Feeding frozen food

rsn48

I have a tank of Glow Light Tetras and they definitely prefer to eat mid-tank. When I put in frozen food such as blood worms, it floats initially at the top and some of the worms come off, which the fish notice and eat voraciously. But then the mass just falls and the fish don't seem to have a clue, but some eventually figure it out and eat from the bottom.

Do any of you have a routine of feeding frozen food with a method of slowing down the "plummet to the bottom?"

iamntbatman

You could try putting the worms in one of those worm cones. The fish may learn to eat from that. They don't go around picking up worms off the substrate? My fish have always been so enthusiastic about eating bloodworms that they hunt for them for hours after a feeding.

rsn48

My fish also go nuts for the frozen blood worms, unfortunately my understanding is they aren't a complete diet. I just picked up at Petsmart a four pack made by "San Francisco Bay Brand" which has:

1) "freshwater frenzy (basically a massive blend of blood worms, brime shrimp, cyclops, daphnia, watercress, spirulina, algae, etc),

2) Spirulina added to brine shrimp

3) "Emerald Entree" which is another blended pack of goodies

4) Bloodworms

I like this pack as at least I'm rotating through a variety of frozen goodies, and even the goodies are mixed with a host of healthy food items. I do know there are some "cups" that float for feeding worms, but they are for live worms which will wickle through the holes.

iamntbatman

I've used worm cones for frozen worms, too. The fish figure out that if the push the cone around, they can expose some worms through the holes and eat them.

Byron

I have always thawed bloodworms, as I have doubts about frozen food going into the tank; no scientific evidence, just doesn't sound good to me; after all none of these fish will encounter frozen blocks of food in nature.

I put the bloodworm cube in a small saucedish of water and it thaws in a couple minutes. Then you can pour some in using a spoon or pour directly if you want all of it in at once, or I use a pipette made from a piece of hard tube with a length of soft airline tubing attached. I can easily squirt the bloodworms where I want them, which is useful (mandatory) for me because I have some fish that would not otherwise get them.

Bottom fish like corys would solve the issue of bloodworms on the substrate; they never last in my aquaria.

And I agree with whomever said bloodworms are not sufficient as sole diet, just a treat 2 or 3 times a week.

Another frozen food ideal with characins is daphnia; some species go after this more than others, but in my experience the "tetra" clan relish daphnia, my tetras gobble them up.

Byron.

rsn48

I'll go to the dollar store and see if there is such a thing as a small "turkey" baster and use it. For a $1.25 I bought a "special" cutting board for the blood worms, etc so as to not disgust my wife. And I found an old fish gutting knife I use to cut the frozen food - my wife doesn't like the idea of worms on her cutting board - go figure....lol!

aunt kymmie

I also use a turkey baster so I can direct them where I want. My catfish never comes out of his cave during the day so if I didn't squirt any worms in there the poor guy would never get any.

iamntbatman

I use an eyedropper. They come in packs of two for $1 or something at Walgreen's. I thaw my frozen foods in shotglasses.

Byron

rsn48, why are you cutting bloodworms (presumably the frozen)? Glowlights will easily manage them thawed. They have an excellent set of choppers (teeth).

rsn48

Byron, the small little packs the blood worms come in are too large to be fed at once. Even a third of one of those small cubes is too much. I cut off enough (sometimes too much) to feed for one sitting. One of those small cubes will go about four feedings for fourteen Glow Lights.

I don't have large tanks like you do (well, I do have a 75 gallon not yet set up) so I suspect you will use most if not all of the cube.