# Your preferred fish foods?



## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

I think we all have our favorites, and it's probably partly our preference more than the fish.  

What do you find your fish like the most and the least? What do they do best on?
Do you feed special foods for breeding?

If you use a combo of different types of food, what is your schedule and what types do you combine?


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## wiste (Feb 10, 2006)

Combo - frozen blood worms, freeze dried tubifex, flake food, zucchini and whiteworms.


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## Krisybabe9 (Mar 21, 2006)

I feed a combo of foods but my tetras really seem to love cultured daphnia, sterilized and vacuum packed in water....sold in a jar labelled zooplankton. They love to chase the little bits around the tank until they've gotten every last one. They really like blood worms too.

I haven't found anything that my corys are really crazy for....anyone have a suggestion?


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

Combination of Tetramin flakes and frozen bloodworms for my tetras, endlers, and rams.

My tetras eat everything and everything one sticks in the water..they even try to nip at my hand as I fiddle with the tank. The rams clearly like the bloodworms better, and drive right towards a sinking worm verse a flake.

-John N.


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## jbot (Feb 3, 2006)

flake (nutrafin), pelleted (wardley's shrimp, hbh super soft), algae wafers (wardley's), and frozen (bloodworms and brine shrimp).... i try to keep it varied....


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## upikabu (Sep 2, 2005)

Flakes or small pellets for above-bottom dwellers and sinking wafers or shrimp pellets for bottom dwellers during weekdays. Frozen foods (bloodworms, daphnia, brine shrimp) on weekends (just cause I have more time to feed them on weekends ).



> I haven't found anything that my corys are really crazy for....anyone have a suggestion?


My corys really go crazy for frozen bloodworms, but they love hikari algae wafers too.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Flakes, frozen brien shrimp, spirullina pellets.


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## raven_wilde (Nov 16, 2005)

It depends on the fish and the tank really.

30 gal of tetras, ottos, rams, and the Angel:
Hikari Sinking Wafers (rams are nuts for these)
Hikari Cichlid Gold- baby size
Hikari Micro Pellets
Freeze Dried Brine Shrimp
Frozen Bloodworms every now & again

70 gal (bichirs, jack dempsey, tiger barbs)
Hikari Sinking (stinking) Carnivore Pellets
Mix of Hikari Micro Pellets & Hikari Cichlid Gold- baby size (for tigers)
HBH Super Soft Pellets
Freeze Dried Krill
Frozen Krill, Bloodworms, Silversides about once a week
Live Rosy Reds for the bichirs occasionally, as well as live mealworms as a treat, which my male bichir will actually swim up and take from my hand!

Shrimp in other tanks get Hikari Sinking Wafers, & HBH Crab & Lobster Pellets, as a treat now and then they will get a Carnivore Pellet- which they absolutly swarm around, a great show.

On the whole my fish seem to prefer pellet foods to flake food... and above all they love frozen foods... I prefer Hikari brand foods, excellent quality and results, the Japanese know their fish food!


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## Leopardess (Mar 14, 2004)

I think variety is important. I tend to avoid freeze-dried foods now. One reason is that better nutrition can be had by frozen foods, and second is that I keep African Dwarf frogs - who can bloat up/die if they ingest too many freeze-dried treats.

So, my favorite foods are:
Frozen beefheart
Frozen bloodworms
Frozen baby krill
Frozen baby brine shrimp

Flake food
Pellety-type flakes
Betta bites - all my fish like these.

Wardley's Algae Wafers
Wardley's Sinking Shrimp Pellets

Some leafy vegetables (spinach, etc) when I have extras.

But, you want to see your fish go nuts (and don't mind a temporary water column mess)? Feed your fish some pieces of hardboiled egg yolk. It's crazy. They love it (congoe tetras, various rainbowfish, tetras, rasboras, Angelfish and gouramis, mainly) and egg is basically the most perfect protein.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

I like feeding a variety of foods. I use flake foods mainly and feed frozen foods 3 times per week. On occasions I will feed live brine or blackworms. 

As for the puffers they will only eat frozen bloodworms and live food.


