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Experienced fish keepers: What are you feeding your fish?

I too use coco coir , I also stick a small piece of charcoal thinking it will prevent mold.

I feed small cat food pellets and on top of the food I have a small piece of clear plastic taken from a cd case. The worms collect on the plastic so I can easily collect them with a toothpick or sth similar.
 
Hi all,

I think that a lot of people have always <"fed live food">, it just hasn't always had a very high profile.

Live worms (Earth, Grindal, White, Black) are great food to condition Corydoras catfish etc. for breeding. Mosquito larvae do the same for a lot of more surface orientated fish and a small live foods (BBS, Vinegar Eels, Microworms) are essential for fry rearing.

Just for general maintenance you can definitely use dry food. I've tried <"Fluval Bugbites"> recently and they look pretty good. At the moment the fish get a mix of grindal worms, some Daphnia, micro worms, decapsulated Brine Shrimp and "Bugbites". If you look at the breeding logs on Planetcatfish, a lot of people are breeding "difficult" fish just feeding "Repashy" and frozen foods.

Bugbites and <"Repashy foods"> are both based on Black Soldierfly (Hermetia illucens) larvae.

Traditionally I've bought my dry food from <"Tim Addis">, and I'll swap out the Bugbites for some of his soon and then alternate them along with the live food.

cheers Darrel

Any particular foods from the TA Aquaculture ranges you can recommend Darrel? I've been looking at these Artemia soft pellets which look good: http://taaquaculture.uk/Soft_Pellet.htm
 
Hi all,

Next time I buy some food I'm going to try that.

Traditionally I bought the <"Astax red crumb">, <"Freeze Dried Arctic Copepod"> and <"Cool Earthworm" and "Spirulina" flakes">.

Last time I got the <"TA Blend No. 1">.

cheers Darrel

Thanks Darrel - I'm going to order some of those soft pellets now. In between feeding BBS and grindal worms I feed a mixture of dried foods, all ground up small (as I just have tiny fish), but I still find the fish sometimes seem to struggle eating them as they are still hard. I'm hoping these pellets will be easier for them to eat - and hopefully more nutritious.

I did buy some decapsulated brine shrimp eggs a while back (you added a link to another thread if I remember). I've tried those a couple of times, but they are vary hard/gritty - for some reasons I expected them to be soft with the shell removed - is that normal?
 
I have TA Blend No. 2, Astax Granule (grade 5) and High Protein Granule (grade 2). The TA blend No.2 is about 1-2mm, the Astax Granule is about the same size as tea (in a teabag) and the protein granule is dust. The protein granule was smaller than I expected so I mix all three together along with some Aquacare tropical micro granules in a pot. Then I take pinch of the mixed food, quickly dip it in the tank and then lift back out, roll it between my fingers and divide into required size pellets.
 
Hi all,
but I still find the fish sometimes seem to struggle eating them as they are still hard.
I buy all the flake, and pellet foods, in "standard size", but then I use a <"pestle and mortar"> (~£15) to grind it to the size I want. I also use the pestle and mortar to reduce the rolled oats that I feed to the Grindal worms to "Ready Brek" size.
decapsulated brine shrimp eggs......I've tried those a couple of times, but they are vary hard/gritty
They are quite hard, I usually mix them in some water in a beaker before I feed them. I add the water, give them a swirl, wait five minutes, give them another swirl and then tip them in the tank.

Usually I feed Grindal, Micro-worms and any ground food all soaked in water, it allows you to spread around the tank, and my fish never show a huge amount of enthusiasm for dried food, so it makes them more likely to have a go at it if its in with a live food item.

cheers Darrel
 
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I had no knowledge of the TA fish foods, just browsed their website and I am a little confused from all the options.

I mainly keep hillstream loaches which naturally feed on benthic algae that contains aufwuchs. I also keep pygmy corydoras.

If I were to buy two types of food what should I get? Also flake of granule?

