Specialty Food for fish tank; Brine, Blood Worms, etc

[Punkrulz]

Hey guys,

I've seen people post that they will feed some "Specialty treats" to their fish on occasion. We were at the LFS, and saw a bunch of different types in the freezer. I wound up picking a package of "45 pop-out packs of frozen blood worms". I have a few questions:

1) With the stocking of my tank (posted in signature), what food would be best for them?

2) The frozen popout things, the ones I got are tiny little triangles. How much do I feed them, when I feed them? Do I feed them an entire triangle, just by plopping it into the tank?

3) How often should I provide my fish one of these treats?

4) Do they remain frozen, or should they be thawed in the refrigerator?

 

[joy613]

They need to be thawed out. I put a couple of drops of vita chem on mine so as they thaw they get covered in the vitamin. I feed mine fish them a couple of times a week. All of your fish should eat them, maybe your chinese algae eater will develop a taste for them as well. Any of the frozen food is better than the freeze dried counterpart as a treat.

 

[Punkrulz]

Ok, so I should keep them in the fridge the entire time? How should I store them, will they develop a strong odor in the fridge? Do I feed them the entire cube? Do I need to have a vitamin to serve with them, or is that only one of the many options I have?

 

[Lotus]

You need to store them frozen, otherwise they'll go bad. Would you keep your frozen pizza in the fridge and not expect it to go bad?

Take only what you're going to feed out of the freezer. They'll thaw in a few minutes in a glass of water. You can put the cube directly in the tank, and the fish will eat it as it thaws.

 

[FishGeek]

I like to give my fish a variety. The fish that you have will eat bloodworms, tubiflex worms, mosquito larvae, the combo one that has the seaweed in it, ummm.....what else is there. Pretty much anything.

Keep them in the freezer. I use a little cup to thaw the piece that Im feeding out before I put it in the tank. You also may only need half a cube. I would thaw out a cube at a time and use what you use and pour the rest into a plastic bag and put it back in the freezer and reuse it for the next feeding. (Thats what I did)

What I like to do is alternate what they get everyday so they arent getting the same thing all the time. Feed the flakes every other feeding and feed the other stuff in between, rotating what they get.

 

[Orion]

I agree, frozen foods are a great supplement to the normal diet. I feed NSL and Hikari as staple, but have a shmorgas board of frozen food as well. Not only are a good supplement, but some can be great to help young fish grow, so they also have specific uses as well.

I've also found that picky fish that normally don't want to take prepared foods are more likely to eat frozen food. Easier to do this and them wean them onto prepared food than let them starve.

 

[roark fishies]

I keep mine frozen until ready to put in the tank. I don't thaw it first cuz I have a ram and DG will eat from my fingers. I wouldn't be able to offer it as easily if thawed first.

 

[Rayneuki]

I usualy cut mine. My Kribs Loooove brine shrimp. I cut about a fourth of the cube and drop it in. It's frozen and my water is warm enough (around 79-80) to thaw it quickly. Then they go to town. Both of them, Picard and Data, turn BRIGHT colors while they eat it. It's beutiful.
And my little fancy guppy is usualy like "Huh?"