How do you feed frozen food to your loaches?
Moderator: LoachForumModerators
- JonGuerriero
- Posts: 120
- Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:01 pm
- Location: NH, USA
- Contact:
How do you feed frozen food to your loaches?
As the subject says, how do you feed your loaches frozen foods?
Personally I tend to thaw whatever the food is (usually bllod worms or mosquito larve) in a small cup of tank water and then use a turkey baster to spot feed the fish. Using the baster I also like to "inject" a little bit of the food into the gravel....the clowns seem to love this!
Also, what are the frozen foods that you feed?
Personally I tend to thaw whatever the food is (usually bllod worms or mosquito larve) in a small cup of tank water and then use a turkey baster to spot feed the fish. Using the baster I also like to "inject" a little bit of the food into the gravel....the clowns seem to love this!
Also, what are the frozen foods that you feed?
- Martin Thoene
- Posts: 11186
- Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 5:38 am
- Location: Toronto.....Actually, I've been on LOL since September 1998
I break off chunks of frozen Bloodworm and melt them underwater between my fingers. Water current does the distribution. I buy the big Hikari flats. Wouldn't use any other brand.
Also have used their frozen Brine Shrimp. I find Loaches definitely like the Bloodworm best.
I also make my own to the following recipe which I supplied to the Loach Almanac http://www.loaches.com/almanac/index.html
Originally, I found it in an old TFH Magazine article on Congo Tetras.
Home Cooking
Try the following for the more discerning palette: (Note that all measures are approximate and you can add other ingredients as you wish) I sometimes crush up some Cichlid pellets and mix in the resulting powder.
1 cup (measured before chopping) of finely chopped, cooked and peeled prawns.
2 individual blocks of frozen cod, thawed and chopped finely)
½ cup of cooked or defrosted spinach (chopped finely)
1 can of V8 juice
½ banana mashed
1 sachet of gelatine (to set mixture)
METHOD: Combine all ingredients except gelatine, and mix thoroughly. You can put the stuff in a blender to get a more homogenous mess (sorry, mix) if you want. When mixed, dissolve the gelatine in boiling water (enough to give a thick, but flowable mixture when combined into the mix, use your judgement). If the mix is very cold, pop it into a microwave for a short time to warm, then add the gelatine and combine. Spoon portions into plastic, ziplock bags or freezer bags about 10" square. You should aim for an amount that squeezed out flat is approx. 1/8" to 1/4" thick. Lay the filled (and sealed!) bag on a flat surface to cool. When cold, pop the bag flat into a freezer to set solid. When you want to feed the fish, break off a lump and drop in the tank. Loaches go loopy for it. Everything eats it, everything grows, and everything gets good, wholesome food without the risks of feeding live food.
Martin.
Also have used their frozen Brine Shrimp. I find Loaches definitely like the Bloodworm best.
I also make my own to the following recipe which I supplied to the Loach Almanac http://www.loaches.com/almanac/index.html
Originally, I found it in an old TFH Magazine article on Congo Tetras.
Home Cooking
Try the following for the more discerning palette: (Note that all measures are approximate and you can add other ingredients as you wish) I sometimes crush up some Cichlid pellets and mix in the resulting powder.
1 cup (measured before chopping) of finely chopped, cooked and peeled prawns.
2 individual blocks of frozen cod, thawed and chopped finely)
½ cup of cooked or defrosted spinach (chopped finely)
1 can of V8 juice
½ banana mashed
1 sachet of gelatine (to set mixture)
METHOD: Combine all ingredients except gelatine, and mix thoroughly. You can put the stuff in a blender to get a more homogenous mess (sorry, mix) if you want. When mixed, dissolve the gelatine in boiling water (enough to give a thick, but flowable mixture when combined into the mix, use your judgement). If the mix is very cold, pop it into a microwave for a short time to warm, then add the gelatine and combine. Spoon portions into plastic, ziplock bags or freezer bags about 10" square. You should aim for an amount that squeezed out flat is approx. 1/8" to 1/4" thick. Lay the filled (and sealed!) bag on a flat surface to cool. When cold, pop the bag flat into a freezer to set solid. When you want to feed the fish, break off a lump and drop in the tank. Loaches go loopy for it. Everything eats it, everything grows, and everything gets good, wholesome food without the risks of feeding live food.
Martin.
Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.
- Jim Powers
- Posts: 5208
- Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 6:15 pm
- Location: Bloomington, Indiana
I have small containers for each tank in which I thaw the bloodworms, mysis and brine shrimp .
I take out the amount for each day, put them in the plastic containers, and put in a small piece of paper towel and place them in the refrigerator. By feeding time the next day, they are all thawed and the liquid is absorbed in the paper towel. Like Martin, I only use Hikari brand bloodworms and mysis shrimp. The brine shrimp I use is either Hikari or San Fran. Bay. I use the individual cubes, though, instead of the flats.
I use a length of rigid plastic tubing to distribute the food to the lower levels of the tank and even have a few loaches that feed out of the end of the tube.
I take out the amount for each day, put them in the plastic containers, and put in a small piece of paper towel and place them in the refrigerator. By feeding time the next day, they are all thawed and the liquid is absorbed in the paper towel. Like Martin, I only use Hikari brand bloodworms and mysis shrimp. The brine shrimp I use is either Hikari or San Fran. Bay. I use the individual cubes, though, instead of the flats.