Thanks in advance
 
Hi all,
I mainly keep hillstream loaches which naturally feed on benthic algae that contains aufwuchs
I had no knowledge of the TA fish foods, just browsed their website and I am a little confused from all the options.
I might try the <"Spirulina granule">, partially because, even with the filter turned off, the flake is going to take a while to sink to the bottom.

This is the <"Loaches online">page for <"Sewellia lineolata">. I'd try "Bugbites" as well, mainly because Repashy foods seem to get a lot of mentions and that is also Black Soldierfly based. They may graze on a vegetable? Red (Capsicum) Pepper might be worth trying.
I also keep pygmy corydoras.
Mine have never shown much enthusiasm for any non-live food, but they've eaten both the <"decapsulated brine shrimp"> and "Bugbites". My guess is that they must eat the Astax crumb (and No 1 blend,) purely because I've owned them and/or Corydoras hastatus for a long time, and they must be have been eating something.

Both dwarf Corydoras spp. like really small food items. Micro/Banana worms (and rotifers) are their absolute favorites and I think they are pretty strict micro-predators in nature.

cheers Darrel
 
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anyone thought of using xtreme aquatic food?
I use the Xtreme Nano Pellets in my rotation. It's small enough to fit in my pygmy corys' mouths, which is a huge help. But I don't keep any picky eaters among my fish. If you scatter it on the surface it floats for a decent time, if you submerge it it sinks straight down, so it's easier for me to target-feed using it.
 
Tetra Discus granules even though I have no discus but mainly angels, congo tetras, gourami's - all sorts really
 
Mine have always ended up with /www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/grindal-worm.18699/#post-361336']cereal mites[/URL]">, and I still have the occasional /www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/live-food-cultures.49975/#post-490728']culture crash[/URL]">, but I've got better at recognizing the warning signs.

cheers Darrel

I've just noticed mine have small white bugs crawling around in 3 of them, I'm guessing cereal mites.
 
Hi all,
I'm guessing cereal mites.
They are <"very round, and not very active">. You can see them below on the dark plastic.

911c59e3d9b8592eca65a8921af5bae9-jpg.jpg


They also smell, a sweet, minty smell, with slightly unpleasant undertones.

cheers Darrel
 
Hi all,

They are /www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/live-food-cultures.49975/page-2#post-499562']very round, and not very active[/URL]">.

They also smell, a sweet, minty smell, with slightly unpleasant undertones.

cheers Darrel
Ah these are running around rather fast to my eyes. Very small. They've made one culture overly wet though.
 
They get a bit of variety - tetra prima, tropical wild discus granules, sera o nip, soft Artemis pellet, sera immunopro, bug bites and their favourite freeze dried black worms. That stuff is fish crack, they turn into piranhas when it’s added to the tank. Expensive stuff but definitely worth the money.

cheers

Conor
 
They get a bit of variety - tetra prima, tropical wild discus granules, sera o nip, soft Artemis pellet, sera immunopro, bug bites and their favourite freeze dried black worms. That stuff is fish crack, they turn into piranhas when it’s added to the tank. Expensive stuff but definitely worth the money.

cheers

Conor

Are the soft Artemis pellets the ones from TA Aquaculture? If so, how have you found them?

I’ve just ordered some, along with the freeze dried ‘crack’ black worms, so good to hear they are well like - if they are as popular as the BBS that’ll be a winner too!
 
Are the soft Artemis pellets the ones from TA Aquaculture? If so, how have you found them?

I’ve just ordered some, along with the freeze dried ‘crack’ black worms, so good to hear they are well like - if they are as popular as the BBS that’ll be a winner too!
I didn’t get them from TA but they are German so may be the same thing. They’re very good, well accepted by all fish including Poecilocharax Weitzmani which can be very fussy.

As for the black worms I haven’t found a fish that doesn’t love them, they suck them up like spaghetti.

cheers

Conor
 
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