7 replies to this topic

[Robert Lamb]

So I finally got my rainbow darters two days ago. I have them eating sinking flake food but it is not exactly the highest quality fish food. What would ya'll recommend I use? I've heard earthworm flakes work but just thought it couldn't hurt to ask (I'm not going to be skipping on the frozen food btw, just not going to be using it for their regular feeding). 

[Matt DeLaVega]

I feed frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp and mysis daily to darters. Sometimes all 3, sometimes just one. Flake foods, not so much.

[Chasmodes]

Mine are spoiled.  They get live blackworms every day.  They won't eat flakes though.  They taste them but spit them out.  I feed flakes to the tank prior to feeding the blackworms to try and fill up the minnows, shiners and dace first, so the darters have a better chance at getting full.  It sorta works.  They're pigs.  I've heard about the earthworm flakes and may try them if I can find them locally.  I tried frozen brine shrimp a few times, and the darters ate it.  I will probably feed blackworms as much as possible, because so many people on some of the SW forums swear that they are the best food that you can feed them to keep their immunity as strong as possible.  Whether or not that's true is probably up for debate, as I'm sure that any evidence of that is anecdotal.  Some claim that they're like a fish aphrodisiac.  If that works, maybe I should eat them too.   Still, they're cheap enough, easy to keep alive, and all of the fish eat them like they're candy.  I have yet to try frozen blackworms.  I have some, so that is my next test.

[JasonL]

I try to give my darters as much variety as possible.  Bloodworms and brine shrimp are the staple, but the bigger ones are able to take small worms or bugs I find in the yard.    YOY gambusia and grass shrimp are also popular with mine when I think to bring some home from a collecting trip.   Darters are highly predatory on a micro level and if a very small minnow gets close enough they will chase it down and eat it if it fits in their mouth.

 

I’ve had little to no luck with flake.  Never tried the earthworm flake though.  I have one darter out of the twenty or so I keep that will eat shrimp pellets regularly.  Otherwise the live/frozen foods seem to be more or less a requirement for their upkeep.

[Chasmodes]

I have yet to try frozen blackworms.

Sorry, I meant frozen bloodworms.

 

Darters are highly predatory on a micro level and if a very small minnow gets close enough they will chase it down and eat it if it fits in their mouth.

 

That's interesting!

[littlen]

Different suppliers package different size [mysis] shrimp.  Get the small ones, as seen below, by Hikari.  This was a staple part of my former stream tank diet.  Especially when it comes to BWs not being available all the time.  And more bang for your buck.  Tip: if you do get some, I recommend picking up one of those small, brine shrimp nets that are ~2" x 3" with a fine mesh.  The mysis are quite oily, and I'd give them a quick rinse.

[Michael Wolfe]

Darters are highly predatory on a micro level and if a very small minnow gets close enough they will chase it down and eat it if it fits in their mouth.

 

Strong agreement here... this also applied to ghost/grass shrimp (except they don't wait for them to pass by, they actively hunt and corner them in an aquarium) and even tiny crayfish (if they are as small as the above mentioned shrimp.

[PBK]

dont forget about pond snails that you can breed in a plastic shoe box and amphipods (hyallela) which can be collected fron vegetation in creeks or ponds. Check amphipods from ponds for an orange grub inside them before putting them in your fish tank which is a parasite.
Some amphipods will hide in the substrate and breed creating food for the darters.