Freeze dried fish food

[gregyeoh]

I'm looking to get some freeze dried food to supplement the diet of my community tank and betta. I've got mostly CPDs (celestial pearl danio / galaxy rasbora), pygmaeus and habrosus corydoras, and some neon tetras. What kind of freeze dried food is the best (blood worms, tubifex, brine, etc.), and what brands are the best?

[stormhawk]

You can try freeze dried bloodworms or Daphnia/Cyclops. Hikari is good, but make sure the food is kept air-tight. FD foods tend to go mush quickly in our humidity.

[gregyeoh]

Thanks stormhawk. Are there any other brands that are comparable in quality to Hikari? And is the container provided by Hikari good enough to prevent the FD food from going bad?

[stormhawk]

Most of the containers are not good enough to keep the food fresh so you might have to transfer to a better air tight container. If it starts to smell funny, throw the whole lot away.

Other brands I'm not sure of, perhaps Sera or Tetra. I used to use Today's brand in the past. It worked well for me as my bettas and tetras would attack the cube happily.

[tetrakid]

I have been using my own frozen Tubifex for time now and find it a joy to use. My fish always gobble them up in a frenzy.

When buying, I always look for fresh and succulent Tubifex. With some experience, you should be able to tell their condition. Never use stale worms or worms which are not in tip-top condition, as it can cause disease to fish.

The first thing to do is put the worms into a wide-based container (eg. ice-cream box) and thoroughly rinse the newly bought healthy worms repeatedly many times with tap water by filling, stirring and draining. Then scoop aside a small amount for feeding fish once or twice, but not more than that. The remainder is for freezing. I don't usually keep live worms overnight.

For the final rinse, use pre-chilled water from the fridge. Pour it on the worms and stir for a good cooling rinse, the colder the water, the better. Immediately drain the cold water until it only covers the worms. Too much water will be a problem when the ice is formed. Put the worms in the freezer to freeze. When ice is formed, take the whole 'biscuit' out and break into small pieces for feeding fish daily. Never allow the worms to thaw. Always put the iced small piece into the dish tank. Leave the rest in the freezer all the time. After a few days, the iced worms would have dried out by itself in the freezer. Continue to feed fish daily with it until all are used up.

[gregyeoh]

@stormhawk which type of FD food is the best? What are the pros and cons of each type of food? (Bloodworm/tubifex/brine shrimp/Daphnia) And have you tried cyclopeeze?

@tetrakid thanks for the useful info on cleaning and freezing tubifex, I'll try your method the next time I buy love foods. What freeze dried foods have you used?

[tetrakid]

@tetrakid thanks for the useful info on cleaning and freezing tubifex, I'll try your method the next time I buy love foods. What freeze dried foods have you used?

I don't use freeze-dried food, but I have used frozen beef heart before. I usually judge the food by how the fish 'attack' and gobble it with frenzy and never spittting it out.

Now, the only frozen food I use is the DIY frozen Tubifex which I have described. I find that this method is convenient and safer than keeping the worms overnight. When the worms are kept overnight, many will have died the next morning, and that causes contamination of the whole lot, since it is impossible to separate the live ones from all the dead and rotten ones.

[hmlc74]

i use today's freeze fry worm before , quite ok , fish eat alot

[stormhawk]

@gregyeoh, I prefer FD Daphnia/Cyclops since most of the fish I keep are small species that don't have big mouths to gobble up larger bloodworms etc. Of course, personal preference will differ. I haven't tried Cyclop-eeze before but from reviews online, it is great. However I think it comes in some sort of powder form. Powdered food in our climate will start to clump up really fast if moisture is present. However, it's worth a try if you can find it. I have never found it locally though.

[gregyeoh]

Saw some Cyclop-eeze at Polyart just last week. I'll try out some FD bloodworms or FD brine shrimp. Thanks everyone!

[Urban Aquaria]

I got a tin of Cyclop-eeze from Polyart a few weeks ago too, $14+ for a small can... been feeding small quantities to my tanks as a supplement to normal pellet food. I've noticed the coloration of my fishes and shrimps seem to be extra vibrant nowadays, so i guess the product works.

Its in powder form (kinda like Hikari First Bites), which is good for small fish because it floats suspended in the water, so fish at all levels can get their share of the food... though i find it best to switch off the filter when feeding or else the expensive food will tend to end up getting sucked into the filter intake.