Boon Yong, life is like a box of chocolate... you never know what you're gonna get. Same applies to all live foods, including cultured tubifex, if the original starters aren't 'clean'.
My killies are on a suppliment diet of tubifex, grindals and an occasional red-wriggler that's all chopped up. The corys love it, killies will nibble at it but not very enthusiastic and I'm not too crazy about decapitating worms!
Sterile tubifex? Don't think there ever will be such a thing but I'd like to believe that it's the occasional coughs and flu that aids in building up our resistance against major hiccups. Any fish that has lived in a 'sterile' environment or closed system, will die a quick death when transferred to our normal tanks.
I've a friend who's fanatic about these things and his cory sterbais, bred and raised from young in tanks with high UV filtration and canned pellets, that has never seen or tasted a worm, didn't last 2 days in my tanks.
Introducing a few of my killies literally killed off the few sterbais in that tank BUT my killies are also dead because they didn't get their 'dirty tubifex'!
You can get a pretty clean culture of daphnia or BBS, but it isn't gonna be very filling. A nice size for adult fishes would be white worms but these will die in our weather unless you have a wine chiller or extra fridge. Blackworms might be an alternative to tubifex, which I understand is similar to tubifex, only bigger. I've never seen blackworms... so perhaps someone else can shed some light.
Listerine? I tested a very mild solution, using it as an antiseptic of sorts and besides whatever nasties it's suppose to kill, also killed the tubifex! On the brighter side, whichever fish that ate that 'clean' worm also had fresher breathe!
No one food is recommended as a staple, nor are the grindal worms that I'm culturing. Although fishes up to 3cm will still go for it, it's high in protein and fat, and that aint' good (I have obese cardinal tetras to prove it! ).
BTW, bloodworms are larvae of gnats, adults looks similar to mozzies.
I think what I'm try to say is that, I can't have my cake and eat it.
I'm back & keeping 'em fingers wet,
Ronnie Lee
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