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## mrbelvedere138 (Jan 18, 2006)

I usually buy a frozen food combo pack. A mix of frozen veggies, tubiex, beefheart, and mosquito larvae if I remember correctly. I think it's made by San Francisco Bay Brand. Sometimes I drop in an algae wafer for the shrimp and cories, but not often. TOD (Terror of the Deep) my blue crayfish (he is such a pain) eats whatever I throw in there. Usually that's dead shrimp, or dead/dying fish, sometimes culled guppies.


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## apistaeasy (Jul 16, 2004)

there are some fish that really enjoy snails, so I have a tank that I try to cultivate snail growth. When I feel like giving the fish a treat, I scoop some snails out and feed them snails! escargo anyone?


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## Jubs (Mar 24, 2006)

Well this time around I am mainly feeding New Life Spectrum, but I use to only feed live and frozen foods till about 2 years ago when I finally broke down and tried N.L.S. and I loved the results! Now I am feeding a mix of different types from freeze dried to pellets. I haven't been feeding any flake at all but we'll see what I do when I start getting more tanks set up again as I only have one tank and I m more focused on plants than fish right now. I know I am giving my fish top quality foods and I am not setting up for breeding right now so the frozen and live isn't a necessity right now, I don't think they would be using N.L.S. anyways this stuff is awesome! I like the Boyd's pellets too but I haven't picked up anymore since I set up again. I only fed Hikari frozen foods too as I am way too picky about what goes into my fish. 

I use to mix my own dry mix to add with the frozen and it learned some tips for getting optimal growth and color from Rosario LaCorte and it did wonders for my fish.


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## standoyo (Aug 25, 2005)

bits, tabs, bloodworms and the occasional vitamin soaked bits/bloodworm.

variety is good. esp for the bigger fish, or the will go hunting after my shrimps...


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## Lord Nibbler (Dec 22, 2005)

Normally I give mine flakes in the morning, and then an algae meal tab with half a cube of frozen bloodworms in the evening.

Sometimes I buy live tubifex worms or brine shrimp. The tube worms are nice because the cories will eat them, but I occasionally have problems with ich getting in with them. My rainbows love brine shrimp, but they already eat most of the bloodworms (and the cories won't eat brine shrimp).


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## banderbe (Nov 17, 2005)

I make my own fish food similar to the "European Shrimp Mix"

Whole frozen shrimp, frozen peas, vegetable gelatin, kent freshwater vitamin, and spirunlia blended into pure liquid, allowed to gel, cut up into small chunks and frozen. 

1 pound lasts about a year.


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## frugalfish (Apr 20, 2005)

I've always had a various stock of flakes, pellets, frozen, and live around to feed. Heck I don't think there is much I haven't fed to my fish over the years. However, I never liked freeze dried foods and haven't had any in my house for 20 years. Here are my favorites...

frozen: bloodworms and daphnia.
flake: spirulina and brine shrimp
pellet: any of the many good community style out there
live: blackworms, grindal worms, and white worms
wafer: any good spirulina type

I prefer to feed frozen and prepared foods, but I have many species that will only eat live so I'm always culturing something.


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## Shaggathai (Apr 18, 2006)

For dry foods I feed Omega One flakes, and every couple of days toss in a few shrimp pellets and sinking wafers for the corys and pleco. A few times a week I give frozen bloodworms (hikari), or spirulina enhanced brine shrimp. My endlers and livebearer fry get frozen daphina or Golden Pearls for their feast days. 

I pick up a bag of live brine shrimp once a month or so when I think about it. Back before I took a long break from fish, I used to feed my discus live blackworms, but won't be doing that again as I found it incredibley difficult to feed worms and maintain a ~10 foot saftey perimeter away from them at the same time, and I'm not as young and nimble as I used to be.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Shaggathai said:


> I used to feed my discus live blackworms, but won't be doing that again as I found it incredibley difficult to feed worms and maintain a ~10 foot saftey perimeter away from them at the same time, and I'm not as young and nimble as I used to be.


Probably a stupid question, but why did you have to have the 10' safety parameter away from them? The feeding frenzy??

