what and how to feed badis badis

**newcastle78** · 24th Apr 2011, 21:50

hi folks,

sorry new here. I have a iQ3 tank (nano tank) that I kept several java fern and nanas.

I had placed 3 badis badis inside.

understand that they will only eat live food. I had bought baby sea monkeys but it is quite wasteful as fish shop do not sell in small packs. how do i go about feeding these guys?

any advice?

thanks.

regards
newcastle

**stormhawk** · 25th Apr 2011, 01:00

By Badis badis, you are referring to Dario dario aka Scarlet Badis, or the actual Badis badis? A Google search will tell you what I am referring to.

With regards to Dario dario, which I think you are keeping, you can feed them with microworms/BBS/Daphnia/tubifex/grindalworms. You don't have to feed them with BBS actually. I would suggest purchasing a microworm culture from a fellow hobbyist, and culturing them as food for your Dario. Hatching your own BBS can also be helpful since you can control the amount of BBS that you hatch by the amount of eggs you put into the hatchery. Smaller "scoop" = smaller hatch.

If you wish to continue using BBS, sieve them first and rinse them before feeding since they come in bags of saltwater/brine mix. You can control the amount you sieve so you don't waste the whole bag in one single feeding. Keep the remainder in the water they came in, in a plastic container and put it in the fridge. The cold temperature keeps the BBS from moving too much and they stay alive longer that way so you can feed the fish several times over 1-2 days. Alternatively, get live daphnia since these will live in freshwater indefinitely. Just make sure you sieve them before feeding as well, because the water they come in can be quite dirty and full of nasty bugs like leeches.

Over time, some of these small fellas will get used to dried foods like micro pellets and such, but those are rare because they have a tendency to go after live foods only.

**newcastle78** · 25th Apr 2011, 13:04

Thanks Stormhawk!

yup you got the right fish!

ok for microworms. any idea how to culture? is it difficult?
live daphnia? never seen before leh...

for BBS, I had read online how to do it but regretfully I do not have the facilities to start one.

I do notice the badis badis snapping at small little worms in the tank but after a day or two, i do not see those worms any more. maybe the 3 badis badis snap up all the worms.

**waterfaller1** · 25th Apr 2011, 15:27

Raising Grindal worms is easy. You just need a nice clean culture. I feed mine a mixture of golden pearls, ground up quality fish food, and organic dry baby cereal mix{looks like instant potatoes}. Mist lightly. Keep them in coconut fiber media. Do not get too wet or too dry. Keep in a cool spot. I use a sandwich type plastic container, poke holes in the top and stuff the holes with cotton or breathable fiber. Place the food for the worms on a thin piece of clear plastic that fits inside the container, and lies on top of the coconut fiber, so you can see and harvest them easily.
Dario Dario will also eat chopped frozen bloodworms. I use Hikari.
They will also eat decapped brine shrimp eggs.

**newcastle78** · 25th Apr 2011, 21:45

ok i am seriously planning to culture microworms. seems easier than brine shrimp as I do not need to get a air stone... gonna head to a LFS and check out for any culture.

**stormhawk** · 27th Apr 2011, 17:40

Problem with microworms is that they explode in population VERY quickly in our climate. Within 2 days from initial seeding, a microworm culture can bloom to the point where the worms will try to escape out of the culture container. Sometimes you can be faced with a situation where you have too much microworms.

I culture grindal worms using the scrubber pad method and they are highly productive. I don't need so much so I keep a small culture box. I will expand to a bigger culture box as time passes and more wriggling mouths to feed.

**waterfaller1** · 28th Apr 2011, 06:17

I second the grindal worms. When mine get to be too much, I make another culture and give them to someone in need.

**Shaihulud** · 30th Apr 2011, 10:26

Moina or "Boon" is cheap and good. 3 badis badis is hardly enough to justify grindal/micro worm culture though.

**waterfaller1** · 1st May 2011, 04:53

Originally Posted by Shaihulud

3 badis badis is hardly enough to justify grindal/micro worm culture though.

It is if you want to keep them healthy and alive...

**newcastle78** · 1st May 2011, 10:05

dear shaihulud,

what is moina or boon? where can I buy them? are they easily available? one problem I faced was that I had to go buy them. I do not have the space or facilities at home to hatch BBS. Also I do not stay near C328 to go there to buy BBS all the time.

can advise?

thanks.

**Shaihulud** · 2nd May 2011, 15:53

Moina or daphnia are a small freshwater crustacean that fishes love to eat. I have seen them sell it at Y618, they look similar to BBS, but smaller and move with a jerky kind of movement. They are also known in the local lfs as "boon", they sell them by the thousands in plastic bags. You can keep moina alive easily in a bucket of old water, they will even reproduce, but my experience is that their population density isn't eough to justify it. When you need more boon, just buy a new packet and dump in bucket. You can feed by netting them out or with dropper.