Re: general diet and feeding frequency questions

[David Sanchez <barbax2@yahoo.com>]

   I tend to agree with Mike, even though I have many friends that
have used the worms in question and never experienced any problems to
me it's just not worth the risk when there are many other safe
alternatives. I once used some tubifex worms( I know not the worms in
question) and found that they introduced some tape worms they used
some snails as a secondary host and then attacked my fish. 

I have used earth worms in the past and I can say their quite
effective for conditioning your breeders. I even used the larger night
crawlers. I just zapped them in the microwave for like 30 sec. and
then I'd use a razor blade to chop them up.(better not tell your
spouse your doing this!) My Apisto's went at them with gusto. Haven't
done this in a while, had a good source of worms at the time. Another
excellent live food i like is Mosquito larvae (check with state laws
to see if it's legal to raise them in your state) I use a container
with lots of surface area and place them in a shady area ( under a
tree or bush works best) and i add water and about a cup of milk per 5
gallons. In a few days voila tons of larvae. In Florida this works
great since we have these little bugs around almost year round. The
infusion usualy crashes after a couple of weeks so its good to have a
few going at the same time. Mike, what are your feelings on these
"farmed larvae" in respect to their potential for disease? I don't
recall ever having a problem.

Dave






---Mike & Diane Wise <apistowise@bewellnet.com> wrote:
>
> This is just my opinion. Take it for what it's worth.
> 
> I can't count the number of times that I've had people write or call
me with a
> problem with a sick apisto. Many times it's a fish they have had for
month that
> suddenly pales out and stops eating or develops red sores on the
flanks. 3 times
> out of 4 they mention that they feed black worms to their fish as a
live food.
> 
> Black worms are a tubificid worm and just like red tubifex worms
require a septic
> environment for feeding and breeding - just not quite as bad. No
matter how well
> you rinse them there is still the chance of introducing parasites
and disease
> organisms with them. Anything that would completely sterilize the
worms will also
> kill them. There are so many other great live foods out there that
can replace
> black worms. I'd recommend red African worms or baby earthworms.
> 
> Mike Wise
> 
> John Wubbolt wrote:
> 
> > I'll feed live foods in the morning and dry foods in the late
afternoon or
> > early evening.
> > Live foods like black worms, white worms, daphnia, live brine
shrimp are
> > what I use when available.
> 
> >
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