Low tech fish feeding

[ufimych]

There are many kinds of fish food on the market. Some are natural, but still expensive. I am always experimenting with foods I can find at home and aroung on the yard. My fish is easy: tiger barbs, tetras and Kribensis. I feed earth worms I pick right on the dirt or pavement after a good rain. I select small ones or cut them into convenient peices prior to feeding. Some aphids fouund on shrubs or flowers are picked very well; ants pupae are excellent, but they are hard to separate from the debris. I also use shrim we buy in the gorcery to eat. Take its muscle, cut it with a razor and feed the fish. The same works with raw salmon and some other fish. However, do not overfeed to avoid spoiling the water. Of course, I always have grindal worms culture. Last summer, my grindals culture was infested by small flies I could not get rid off until cold weather came. The flies laid eggs and smal lmaggots were teaming mixed with my grindals. I fed those larvae to the fish as well. This helps to spend less for commercially available foods and it adds fun to watch the fish going after food you toss in the tank. Of course, live daphnia, cyclops, etc. is a superb food, if you can find a place to colelct them.

[roadmaster]

Just be careful not to collect worm's,insect's from areas where pesticides or other chemical's may have been used.(Garden's,lawn's etc)

[alohamonte]

You can order scuds, daphina, planera, snails, shrimps, aquatic worms, cyclops, etc from various places to seed tanks with prior to adding fish. with plants, moss, leaves, deep substract, and other hiding places you could keep a population going in the tank. if you picked omnivous fish you could theoredically never add commerical foods to the tank.

[ufimych]

We have excellent pond, about 50X50 feet and about 5 feet deep in the middle. I had plenty of crustacea in it every spring. Now, I lost this opportunity, because I released goldfish in it. I also fished it with a few dozens of catfish fingerlings. These devaur all plancton. No pesticides on my land and beyond. We are on the mountain slope. Today, I treated my stock fish with chicken spleen. I cut it with a razor and held with forceps submerged in water. The fish nipped it, like piranhas....

[SpecGrrl]

Your place sounds awesome!

Is Buchanan down near Tazewell?

[ufimych]

Buchanan is near I-81, equidistant between Roanoke in the south and Lexington in the north. We do not have good lakes hewre, only creeks and streams running to the James River. May be I should buy a big container to breed little crustacea for fish.

[SpecGrrl]

Oh my cousins are at VTech! I've driven past your exit!

I grew up in Harrisonburg.

I read somewhere that a guy in Texas is growing stuff in a kiddie pool!

[erik000]

Anytime I swat a fruit fly, I try to leave it in good "edible" condition for the bettas and tetras. It's like the chain of life...sort of. Now I'm thinking of buying a flightless fruit fly culture from the pet shop! The fish would love em!

[Wannaberooted]

I used to hand catch house flies to throw into a tank I once had, that had some Giant Danios in it. The fly was gone in the blink of an eye.

[WallaceGrover]

I'm thinking of setting up a container outside just to collect mosquito larvae...

[MameJenny]

Any time I find a small cricket or ant in the house, it goes straight to my betta. She loves insects. I've also seen her swallow gnats and little flies whole any time they land in her tank. Good excuse not to have a lid!

[ufimych]

You can obtain flightless Drosophila culture from a genetics lab in the nearby college for free. I sometimes use Lucilia fly eggs. I put a piece of meat outside in a shady place and wait for a few hours or a day. These eggs can be collected with a brush in a plastic or glass tube. I add some water, shake it up vigorously and pour some in the tank with young fish. The result is feeding frenzy. Adult tiger barbs and tetras like it as well. Fly eggs can be easily stored in a freezer.