Do you feed frozen foods?

by **Zambize4899** » Wed May 28, 2008 3:35 pm

I'm into quality foods for all my animals so I'm equally concerned with feeding my fish good stuff. I like some of the frozen foods, but I find them to be messy. Flakes and such are easy because they sink slowly, and I feed a minimal amount (very minimal). Not a lot of wasted food. And since I feed minimally, my top feeders are more than happy to dive for the occasional fallen piece.

But the frozen foods seem very messy. Most of it is sort of a liquid with a few real meaty pieces that the fish go for. Frozen stuff also seems to sink faster. I wind up getting this thick-ish, pasty (compared to clear water) liquid with a few lumps the fish like disseminating throughout my tank. Maybe it isn't truly "messy" and I'm spoiled by the relative cleanliness of dry foods?

Zambize

by **Sumthing_Fishy** » Wed May 28, 2008 6:09 pm

I feed mine frozen blood worms. I chunk a cube in there still frozen and by the time the platies and guppies nibble on the floating cube, some blood worms drift to the center of the tank for the rest of the fish. I have tried the frozen shrimp brine and beef hearts that are frozen in a flat sheet that you break off. It seems to sink to the bottom and create a mess, but eventually someone will find it and eat it. Mine seem to enjoy the blood worms the best, especially the freeze-dried worms, but it is like $2.50 for a tiny container and hardly any in there.

by **Tmercier834747** » Wed May 28, 2008 6:21 pm

Despite how clean flakes may seem they're also highly concentrated in phosphates which algae loves. The only thing saving you is no exess food. So they aren't necessarily the 'cleanest'.

I feed my puffer frozen bloodworms everyday which I thaw in a shotglass of his aquarium water before adding to the aquarium. If he's too hungry and impatient a partially frozen food could potentially harm him. I also supplement my other tanks bloodworms every other day or every 3 days. It is messy but by breaking the worms up in the bag and sliding them out right into the shotglass I completely avoid touching them at all.
The fish will MUCH more actively go after bloodworms when I put them in in then flakes. My tetras go absolutely insane. lol

by **Sumthing_Fishy** » Wed May 28, 2008 7:39 pm

lol My tetras will dive from the bottom/center of tank and dive straight up to the top, snatch a blood worm and hall @ss!

by **zambize** » Wed May 28, 2008 7:42 pm

Oh yes, I do feed frozen bloodworms to everyone as a treat once or twice a week, and always to my African Dwarf Frog. The bloodworms are cleaner, definitely, and you're both right, I think they like it best. I had read though that it was necessary to vary the diet to include frozen brine shrimp, bloodworms, beef heart, and something else. All but the bloodworms is messy...are they necessary? I also feed flakes because I've heard that it is the "staple" diet for my fish, and I add some veggie flakes or spirulina flakes for all my omnivores. Maybe I'm taking the idea of a varied diet too far?

I have so few fish that I like the sheet of bloodworms. I chip off a small amount, let it thaw, then hold a spoonful barely below the surface. Some falls off the spoon and some of that sinks, but most of it is grabbed right off the spoon by hungry mouths.

My fish include guppy, tetra, danio, dwarf rainbowfish, betta (female in community tank).

Thanks for your time -
Zambize

by **gumbii** » Fri May 30, 2008 3:05 am

i feed everything from beef heart to brine shrimp frozen... my freezer is pretty stocked with frozen fish foods... just beware of the beef heart... it gets gross pretty fast... but the one that i buy the most are the blood worms... they're also the LESS messy of the bunch... beef heart is gross, even krill makes a mess...

if you want quality frozen fish foods get Cyclopeeze... i think that's what it's called... it's probably the best fish food out there right now... they're small red micro crabs, but the fish benefit so much from it... it's incredible...

by **Zambize4899** » Fri May 30, 2008 4:08 am

I've never seen Cyclopeeze around here but I'll look into it. I like the bloodworms too, not too messy. I also like the frozen brine shrimp, maybe even less messy than bloodworms. I only feed beef heart the day before a water change because it is gross, really gross.

I might consider live foods, I think, but I can't find any around here.

Z

by **ChristinaBug2890** » Fri May 30, 2008 4:16 am

Im thinking about farming my own brine shrimp sometime this summer...I saw little containers of eggs at the LFS but I'v only done it once a loooong time ago in the form of "Sea Monkeys"....I'm just not sure if it will work the same...but I think my fish would like them.

by **gumbii** » Fri May 30, 2008 4:30 am

artemia is easy to cultivate... there are alot of threads with tons of info out there... but i don't like feeding live brine shrimp to any of my fish... they usually go straight to the filter intake tubes...

i feed some fish live crickets and live mealworms... i don't like feeding feeder fish... problems like whoa...

by **ChristinaBug2890** » Fri May 30, 2008 4:33 am

Live crickets and mealworms...thats genius because I already have them around for the gecko...but they may be too big.

Do you feed frozen foods?

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