Bloodworms for dinner?.....again?...yawn

[QTOFFER]

I picked up some freeze-dried bloodworms this weekend (sorry, don't remember the brand). None of my tetras seem to be terribly impressed.

Don't tetras like bloodworms? Do freeze-dried foods suck?

The only fish that seem to like them are the danios, but my danios would probably eat little balls of toilet paper - LOL - if given the chance.

I feed every morning with Ocean Nutrition community flakes. Every evening, I throw in two sinking pellets for the corys. Twice a week, in the evening, I offer a small treat like frozen brine shrimp. Everyone has a healthy appetite and the brine shrimp are literally attacked before I can even release them from my fingers.

I just want to have another treat in the pantry so as to provide a more varied diet.

 

[puffergirl]

Sounds like you have a healthy diet. Try altering their food, like one day bloodworms and the next brine shrimp, and flake food. Also try to pick up some mosquito larve (aka glassworms) Don't stick to a routine schedule with their food try to mix it up and feed them different types. I do this with my fish and find they get way more excited at feeding time this way. Don't over indulge them in the brine shimp you say they love as eventually they will get bored ot it. You want to keep them interested in their food. Every once in a while I will add a zuchinni in the tank for them to get some veggies in their diet. Catfish and plecos love this, I have even caught my red tailed black shark muching on it.

 

[Fruitbat]

QTOFFER...

I've had great success using frozen bloodworms with my fish and even the Red-Tailed Rasboras will eat them happily. Of course, my Tiger Barbs (the little piranha wanna-be's that they are) will practically attack my fingers while I'm swirling the little frozen 'gumdrop' at the surface.

I find that fish aren't as happy with the freeze-dried stuff as they are with frozen.

 

[QTOFFER]

QTOFFER...

I find that fish aren't as happy with the freeze-dried stuff as they are with frozen.

That's what I suspected.
For me it's like canned veggies vs fresh or frozen pizza vs take-out.

 

[Mr Burns]

The only fish that seem to like them are the danios, but my danios would probably eat little balls of toilet paper - LOL - if given the chance.

same here...my zebras will even bite at my arm when i'm removing decorations or levelling the gravel. they seem like they are ALWAYS hungry. i have freeze-dried bloodworms and everybody, even my redtail shark, seem to enjoy them. i would like to get some frozen foods sometime soon though...maybe brine shrimp...

 

[molotov256]

Most of my fish are all about the frozen brine shrimp... My cichlids love it, the sharks go nuts for it, and my gouramis eat it faster than all the other fish combined. I usually thaw the chunk of shrimp in a cup of tank water and slowly pour it in the tank. The pouring water usually scares my oscar, but if he can brave the waterfall, he likes the shrimp, too.

 

[Sati]

QTOFFER...
I find that fish aren't as happy with the freeze-dried stuff as they are with frozen.

Same here. I'm really into frozen food. They fish just LOVE it. And to be honest, the dry stuff just looks like crap comparatively. I wouldn't want to eat it either Plus, I imagine the nutrients are better preserved in frozen foods.

 

[Allivymar]

Do keep in mind brine shrimp, unless they are baby brine shrimp or are gut loaded, are sorta like fishie potato chips. Yummy, but not very nutritious.

My angels LOVE frozen bloodworms. It causes feeding frenzies in my tank LOL they look like pirahnas LOL I tried to grab a pic tonite; they were actually sedate when I finally got the camera ready LOL

 

[Sati]

Alli, I have to figure out my camera so I can take better snapshots. That's a great pic. How many tanks do you have, btw?

 

[Allivymar]

Atm 4: a planted 10g, a planted 25g, the 55g and I have the betta in my 8g till I move him back to his 2 1/2g at work. I'll be starting another 10g once the angelfish eggs hatch and I have fry *grin*

And everyone gets frozen foods: bloodworm, baby brine shrimp and very occasionally tubifex.

 

[An t-iasg]

My bettas love their Bio-Blend Betta pellets, but they really jump around and go crazy for the freeze-dried foods -- bloodworms and daphnia. I buy the Hikari brand.

Allivymar, you haven't posted a picture of your betta, have you? I remember seeing the angelfish and the wigglers (awww!) but don't keep me in suspense over the betta!

