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Thread: Frozen bloodworms as staple

  1. #1
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    Frozen bloodworms as staple

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    Heya guys, need some advice for an apisto i got some time ago...
    this little bugger refuses to eat anything except for frozen bloodworms... he refuses to even try hikari micro pellets, NLS dry food, freeze-dried bs, or flake foods.

    Is frozen bloodworms adequate as a staple food? given his present preferences it really does not seem like he is going to take anything else... Also, i've read a lot about parasites in bloodworms.. would these parasites tend to infect my apisto if i feed him only frozen bw? Any help will be very much appreciated...

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    Hi bro, why not you try feeding live brine shrimps for some times till they will response when you are feeding them, then stop feeding bs but try NLS pellets.

    NLS dry food
    May i know what type of NLS you feed them with?
    Cheers,
    http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...c/progress.gif"Ben"http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...c/progress.gif
    Life is all about patience & perseverance,
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  3. #3
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    well, he does respond to live food and frozen bloodworms, i'm just worried about frozen bloodworms being an inadequate source of nutrition, and possibly a source of parasites

    i presently am feeding my fish NLS Spectrum Grow.

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    Frozen bloodworms carry with them a risk of bacteria, as with any live food. True, they are sterilised during packaging, but everytime you pop a cube out to feed, the foil is broken is some areas which you might not notice. A tiny hole is enough for bacteria to invade each cube and slowly multiply, even in the freezer. If you do use frozen bloodworm, please check the colour of the cubes when you feed them. If they are dark and seem to be shrunken in size, please throw the whole lot away. In my experience, you should not use a pack of cubes longer than 1 week, or 1 and half weeks at most.

    Parasites and bacteria are present in any type of food you use, be it dry, frozen or live. Even dry foods degrade fast in our tropical climate. Sometimes my bottle of Sera O-Nip might last perhaps 4 months before I cannot use them. In live foods like tubifex and bloodworms, even brine shrimp, you run the risk of introducing some diseases without your knowing. To me, I would rather take the risk and feed my fish live food like tubifex, with a mixture of dried foods like Hikari Micro Pellet. All my fish at home get tubifex once every 2 days, with the pellet in their diet every other day as a supplement.

    If you want the apisto to adapt to taking dried foods, you will need to keep some smaller tankmates that will gobble up the dried foods readily. For example, get a small bunch of cheap glowlight tetras or something you will eventually keep in your tank. Feed some of the Hikari Micro Pellet. Chances are the tetras will greedily gobble up the pellets. In time the apisto will "learn" from the tankmates that the Micro Pellet is a food source. It worked for me with some fussy fish, but might not work for you. It is still a worthwhile suggestion for you to try.

    My previous pair of Ap. caca "triple red" kept in my 3ft community tank pretty much gobbled up everything that came into their view. Tubifex, Hikari Micro Pellet, even some Sera Viformo tablets.. they'd nip on those too. Same with my current Nannacara anomala in the same community tank.
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    Hmm, i think i might give the smaller tankmates method a try
    i don't plan on keeping anything besides the apisto pair in that particular cube tank though, so guess i'll have to go find some cheap greedy fish that's preferably hangs out near the surface and is easy to catch out after they have served their function..

    also, should i starve the apisto in this process?
    or should i continue to feed them the frozen bloodworms, as well as the dry food i hope they'll take?

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    Try not to starve them. Reduce the frequency of the bloodworm feeding, and try out the small tankmate method first. I would suggest some platies or swordtails. Even Glowlight Tetras or White Cloud Mountain Minnows would be good.

    Basically anything cheap, and which you will eventually keep in a community tank somewhere.
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    platies and swords = more live food
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    I personally felt that by occassionally feeding them with frozen bloodworms, brine shrimps will enhance the colours of the fish.. This occasion feeding of frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp will definitely reduce them the risk of getting parasites to a minimum..

    By just feeding them with dried food, I do encountered experiences where my apistos grow very thin as they don't eat much.. Then there will be a possibly of them proning to other diseases..

    I agreed with Stormhawk.. Even dried food will cause fishes to have internal parasites if kept too long or exposed to the surrounding for a period of time..

    One thing for sure.. Do not starve them by trying to train them to take dried food especially when they are newly introduced into the tank.. They need time to adapt to dried food slowly..

  9. #9
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    Hmm, thanks guys for the input...
    i think for now i'll try using a couple of celebes rainbows from my comm tank, they're small and fast, and extremely greedy, so hopefully they work

    And i'll probably limit the bloodworms to once every 2 days for a start... just so this guy will have time to adapt. He's a beautiful fish and i really hope he remains healthy

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