RE: getting Earthworm flakes

[Tom Mroz <tmroz@art-inc.com>]

About a year ago, I was getting earthworm and many other flake types from 
Delores Scherer at Wet Thumb Aquatics in Michigan (mail order).  I think 
they still run an add in the back of FAMA in the classifieds.  Personnaly, 
I never saw anything particular coming from feeding earthworm flake, but it 
helped increase the variety of food my fish were getting, and I think that 
does help.

For apistos, I do successfully feed flake, but I feed baby brine shrimp 
more often.  I have also had some good success feeding the smaller 
varieties of pelletized foods.  One food I have been using recently is 
ground up trout chow, which is really a cheap food to get.  It is very high 
in protein, so I only feed it 1-2 times per week, but again, it is great 
for variety.  For fry that are large enough, I have been feeding ground 
trout chow, ground flake food (Aquarian basic flake) and baby brine shrimp 
about 1/3 - 1/2 the time.

I have not had problems with any of my apistos going for flake - most come 
right to the surface for it.  One thing that probably helps is that my 
tanks are covered with floating plants - duckweed or salvinia.  The biggest 
problem is getting the food to the water surface around all the plants! 
 The shyest fish wait for the food to start sinking, but then they attack 
as well.

Somebody earlier suggested using fast moving dithers such as tetras to 
create a "feeding frenzy" effect.  I see similar success under such 
conditions, plus I get the benefit of having some interesting tetras 
around.

Tom