My fish love them too, but they are a PITA to rinse and keep in the fridge, plus I worry about that being the "thing" that might drive the hubby over the patience level...:-\"


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## jeff63851 (Feb 23, 2005)

So...for my corydoras, I feed them some frozen bloodworms, and a combination of Tetramin flakes and shrimp pellets.


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## Chris S (Feb 27, 2006)

All of the above. I can no longer use frozen bloodworms because i get an allergic reaction from any exposure to them. They are great if the fish can handle the protein.
I think everyone should have at least a few different types of prepared food in stock for their fishes.


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## Shaggathai (Apr 18, 2006)

JanS said:


> Probably a stupid question, but why did you have to have the 10' safety parameter away from them? The feeding frenzy??"


I loved watching the feeding frenzy, and miss that part, but I'm a weenie of an aquariast who's phobic of creepy crawly things. As excited as they got about the live worms, I never could convince myself that the fish would jump out of the water to save me if the unthinkable happened and a worm crawled out of the net, or they turned out to be rabid attack worms or something.


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## jhj (Feb 18, 2006)

I alternate between the following:

1. Frozen bloodworms and spirulina enriched brine shrimp

2. complete flake food

3. Color enhancing flake food.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Shaggathai said:


> I loved watching the feeding frenzy, and miss that part, but I'm a weenie of an aquariast who's phobic of creepy crawly things. As excited as they got about the live worms, I never could convince myself that the fish would jump out of the water to save me if the unthinkable happened and a worm crawled out of the net, or they turned out to be rabid attack worms or something.


LOL! Having a terrible fear of snakes, I completely understand where you're coming from.


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## Jane in Upton (Aug 10, 2005)

I use various foods. 

My local aquarium club did a group buy of frozen foods, so I'm well stocked in those (and it made it much more affordable, too). Among frozen foods the Endler's go nuts for frozen daphnia, where the Angels (diff tank) like bloodworms. I've tried one of those assortment packs. There was very limited interest in the "emerald buffet" or whatever they called the spirulina/veggie mix. I was surprised by that. Bloodworms (lightly, as that much protein can cause fish constipation), Daphnia and Brine Shrimp seem to be the favorites. I probably won't buy frozen tubifex again - it was only pecked at, and then totally ignored if I added something else. 

Flake I vary between Aquarian, Formula One, Omega One and OSI Spirulina flakes.

For pelleted I like Ken's "Bits with Garlic", or, I should say the FISH like them. If you're looking for something to entice cories, my pygmy cories really like this stuff! I also use a very small pellet from Hikari (can't remember the name, as I put it in tub container than that little bag). 

About the "Golden Pearls" - the fish like this, but as it has a tiny encapsulated bubble (to keep it drifting mid-water to mimic brine shrimp naupilii) would that cause any digestive trouble to the fish? This didn't occur to me until after I bought the stuff. 

I also got this natural freeze-dried daphnia from Ken's as well. It looks like a sparkly flake - appararently they sun-dry them into sheets, then break it up. Everyone seems to really like that, but I treat it like "popcorn", as I've heard mixed reviews of freeze-dried nutritive value.

That liquid "Zooplankton" is great stuff as well! I've used that before. 

I also have some Hikari Crab Cuisine that I give only to the FW shrimp. They also get some of the flakes and a tad of the frozen daphnia.


OK, here's the WEIRD one - when I make myself salmon salad (like tunafish salad) I give some of the canned salmon to my fish. A little goes a long way. They LOVE it! I also put a few of the nice soft vertebrae into the tanks with Brigs snails. They swarm the vertebrae, and its a great source of calcium for them. Any extras I toss in the freezer and dole out over the next week or so. It works out particularly well since I'm not fond of eating the vertebrae myself.

I'll have to try the egg yolk thing, sounds interesting.

-Jane


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## Burks (May 25, 2006)

Currently I'm using Wardley Essentials Troipcal flakes. Occasionally I'll toss some different frozen foods in, especially after I clean the tank or move the plants around. The fish deserve a treat after having my grubby hands in THEIR water. 

I'll have to try the canned tuna once. Sounds like the fish may really like it and like you said, a little goes a long ways.


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