Fresh/Frozen Foods

[Saltair]

I just fed my fish frozen Brine shrimp for the first time. Let a small chunk thaw in some tank water and dumped it in. They went crazy! It was like dropping a keg and a stack of pizzas off in a dorm room. How often do folks supplement with fresh foods? There is a place nearby that sells live Brine maybe I should try that. Will the Cory's clean up the shrimp that made it to the bottom?

 

[HN1]

Happy fish!

Once or twice a week is usually good with live/fresh/frozen.

Live brine will be fun for you and the fish, but overall not very nutricious. Live blackworms, gammarus shrimp, etc. are actually better for the fish.

The cories will clean up whatever they come accross. They love meaty foods!

 

[Vircomore]

It's also a good idea when feeding frozen foods to either strain them through fine mesh, or use a paper towel to suck up the water yoy thawed it in before adding more tank water and feeding. That way you get all the preservatives, phosphates and nitrates off before dumping it in.

 

[JohnPaul]

If you think your fish went nuts for the frozen brine shrimp, wait til you see them go after the live ones. However like HN1 said, brine shrimp are not the most nutritious things in the world (whether frozen or live) so once or twice a week is plenty. Live or frozen worms (bloodworms, blackworms, glassworms, etc.) tend to have more nutritional value.

As for how often to feed frozen/live foods in general, it partially depends upon the fish. Fish that are primarily carnivores (bettas, most species of killifish, etc.) could be fed such foods almost everyday. But most of the common tropical fish in the hobby are omnivores and should be fed a diet that is (very roughly speaking at least) about 50-50 meat-based and plant-based. When I had a general community aquarium I would rotate foods on a 4 day cycle. 2 of those 4 days they would get a generic tropical fish flake, 1 day they would get a 100% veggie flake (basically pressed spirulina algae flake), and 1 day they would get either a meat flake (usually pressed brine shrimp flake) or else live/frozen worm of some sort. And then if I happened to be in the neighborhood of the one LFS that sold live brine shrimp, they would get that as an extra treat on top of whatever the main food of choice was that day.

 

[bolivianbaby]

A spoiled fish is a happy fish

I generally do frozen foods three times a week. My mixture is bloodworms, freeze-dried blackworms, krill, mysis, BBS, and daphnia. I toss in some crushed spiriluna flake to make sure they still get their veggies.

 

[Cichchick79]

I give my fish blood worms about once every other day. All their colors are beautiful and they are happy fishies. I feed New life spectrum Thera-A and New Life Spectrum Algea wafers for their regular food.

 

[reefdiver]

i do it once a week and usually the day before the water change. i trie ddaphnia and that is a reall mess.