# best live food for tropical freshwater fish?



## scottprice (Jun 12, 2011)

im finding a lot on brine shrimp, vinegar eels and grindal worms....out of these 3 which are the best?

i like the brine shrimp because when they are young i can feed them to my fry, and also feed adults to my adult fish....

are there other options besides these 3?


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

I would go for the Brine shrimp, (never heard of the others.)

I've also heard of people using blood worms and glass worms. (Some even use chopped earth worms. As long as they are from your own garden so you know they haven't been crawling in pesticides.) 

Some have used Tubifex and black worms, but I'm not sure if those two carry a risk of bringing disease into the tank.... for some reason I'm getting the idea that they can.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Vinegar eels are very tiny.These are great for newly swimming fry.They live in the water column instead of sinking as many fry foods do.BBS are great to feed when the fry get a few days old.They are still small but larger than the eels.grindals are still larger,pretty much glassworms,I think Holly.They are fed to juviniles for growth and adults for conditioning for breeding or show.

Tubifex,Ive never used.Blackworms either because I would get shot for how you have to care for them.They require refridgeration,and daily rinsing.If you dont rinse them daily,they die and that is how you kill your fish,the dead worms infect the few living and then that infects the fish.Not a good outcome.one of the best foods though if you do the work.


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## Auban (Aug 8, 2010)

brine shrimp are my favorite food for most fry, microworms and vinegar eels are good for tiny fry that cant eat BBS yet. decapsulated brine shrimp eggs are easier than regular, less messy and no shells to impact your fish, if eaten. blackworms can be kept alive in room temperature water if it is kept very clean and aerated heavily. i have kept breeding colonies going in spagnum moss with a sponge filter in a ten gallon before. i don't know what the best food for them is, and they don't ,multiply very fast, but as long as the water is clean and there is no chlorine(they are extremely sensitive to chlorine) they will live for quite a while. refrigeration slows their metabolism down, so they don't produce waste as fast but they still need to be rinsed. for adult fish, i have had the most success with chopped earthworms and live blackworms. i have also had a lot of success with beef heart, but only with tanks with temps of 80 degrees or more. any cooler and the tallow cant be digested because it stays in a solid form. i have also used crickets and roaches (blaptica dubia), i put them in water and blend them in a blender, then skim the chitinous parts off the top before feeding it to my fish. kinda gross, but i have some very happy fish.


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## Scuff (Aug 10, 2010)

Honestly, any live (properly cleaned and cared for) food is excellent for your fish. Just use common sense when applying this food; ie, don't try to give vinegar eels to an oscar. Brine shrimp have advantages in that they're easy to find, easy to clean, and easy to feed, and fish love them. The disadvantage is that when you buy them at a store, you basically feed them out when you get home. They're not terrible long-lived creatures to begin with, and trying to keep them alive at home is usually tenuous at best.

Blackworms are an excellent food, especially for picky eaters. The wriggly movements entice even the laziest of feeders to take a bite, but they are a pain in the butt to keep properly, as majerah said. Daily rinsing and constant refrigeration is a must, and feeding them is made much easier by utilizing a feeding cone to keep them from getting down into your gravel.

Grindle worms work well too, but they can be quite difficult to find at times as well.


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