Feeding loaches

[Clare-asaurus]

Hi guys,

I was wondering what everyone else feeds thier loaches, I have a group of juvenille yo-yo loaches and am keen to ensure that they have a healthy varied diet.

Mine currently get fed sinking meat pellets, brine shrimp, bloodworm

They also eat veggies (put in for pleco's) algae wafers and I think most bizarelly flake food... they swim upside down and eat it, is this normal?

Anyone got any feeding suggestions for me?

[JonasBygdemo]

We feed ours brine shrimp, freeze-dried tubifex, zucchini, Sera Vipachips, flakes, and a lot of other things as well. They really love the tubifex, more so than any of the foods we offer them. We also collect snails from an LFS a little now and then as a treat.

[bigpow]

try Martin's recipe - guaranteed to be a hit with them loaches!

plus, it's actually cheaper & safer (you know what's inside).

my loaches love them - my dojo especially, eat them of my hands

[JonasBygdemo]

And yes, it's normal for them to swim upside-down when feeding from the surface. Their mouths are downward-facing, which makes surface-feeding harder. Ours have not been swimming upside down, but they usually point their snouts to the sky and munch down the flakes.

[clint]

I give mine small, cooked, cocktail shrimp. I just purchase a small bag and give them 1 every couple days or so. I have yoyos, zebras and clowns and they all like their cocktail shrimp. Incidentally so do some of my rainbows and denison barbs. Its a free for all when i drop in the shrimp, i cut it in 1/4's now so its not just the loaches who get in on the action.

[Emma Turner]

Hi Clare-asaurus,

Welcome to Loaches Online.

I would include some finely chopped prawns or krill, as brineshrimp is not particularly nutritious in it's adult state. Also try white mosquito larvae and daphnia.

Here's a link to Martin's home-made frozen fish food: http://www.loaches.com/articles/home-co ... n-fishfood

They will eat snails, but I would recommend culturing your own in a small separate aquarium so that you know they are not carrying anything nasty and have not been exposed to chemical treatments.

Hope this helps,
Emma

[NDininno]

Before I fertilized my lawn I had been taking regular earthworms whole, rinsing them off and dropping them in. The clowns shy'd away at first but after it wriggled a few times they slaughtered it. No chopping or anything needed.

I almost exclusively use Martin's frozen fish food. I made the recommended amount on his article over a year ago and I still have several bags. If I'm too lazy to cut some up for them (mine froze too thick so I have to cut it with a cheese knife) I just drop in some flake. sometimes they go upside down for it, but most of the time they wait till it falls before even coming out of their hidey holes. They only come out fast for Martin's fish food, nothing else.

[clint]

Yes earth worms, red worms, night crawlers are all accepted by most aquarium fish. I go to a local bait store. I have considered setting up one of those small indoor composters with a rubber maid container and red worms. Before long i would have plenty and no need to visit the bait store.

[Katy]

Our Botia used to feed upside down on the surface when they were skinny little things. Now that they have fattened up it seems to no longer suit them