Loaches Online Forum

Diana wrote:
Then press something into the bag to create score joints where you will later break it apart.

How about this eggcrate stuff

Its actually light diffuser for a suspended ceiling, but the cichlid guys use it under their sand/gravel to prevent the glass cracking.

It looks like the ideal stuff for diana's idea of turning Martin's mix into ice cubes! I'm fairly sure it can be picked up in different sized squares

TC

Great thought! Cut a piece of egg crate to fit a cookie sheet/baking sheet with sides, and pour the mix into it. It is OK if the eggcrate does not touch down all over, this little bit can be broken off. Pour it deep to make full sized cubes, or 1/2 full for smaller cubes.

Bump! I realize this is old, but I thought I might add my own plans for fish food economics.
Making Martin's recipe is not really an option for me, so I'm setting up my own mealworm farm (maybe even multiples). Costs nothing to maintain once they're set up (they can live on veggie scraps), and a well set up one can produce around 1000 mealworms a week.

With ultimate plans for 84 loaches and 128 fish total that will be able to eat the mealworms, 1000 a week per farm would be great to reduce feeding costs. The more farms the better.

maybe you can buy something in bulk at a discount, or maybe your fish will go on a diet

Having 1000 mealworms a week for 128 fishes, will imply 8 worms a fish per week.

Most fishes will not be able to cope with that much food. It would also mean not feeding anything else, and while mealworms might be a good food, no fish could survice on them alone.

Personally I will stick to feeding flakes, buying them by the bucket (10 litres) at a time, being sufficient for my arond 400 fishes for 8 months.

I'm with Bas Pels, there are easier, more healthy foods you can feed. I think I told you my bias against meal worms too often for fish (not birds so much), more fiber than nutrition with constipation a possibility? White worms are fairly easy to grow if you have a fairly cool place to grow them (I don't anymore). Many fish can eat them. But my staple foods are flake, pellets & wafers of a variety, with gel & frozen foods as treats too. No fussy fish feeders allowed. They should be happy to eat anything you offer after they get used to it.

1000 mealworms a week was a typo. It's actually 1000 a month, re checked the source.

Regardless of number, even though I don't recall having a previous discussion here on LOL about mealworms, the nutritional value (or rather, lack thereof) really sells it. I'll be skipping the mealworms.

Grateful for that advice by the way. I had no idea.

White worms, blackworms & blood worms are more fish appropropiate (I skip tubifex in all forms, I think I've said). My last Repashy gel food order I was given a sample of "rice worms" I have yet to try. They look thicker than some of those but nice & short. I will offer them to my corys, I bet they love them! For larger fish I have fed red wigglers I grew but unless you cull out the smaller worms they will be too big for many (most?) loaches...

It doesn't hurt to try new foods if you are prepared to vacuum out any leftovers the next day (maybe your ducks would eat leftovers?). Sometimes fish need to get used to new foods...but some are better than others for a given species or size of fish.

I don't have ducks as a matter of fact. But I do have pictus catfish, which will eat ANYTHING meaty with great, great gusto.
So far they have been good 'teacher' fish for new food. When the loaches see them zip for the new food, they follow and try the new food too. And they have been eating foods they didn't eat with no pictus catfish.