What kind of live food is easy to culture?

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coolchinchilla

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I'm thinking I'd like to try some live food for my tropicals and my goldfish. My LFS doesn't sell any live food-- only dried and frozen. I'm hoping to find out some tips from an experienced AA member. 8)

1. What kind would be best for non-fry fish?
2. Where to buy a starter?
3. How long will a culture last?
4. Would need a SMALL culture with only a few fish.
5. Which cultures/foods are easier to maintain?

TIA :pepsi: :popcorn:
 
Unfortunately...there really aren't any live foods that are truly 'easy' to culture.

'Water fleas' (Daphnia), are small crustaceans that are relished by many tropical fish. Culturing 'water fleas' is relatively easy if you don't mind producing some 'green water'. This is one of those rare occasions where 'pea soup' green water is actually beneficial because 'water fleas' like to feed on the algae and protozoans. A well-lighted plastic tub with a little manure or decomposing plant material added will usually produce nice green water in a fairly short time. You can then introduce a starter culture of Daphnia and then sit back to wait for them to reproduce in large enough numbers to use the excess as fish food. Daphnia are sensitive to heat so you will have to make some arrangement to keep the temperature in your culture container from getting too high. As long as the water is 'green' then the 'water fleas' will have plenty to feed on. If the water seems to be thinning out then you can supplement the 'water flea's' diet by adding enough yeast to make the water slightly cloudy. The biggest problem with Daphnia cultures is that they will eventually play out so it is essential to subculture occasionally. Hydra are the mortal enemy of 'water fleas' and will reproduce like rabbits in a Daphnia culture if they are accidentally introduced.

Mosquito larvae are also an excellent food for many tropical fish. You can't really culture mosquito larvae but you can encourage your neighborhood mosquitos to lay their eggs in a tub of water outside and then net out what you need. There are obvious problems with intentionally encouraging mosquitos to breed in your back yard, however.

Enchytraeids (white worms) are smaller relatives of the earthworm that are fairly easy to culture as long as you can keep them cool. They like temperatures in the neighborhood of 60 degrees F. They can be kept in trays of loose soil with some leaf litter mixed in. Every couple of days you should add some dry oatmeal to the soil as food (how much you add will depend on how many worms are in the culture...you will have to determine this by trial and error. It is always better to underfeed than overfeed because excess food will decompose and 'sour' the soil).

Meal worms (Tenebrio) are easy to culture and the larvae make good food for larger tropical fish. The web is full of sites with varying approaches to culturing meal worms.

Check in the classified ads of Tropical Fish Hobbyist and you'll probably find a vendor or two who will sell you starter cultures.

Hope this helps a little,

-Joe
 
Whiteworms, grindalworms, and earthworms are all larger live foods that are quite easy to culture, but you must not fail to maintain them, or they can go south pretty quick. Cultures can be had from other local aquarists, on aquabid/ebay, or from a few online shops...or, in the case if earthworms, from organic shops that offer vermicomposting kits. Properly maintained and calved, most cultures can last almost indefinitely.
 
Mosquito larva is right up there among favorite foods for many fish. I always encourage them with a pail of stagnant water. Goldies really will do best with veggies and fruits. You don't want too much protein in their diets.
 
Grindal worms are by far the easiest I have tried and easiest to maintain. I have 9 cultures going right now. Fruit flies, the drosophilia melanogaster or hydeii are easy to culture but require a lot more maintenance. Mealworms are very easy to culture as well as minimealworms and cunfused flour beetles. Microworms are easy but simply too small for most adult fish, although even my adult swords would run around the tank eating them. They also require some pretty close attention to keep them from crashing. Whiteworms are easy to culture but IME not easy to harvest. I will be getting some redworms soon to try and cultrute them as I have local farmers markets and fruit stands that throw out lots of vegetable matter for a free food source.

Just do a search for live food culture or grindal worm culture. If you can't find one I will look into getting you a culture.
 
Would neighborhood mosquitoes/larva carry any parasites or diseases that would harm fish?
 
toddnbecka said:
It's only the adult mosquitos that carry diseases or parasites, from biting infected animals/people.

Great! I'm going to try to get some mosquito larva because I know some of my fish would love to have them for dinner.
 
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