Safe live food for SA cichlids and a rope

[jaylach]

I'm thinking about going totally live food for my fish which includes a rope fish and SA cichlids. Looks like I will be going (if it all works out) with the small version of fresh water scuds which I will breed. To supplement I'm looking to use red wiggler worms which I know are fine. However I'm also interested in using live Tubifex worms but it seems that I recall reading that they often carry a bacteria that is dangerous to fish. However I'm not sure that what I read was actually about Tubifex worms, mayhaps blood or black worms.

Basic question is if live Tubifex worms are safe?

 

[GaryE]

Tubifex thrive in sewage outflows...

Plus a key consideration for live food is size. I've never kept a rope fish - how large is the mouth? Some fish are lazy about smaller food items, like tubifex would be.

If you feed blackworms to SA Cichlids, be ready to have breeding start.

 

[Byron]

It is very difficult to provide good nutrition using only live foods, unless you have many different types. The quality prepared dry foods are far superior from a nutritional and health perspective. I remember reading Jack Wattley's monthly column on discus in TFH for many years, and he came round to using and recommending only prepared foods. Few know more about discus than he did.

Aside from the above, worms should only be fed once a week if that. Daphnia is one of the best foods, live or frozen. Shrimp much the same. Scuds I know nothing about nutritionally.

It is true that using live foods can incite breeding, but this is as much because of the fact it is moving as the nutritional value. Nothing wrong with live foods, don't misunderstand, but you need a variety to ensure the fish get what they need. Their habitat foods are the best indicator of what they need, and the primary food of almost all our carnivorous and omnivorous fish are insects and insect larvae, followed by crustaceans.

 

[GaryE]

I will half, sort of and maybe disagree with @Byron. I have raised generations of fish with only live foods. The main one is freshly hatched artemia, with some whiteworms, grindal worms, daphnia and mosquito larvae. Some of the variety is seasonal - daphnia and mosquito larvae are out of the picture in winter.
I would like more variety, but fruit flies have been a problem food here. Most easy live foods are large, and my fish are small.

If I try commercial foods, I get close to zero breeding and slower growth. Bug bite type flake does okay. But if the fish is a natural insect eater, flake is not great here. I include all brands. I can use some for colour intensity, if the fish will eat it. I have a dip in whiteworm production and tried a sinking pellet made of shrimp over the last week, and saw eggs in my S. barbatus cat tank this morning, so that works.

Flake seems okay for fish that are omnivores, especially ones that feed on algae and detritus in nature.

My tetras, if I am not thinking of breeding them, have a flake based diet, and flake was always fine for livebearers and most Cichlids.

I have fish that have been breeding here, generation after generation for 30 years. I doubt they would have made 5 years on non live food, even though they eat ground up soldier fly larvae, decapsulated brine shrimp eggs, powdered krill and other dry foods. They'll pick at flake, but they don't become good breeders on it.

 

[Ichthys]

the primary food of almost all our carnivorous and omnivorous fish are insects and insect larvae, followed by crustaceans.

I have to disagree here. The majority of carnivores that I have kept have been primarily piscivores. I guess you’re referring to smaller species?

 

[Byron]

I have to disagree here. The majority of carnivores that I have kept have been primarily piscivores. I guess you’re referring to smaller species?

Yes, sorry I didn't include that.

And while I'm here, to clarify another questioned aspect, I did say variety was the issue with live foods.

 

[jaylach]

Variety is why I want multiple live foods. Scuds are definite along with red wigglers being probable.

I probably mis-spoke in my initial post with saying "going totally live food". I should not have included 'totally'. Fish will still get prepared foods. Shoot if I took flakes away from my cichlids they would probably pay my rope to put a hit on me. The cichlids also nibble a few plants that fortunately grow fast enough to keep up.

 

[GaryE]

A mix is best. All live food is a bit of work, and if I am away, friends do not want to do that. I can't blame them. Some prepared foods, some live, some grown - it all depends on the fish and the fishkeeper's freee time.

Neighbours, too. I cultivate daphnia outdoors.

 

[jaylach]

Tubifex thrive in sewage outflows...

Plus a key consideration for live food is size. I've never kept a rope fish - how large is the mouth? Some fish are lazy about smaller food items, like tubifex would be.

If you feed blackworms to SA Cichlids, be ready to have breeding start.

Sigh, a ropes mouth. Think of a 7.5 inch snake and the mouth size is in that area but does not unhinge so the capacity is much less. A rope the size of mine or, even mature in a tank at ~10 inches, could eat feeder guppies but part would stick out of the mouth. Feeder golds would be too large. While ropes are predators they are pretty passive about it. A lot of the hunting is done by their swimming around with their mouth partly open taking in whatever they chance to catch. This is a factor that should make scuds ideal.

 

[GaryE]

I've never cultured scuds. I found an area to catch some too late last summer to use it, but I'll explore them as food in a few weeks. We're still largely frozen here.

 

[jaylach]

I've never cultured scuds. I found an area to catch some too late last summer to use it, but I'll explore them as food in a few weeks. We're still largely frozen here.

Make sure that you get the scuds you want as there seems to be a tiny and larger version. The ones I'm going for are the wee little tiny ones. They are both crustaceans but I believe I remember reading that the larger version are likely to eat small fry.