Feeding with frozen bloodworm

[TomF94]

Hi,

Looking for advice for a first time user of frozen bloodworm for feeding. So far we've just used flake but our latest additions 'glass catfish' never seem that bothered with it, I've bought some pellets but also read that they (and a few others in the tank) like bloodworms as an addition / treat. I bought a pack this morning and it comes in little squares, I'm reading conflicting information about how much should be added to the tank (Should I use a whole square or cut it in half or even less) and whether I should thaw it in water first or just drop it straight in. Any best practice advice would be appreciated.

Our Tank is 125L and contains 16 fish(Glass catfish, Platys, Guppies, and Neon Tetras).

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

If you just lobbed a whole cube in and it wasn't touched, you've effectively just polluted your tank.

To begin, find a small container, fill it with warm aquarium water and put, say, half a cube in.
Let it thaw out and then drop some in, using tweezers. Depending on how confident your fish are, they might come to be fed...or they might not.
If they seem to enjoy it, you can add some more.
Pay attention to your fish, so you know who's eating what.

Assuming some of your fish like it, then you can either repeat the process a few feeds down the line*, or just halve a cube and put it in the water to thaw out. This won't harm the fish and you'll find them chasing the cube around, pecking bits off, until it ceases to be frozen and drops to the substrate.

*Never feed your fish too much frozen food, bloodworm in particular. I believe that they all need a relatively varied diet to thrive.

 

[TomF94]

Thanks! I haven't lobbed anything in thankfully and will try what you said tonight. The plan is to vary between flake and pellets as the staple diet and do the bloodworms a couple of times a week.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Thanks! I haven't lobbed anything in thankfully and will try what you said tonight. The plan is to vary between flake and pellets as the staple diet and do the bloodworms a couple of times a week.

Lots more frozen food available than just bloodworm.

 

[Byron]

Agree on above methods. Bloodworms should only be fed once a week, they are not nutritious and too many do cause digestive issues. Frozen daphnia would probably be ideal here with the catfish mentioned; these fish are ambush predators, and a shower of daphnia falling is likely to get them eating well. You can feed daphnia as often as you like, but it would be good to get them onto prepared foods too, as these contain higher nutrition.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Only suggestion I would make with frozen is defrost and rinse it first. They tend to have a lot of phosphates and that can cause algae issues.

I use a little tea strainer and run under tap water until its defrosted.

 

[itiwhetu]

Be careful with glass cats. They don't like a lot of action. The only success I had with them was when they were by themselves in a very heavily planted tank in a quiet corner. They can be very temperamental. They love Mosquito larvae