 

[Allivymar]

*looks embarassed*

Erm..I don't have a pic of the betta. Didn't have a camera at work, and I'm too mortified at my own stupidity to take a pic of him atm. I brought him home from work over the 2 week xmas vacation and put him in my 10g with the otos, neons and gouramis (felt the 25g and 55g were too big, and didn't want to stick him into a non cycled tank). All was fine until I added some flagfish into the tank (to do something about the algae!). Apparently the gouramis thought the flagfish were female gouramis, started ripping apart my plants to build nests and tore up the poor bettas fins. Is what I get for leaving the poor bugger in the tank for too long; shoulda brought him back to his 2 1/2g tank at work as soon as I went back, but he was so happy in the planted tank I took my time. So he's alone in the 8g QT (the flagfish moved out after their QT and he moved in since the tank is cycled) while his fins heal. He's still a happy camper, eating like a pig, wiggles his lil butt whenever I go near the tank and was thrilled with frozen bloodworms for dinner, but oi! He looks horrible LOL poor guy.

40 lashes with a wet, torn fin for myself LOL

 

[Sati]

My beta got it from some fancy guppies but he's healing great and doing fine. He was really ugly for a while though

 

[An t-iasg]

I'm too mortified at my own stupidity

Naaah....I think I have the market cornered on that one!!

I've had bettas for 2 years now, and I still did the stupidest thing the other day. I was gravel-vaccing and I looked away for just a second, honest! -- to make sure the water was going in the bucket and not the floor. Benny, the betta whose picture I posted a week or so ago, got caught in the tube! His tail fin has a few small tears on the ends, but it's not ripped up or anything. He must have gotten in there himself. I can't imagine that the small (6-inch by 1-inch) vac could have enough suction to pull him in.

Anyway, where I bought the bettas, they are fed live bloodworms. I've seen bettas eat them so fast that the bloodworms are coming out their gills! So my bettas adjusted very well to the freeze-dried ones.

 

[Christmasfish]

My fish were not impressed with freeze dried anything. The Brine shrimp especially.
only my hoover fish will eat it. I was forcing them to eat the bloodworms like brusselsprouts. they even looked like bland husks! But...frozen? Even dutch, the new knifefish comes out for frozen fresh stuff.
Wow! Ever have a fish hang off the end of a stick after jumping 3 inches? Quite startling!

 

[bettacove]

Most of my fish will spit out freeze dried foods. But then I give them 'the look' and say 'fine, your not getting anything else!' and they eat it. There like little kids! But since I've gotten them Hikari brand freeze-dried bloodworms and daphnia they will eat it. But they also get a variety of frozen and live foods, so freeze-dried foods don't really seem that exciting for them.

An t-iasg, I did the same thing! Only I was using a peice of airline tubing to siphon my baby tank. I looked away for a second and when I looked back one of the babies was on the end of the tube and when I stoped the siphon he had this big hole in his side! I felt soooo sick. But luckly I treated it and it healed up fine. But now I never look away!

ashley

 

[An t-iasg]

Hi Ashley,
I'm glad to hear that the baby betta is ok now! What did you use on him? I put Benny in some BettaMax (the green water). There are only a few splits, about 1/8 inch long, in his tail, but my stomach was still churning over the whole thing! The splits didn't grow back together yet, but at least he didn't get white fuzzies around the injury. I hope in time they will grow back together.

The bettas are like little kids! I always catch myself saying to them, "Stop making faces at your brother!" Like they understand me, LOL!

 

[Chikadee]

What makes baby brine shrimp more nutricious than adult brine shrimp??

 

[bettacove]

I just used clean water, indan almond leaves, and added more salt. I don't like using meds unless its really serious. Ya i've noticed that it takes a while for splits to grow back.
Sometimes I think they do understand! Like when I say "you spit that out one more time and your gonna be lunch for Simon!"(simon is my oscar) then they usualy eat lol

bbs has a yoke sac (or whatever you call it) that has all the good stuff in it. It gets used up as they grow.

ashley

 

[Christmasfish]

food

The 2 petsmart bettas are only coming around to eating good stuff.
The plaaghat females on the other hand.....
I don't even have any snails left in their tanks. They polished the ghost shrimp off long ago. I am afraid to put the botias in any tank space they share! poor little guys, the one is the same size as a ghost shrimp!

The one ghostie was the same size as Aan-tay fish. She gobbled him down in 3 bites. When snails do that floaty thing they catch her evil eye and she follows then down to the bottom. She'll wait til they pop put and snag!
Dutch ate his ghost shrimp too. It is hard to think of suitable tank cleaners now