Whats the easiest and best live food to culture?

Question

I want to culture some live foods for my fish what is the easiest type of live food. I have a gourami, neon tetras, black widow tetras

Answer 1

Blackworms are very easy. Your independent local fish store should carry them, and they should cost about $2 for a small container that holds about two heaping tablespoons, or about an ounce. They keep in the fridge with a small amount of water covering them. You don't need to feed them, but just change the water every couple of days. They'll last for a few weeks. I would recommend chopping them up for your fish (gross, I know!) because otherwise they may burrow into your substrate and can be hard to get out of there.



BBS (baby brine shrimp) are fairly easy to hatch. Get some *good* quality brine shrimp cysts (don't bother with the low hatch rate stuff). For the occasional treats, you can raise them in a quart jar. Here's a great link for you:



http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/



If you have bad luck with a hatch, it's probably because you got old cysts. Get fresh ones from the above company because the little vials sold in pet stores are more often than not pretty old.



Grindal worms aren't all that hard to culture. You'll need a shoebox-sized container with some sterilized potting soil. You can get a good starting culture on this website:



http://www.aquabid.com (go to Live Foods)



Grindals don't smell unless the culture is going bad, and you can feed them flaked baby cereal every couple of days.



With any live food, you have to trust your source and make sure that you're not introducing bad stuff into your tank, so all live food critters should be active, wriggling and look healthy.

Answer 2

Here's your answer,(sort of), there is an out of print book that answers all of your questions in detail that is truly amazing. It tells how to culture almost any imaginable type of live food you could wish for,(and some that are truly gross). The book was published by Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine, under the name T.F.H. Publishing. The title is "encyclopedia of live foods"(that's directly from the title page,no "the" and no capital letters). Written by charles o. masters. I can find no ISBN number on my copy.

I would think that used book stores or the book sellers that frequent tropical fish conventions as well as the "Net" might be your best sources. Good luck,it's a great reference for people that feed fish.

Answer 3

Microworms can live up to 3 days after you put them in the tank, Brine shrimp only one. You have to purchase the starter pack online usually on ebay for microworms give yourself some time to get it started. (2-3 weeks) before you will actually need it. The brine shrimp eggs you can get in some petstores, and you have to let those hatch in a hatcher, or a jar. I dont know how small you need the food. But this is the smallest that i know of.

Answer 4

Right i know that the eaisest live food to culture is algae but i dont think thats what you mean (if you do want to culture this controlled take a jar of tank water and leave it in the sun, then use a pippet or and i dropper to destribute). Some fish eat water snails they are extremely easy to breed but for obvious reason dont do it in your fish tank or you will have an out break. remove them from their shells and drop the meat in the tank. I know that my fish also like chopped earth worms? and you can culture these in a wormfarm as long as they are washed thoroughly. Im sure the people at your local bet store would be able to give you better information than me i do appologise for the lack of it.

Answer 5

Good question. But it might depend where you live.



Easiest thing where I am is to leave out a bucket of water, eventually some algae grows and some mossies lay their larvae in the water.



Then catch the larvae using a net or tea strainer, and yum, live food.

Answer 6

Any of the worm cultures are easy to manage. Con, they stink up the house. Pro, moist substrate and feed with bread. People used milk and bread, brea dnad yougurt. You could alwayys just hatch live brine shrimp when you want.



("'\(o.o)/"')

Answer 7

Brine shrimp is the best live food to culture. Here is how to do it: http://www.thatfishshop.com/health/brine_hatchery.htm

Answer 8

Guppies are very easy. Really any livebearers are.



Mollies

Guppies

Swordtails



Frozen food and pellets are best but to my understanding, if you have to give them live food, its best to raise your own to avoid diseases and so you know exactly whats going into your tank.