Live food woes

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JenNewbie

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Dec 12, 2003
Messages
211
Location
Davis CA
8O So I got my pair of replacement dwarf puffers and I decided to start out with live food. I got 1/2 oz of bloodworms and ....ew!!! I don't particularly consider myself squeamish, but this is disGUSTing! I've forcefed pinky mice to ailing snakes, I was a vet tech for 11 yrs and saw more disgusting things than this, but I don't know if I can do the live food thing. The stupid worms got out of their container on the ride home and there were a few inside the plastic bag when I unpacked everyone. Please tell me I can handle this...! Am I the only one who's had to get over feeding live food? And the stupid worms were stretching up toward the air holes in their tub when I put them in the fridge. How am I going to break this to my roommate? "Whatever you do, don't open the paper bag in the fridge door!!" Will they be ok in the fridge? It gets very warm in the house sometimes, and the lfs lady said not to let them get warm or they'd disintegrate.

I don't think I'm going to eat for a week.... :roll:
 
LOL JenNewbie!!!

Live food is a wonderful thing but sometimes it isn't for the squeamish! If it helps any...bloodworms aren't really worms....they're insect larvae. You might want to consider going with the frozen stuff if squirmy 'worms' are giving you a difficult time!! :D
 
These guys are gross... but I've gotten used to them quite quickly.

Keeping them in the fridge is very important. It slows their metabolism and lets them survive for longer.

Speaking of which: I've gotta go feed my puffers black worms. Toodaloo.
 
Give them a rinse, too, each time before feeding.

I got over the squeamishness when I saw how much my fish enjoy them - they never get that excited over flake! :D
 
I actually like the live foods... :D

That is what I did to keep my worms in the fridge, but out of sight: hide them in the bottom drawer, where the veggies go. My fridge has that plit into 2, so veggies go into one and goey live worms go into the other...
Also, to keep your worms from crawling out, I made a worm keeper (because I am just too cheap to buy them!):

1. cut the bottom part of one of those square gallon water bottle so that it is like a tray
2. Get an old pantyhose and "dress it" on the cut out (that is, the pantyhose "hugs" the whole setup)
3. Tie the open ends with a rubber band.

That way, when you need to rinse them, you can just flip or tilt the container, the water will come out through the pantyhose, the worms won't. And it is just as easy to add the water back in.
To get the worms out, I open the ruberband end, and use a tinny net I have (it is really made for catching brine shrimp) and scoop out some of the worms with it... Works really well, for a gooyey-free meal.

Everytime my fish sees the white net they go nuts trying to swimm inside it!
:mrgreen:
 
That sounds like a great system. Unfortunately, all I have available are knee-highs... :oops: I try not to wear pantyhose unless royalty is visiting or something... :wink: So, next trip to the store or something, I'll pick up the making's for my own bloodworm tray. And how many people get to say that...? :D
 
This cracks me up, but that's a great idea, Bioworld! You could also use rounded tweezers to grab the worms- unless it reminds you too much of lo mein and chopsticks!! LOL! :) have fun!
 
mmmm. lo mein :). and fruitbat u changed ur avatar :). cool. okay

okay again... think of it this way. hmm. i forgot what but certain live foods dont grow up to be those annoying flying pests. i know live daphnia wont do anything but it takes awhile for them to grow. i think bloodworms are better than live mosquito larvae :). and mosquito larvae stay at the top and float around. but i think bloodworms sink.
 
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