I use a length of rigid plastic tubing to distribute the food to the lower levels of the tank and even have a few loaches that feed out of the end of the tube.
-
- Posts: 14252
- Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:41 pm
- Location: British Columbia
I use a small Chinese tea cup. I pop two of the frozen bloodworm cubes and two brine shrimp cubes (Hikari) into the cup and then float the cup in a small bowl of hot water. It takes about ten or fifteen minutes before they're melted and not cold. This allows me to drain out most of the liquid that they're packed in - unnecessary pollutant, IMO - and it's enough to feed my five tanks with.
The Botia tank also gets an algae wafer and a slice of cucumber every night, and some of the other tanks sometimes get a bit of sinking food now and then.
In the mornings I feed flake and sinking tabs.
The Botia tank also gets an algae wafer and a slice of cucumber every night, and some of the other tanks sometimes get a bit of sinking food now and then.
In the mornings I feed flake and sinking tabs.
Your vantage point determines what you can see.
-
- Posts: 14252
- Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:41 pm
- Location: British Columbia
I completely respect JD's methods and knowledge around loaches, but I think it should be said - especially for a recent poster - that tropical fish would not normally EVER encounter something that was cold, let alone frozen. I know they also wouldn't normally encounter flake or tablet food sources, but these are closer to their normal food stuffs, if only in an aesthetic way.
Barbels are highly sophisticated sensory organs that can be used in a variety of ways by the loach. I know that we've discussed the possibility of damaging not only the barbels, but the guts of some loaches with food that is served colder than it needs to be.
For that reason, I'm going to continue thawing my cubes. I'd just prefer to see a loach carry away a parcel of food that was as similar to those found in the rivers of SE Asia as it could be.
You'll find a system that works for you, but new loach keepers should avoid short cuts, IMO.
Barbels are highly sophisticated sensory organs that can be used in a variety of ways by the loach. I know that we've discussed the possibility of damaging not only the barbels, but the guts of some loaches with food that is served colder than it needs to be.
For that reason, I'm going to continue thawing my cubes. I'd just prefer to see a loach carry away a parcel of food that was as similar to those found in the rivers of SE Asia as it could be.
You'll find a system that works for you, but new loach keepers should avoid short cuts, IMO.
Your vantage point determines what you can see.
- Graeme Robson
- Posts: 9096
- Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 4:34 am
- Location: Peterborough, UK
- Contact:
-
- Posts: 14252
- Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:41 pm
- Location: British Columbia
- Emma Turner
- Posts: 8901
- Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 5:07 pm
- Location: Peterborough, UK
- Contact:
As our Clown tank is relatively large and we have a lot of loaches to feed, we use a 1 litre plastic jug half filled with tank water, then add the frozen food and wait 15 mins or so for it to thaw before stirring and adding it to the tank. The sheer amount of flow in the tank distributes the food very evenly. We use white mosquito larvae, brineshrimp, daphnia, mysis shrimp, krill, chopped cockles, prawns - some chopped, some whole, and recently they have been taking crayfish tails. The smaller fish in our river tank (including the Sewellia) take cyclops, baby brineshrimp, and daphnia.
Emma
Emma
East of the Sun, West of the Moon.
I use a shot glass to thaw the cubes in, then a mini turkey baster to distribute the worms among the tanks. I like the baster as it means I can target feed, if I need to. The mini baster is easier to control, so I can easily feed only two or three bloodworms into a tank, if I want to. I only thaw them about 10 mins. I used to throw whole cubes in the tanks, and no one seemed to suffer, but it was a lot to feed them, IMO.
So long, and thanks for all the fish.
-
- Posts: 93
- Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2006 5:56 pm
- Location: greenville texas
frozen food
I put 2 cubes of brine and 2 cubes of bloodworms in a glass of hot tap water. When it is milted I pour it in the tank. The tank has pretty good current and it goes every where. They all eat it up very fast.
Will the tap water hurt them ? about 1 inche in a gless.
Will the tap water hurt them ? about 1 inche in a gless.
-
- Posts: 14252
- Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:41 pm
- Location: British Columbia
Jerry - instead of adding tapwater and the gunk the food is packed in, just sit the shot glass in a larger shallow bowl of hot water. The food will melt, and you can tip the glass to drain out most of the liquid. At that point I use a chopstick to gather up the food and drop it in the current.
It may take one or two minutes longer - literally - to melt the food, but try it.
It may take one or two minutes longer - literally - to melt the food, but try it.
Your vantage point determines what you can see.
-
- Posts: 93
- Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2006 5:56 pm
- Location: greenville texas
frozen food
Thanks I'll try that. But I never was any good with chopsticks.
take care jerry
take care jerry
-
- Posts: 14252
- Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:41 pm
- Location: British Columbia
Use one chopstick - if you have one around... You'd be surprised. Once you drain off the liquid, the food is very easy to pick up and drop in.
That said, you may want to hybridize with some of the other techniques. Once the food is drained, add some tank water to the shot glass and use a turkey baster - a clean and dedicated one!
Find a way to do it that delivers just enough food to the fish that is practical for your needs.
That said, you may want to hybridize with some of the other techniques. Once the food is drained, add some tank water to the shot glass and use a turkey baster - a clean and dedicated one!
Find a way to do it that delivers just enough food to the fish that is practical for your needs.
Your vantage point determines what you can see.
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 349 guests