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Live foods that will survive with my fish?


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#1 tjvkooten

tjvkooten
  • NANFA Guest
  • Putten, Netherlands Europe

Posted 06 June 2016 - 11:12 AM

are there any live foods that reproduce too fast, grow too big or hide too well so that my rainbow shines can't eat all of them. (or at least live foods that last a long time)

 

i was thinking to add blackworms  and hope they'll hide in the substrate, keeping both the substrate loose and serving as a snack.

asellus aquaticus, are already in my tank (added these 1-2 weeks before the fish)

if i manage to find them somewhere i'll add scuds as well.

 

 

any others?

preferably species that will live off of algea, dead plant matter, fish waste. (as that saves me a little work with cleaning)


Kind regards,

Thijmen


#2 gerald

gerald
  • Global Moderator
  • Wake Forest, North Carolina

Posted 06 June 2016 - 05:27 PM

Not really, unless you're planning to keep very few fish in a VERY large tank.  You can add enough blackworms or aphipods to last a few weeks maybe, but they will probably not become a self-sustaining population, and you'll need to replenish eventually.  Cyclops and Naidid detritus worms are usually the only small edible critters (besides snails) that I have seen persisting long-term in tanks with fish. 


Gerald Pottern
-----------------------
Hangin' on the Neuse
"Taxonomy is the diaper used to organize the mess of evolution into discrete packages" - M.Sandel


#3 Doug_Dame

Doug_Dame
  • NANFA Member

Posted 07 June 2016 - 01:45 AM

With some ingenuity and planning, you might be able to set up a refugium that allows a small fraction of the live food to escape into the main tank sporadically, while not allowing your fish to get into the refugium. Daphnia or scuds would seem to be the obvious choices, but small shrimp also might be candidates. 

 

However, offhand I don't know of any "success stories" to point you to on this idea. 


Doug Dame

Floridian now back in Florida
 


#4 tjvkooten

tjvkooten
  • NANFA Guest
  • Putten, Netherlands Europe

Posted 07 June 2016 - 05:25 AM

seems like i have a challenge ahead of me. i feed daphnia daily, but they seem to get sucked into my pump.  i supopose i'll add scuds as soon as i find them, and the blackworms will simply be food.


Kind regards,

Thijmen


#5 gerald

gerald
  • Global Moderator
  • Wake Forest, North Carolina

Posted 07 June 2016 - 11:43 AM

Erica had a semi-permanent "pasture" of blackworms in her 55-gallon Elassoma tank, where the fish could nip off the exposed posterior ends without killing the worms, but Elassoma are not gluttonous feeders the way shiners are.


Gerald Pottern
-----------------------
Hangin' on the Neuse
"Taxonomy is the diaper used to organize the mess of evolution into discrete packages" - M.Sandel


#6 Matt DeLaVega

Matt DeLaVega
  • Forum Staff
  • Ohio

Posted 07 June 2016 - 06:44 PM

Red Cherry shrimp.


The member formerly known as Skipjack





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