had patience with my second batch. Once I learned to let the worms show me what they need I have enough to feed AND give as gifts. The are absolutely positively free of pathogens that can infect our fish and, they are hugely nutritious, and since they are alive they bring out the hunting instinct in the fish.

[Second Hand Pat]

Len and Liz are right. If you are cutting worms up on a normal basis then you are feeding your breeders and you might run the risk of feeding all your worms without a way of replenishing your worm colony.

[musicmarn1]

I don't cut just think I'm letting some of them get too big I have zillions :) I just need to dig more for smaller ones then!

[Keith Perkins]

With the small number of fish I currently have and only occasionally feeding worms I'm in no danger of running out of breeders. Maybe smaller is better, but my halved worms get sucked up almost immediately so like many things with discus there's more than one way it can be done.

[boydie]

Thanks guys I'm still chasing up some worms. Are there any other live foods you guys use.

[Second Hand Pat]

Live white worms.

[musicmarn1]

lol and for sure no cutting these :p;)

[pcsb23]

Thanks guys I'm still chasing up some worms. Are there any other live foods you guys use.Brine shrimp.

Generally avoid feeding live food from freshwater as they can act as hosts to pathogens. Sometimes you can find genuinely guaranteed pathogen free sources which are safe (obviously) but if in doubt, don't!

[John_Nicholson]

Brine shrimp.

Generally avoid feeding live food from freshwater as they can act as hosts to pathogens. Sometimes you can find genuinely guaranteed pathogen free sources which are safe (obviously) but if in doubt, don't!

X2. This is why i seldom feed anything live that is from fresh water.

-john

[Tankster]

Liz or Len, how long does it take to get a sustainable colony? Rather than go out and trust a random Google search... can you point me to a "how to" site you would recommend?


lol. We know our worms, don't we Len? The key to a great culture is having a large well fed one and knowing how to maintain it. People want to buy worms and start feeding them right away. I made that mistake my first time with them. I realized my error and had patience with my second batch. Once I learned to let the worms show me what they need I have enough to feed AND give as gifts. The are absolutely positively free of pathogens that can infect our fish and, they are hugely nutritious, and since they are alive they bring out the hunting instinct in the fish.

[Len]

To be honest Greg, I don't really remember how long it took for the colony to really grow, but it wasn't very long. I just used a rubber maid tub, added some shredded newspaper, a few handfuls of sand and sprayed it with a bottle of water until it was damp. I added a pound of worms and went from there. I started feeding right away, just a lot and not every day. Eventually, I had to separate the culture and started another. Then I just started giving them away because I had more than I would ever need. Never add Dairy or meat and avoid onions and citrus like oranges lemons, etc. They love banana peels, and tomatoes. You can used crushed eggs shells, but that was too much bother for me so I just mixed in a little calcium carbonate and you may not even need to do that.

[LizStreithorst]

I git mine dumped them in dirt, added news paper,cardboard, and horse of goat poo and let the culture alone for there weeks to recover and breed.

[MSD]

Yeah, that's pleasent. I'm running to start one......

[ktltn04]

X2. This is why i seldom feed anything live that is from fresh water.

-john

Will it be safe if treated with some chemical like PP before feeding ?

[John_Nicholson]

Might be but not worth the risk for me as long as cows still roam the earth.....

-john

[pcsb23]

Will it be safe if treated with some chemical like PP before feeding ?No. The pathogens are carried inside as well as outside. Just not worth the risk when there are plenty of other much lower risk foods to feed.

[ktltn04]

No. The pathogens are carried inside as well as outside. Just not worth the risk when there are plenty of other much lower risk foods to feed.

Look like I have to cross live black worms off the snack list for my discus. Need to train them to take FDBW.

[Keith Perkins]

Look like I have to cross live black worms off the snack list for my discus. Need to train them to take FDBW.

If you're getting it from Al it usually doesn't take too much training.

[Altum Nut]

Live white worms.

x2 on the white worms and very easy to keep a colony... just keep cool and feed yogurt or yeast on bread.
Google it on what you will need to start.

...Ralph

[LizStreithorst]

Everything that has been said is correct, but personally I'm a huge fan of live CBW's from Dan. They are the best food and in my 15 years of fish keeping, they have yet to bite me in the arse.

[Keith Perkins]

I use to buy the CBWs, but much to my dismay one of the MWDH members swore his fish ate Al's better. After the member's did a group buy of Al's worms surprisingly I now have to agree with him, my fish for some reason seem to prefer Al's FDBWs.

[LizStreithorst]

I don't care that much for the freeze dried from either supplier. I have both now from my gift bag at NADA. I suppose I should conduct a a non scientific test on them. It will be boring, but I will do it.

IMHO, nothing beats the live worms from Dan. It's more than the wiggle factor. My belief is that something is lost in the processing. There ain't no arguing with me about this. It's what my fish have told me through my eye. Your results may differ.

[Keith Perkins]

Sorry, I didn't notice you weren't taking FD.