Adam
Is this the blackworms you feed your Zebras, from http://www.blades-bio.co.uk/contents_list.htm:
FRESHWATER BLACKWORMS
Lumbriculus variegatus
LZG 070approx. 30 £8.67
LZG 071per 100£24.41
I could not find any info on keeping them on the web site, will putting them in a tub (bait tub) be alright and what do substrate do they need, damp or dry ?
Also, where do you get your Gamma Shrimp from ?
I can only find Prawns in my area, but a few articles i have read talk about using Shrimp in their receipe.
Is there any difference between Prawns or Shrimps ?
Would zebras eat a whole Shrimp/Prawn or is it better put them through the blender first ?
Live Blackworms & Feeding Prawns Or Shrimp
Hi Andrew,
Yup that's the place, I haven't fed the zebras blackworms yet as I haven't plucked up the courage yet. Anyway I need to get some more as I killed my last colony.
It's very easy to culture some, this is what you do. Get yourself a large glass jar, small aquarium or something similar. It really doesn't have to be a large container. Add dechlorinated water, aged water from a fish tank is better. You're then supposed to add some form of substrate, I started out using kitchen towels(plain type no patterns). Apparently any sort of paper type material will do, I eventually did away with a substrate just to make things easier. Add the worm culture and that's pretty much it, oh they can be fed on any type of sinking food pellet. A word of caution, do not overfed as I did as the water soon becomes polluted which will kill the worms. The water will require changing when you see the worms reaching to the surface for oyxgen with their tails, I think a weekly water change should do.
I feed my zebras Mysis shrimp, Gamma shrimp, Brine shrimp and Marine quartet all of which is gamma iradiated. I get the shrimp locally from Wild Woods, £34 for 20 packets. Unfortunately they do not ship so you will have to look for a source local to you. I seem to have a colony of pampered zebras that do not eat dried foods, I have tried everything but they just don't want to know. I therefore soak their food in Kent Zoecon and Kent Zoe 10 minutes before feeding to make sure that they are getting essential minerals. This stuff is very pricey at £20 a bottle, luckily only a couple of drops per feed is needed.
As for prawns Vs shrimps I really do not think that there is much nutritional difference if any, just make sure that it is shelled and not precooked. If you go for prawns I would also ensure that it is well liquidised as you 'll be getting those 10 youngsters soon and you don't want to take any risks. I would always blend whole prawns just to be on the safe side.
Adam
Yup that's the place, I haven't fed the zebras blackworms yet as I haven't plucked up the courage yet. Anyway I need to get some more as I killed my last colony.
It's very easy to culture some, this is what you do. Get yourself a large glass jar, small aquarium or something similar. It really doesn't have to be a large container. Add dechlorinated water, aged water from a fish tank is better. You're then supposed to add some form of substrate, I started out using kitchen towels(plain type no patterns). Apparently any sort of paper type material will do, I eventually did away with a substrate just to make things easier. Add the worm culture and that's pretty much it, oh they can be fed on any type of sinking food pellet. A word of caution, do not overfed as I did as the water soon becomes polluted which will kill the worms. The water will require changing when you see the worms reaching to the surface for oyxgen with their tails, I think a weekly water change should do.
I feed my zebras Mysis shrimp, Gamma shrimp, Brine shrimp and Marine quartet all of which is gamma iradiated. I get the shrimp locally from Wild Woods, £34 for 20 packets. Unfortunately they do not ship so you will have to look for a source local to you. I seem to have a colony of pampered zebras that do not eat dried foods, I have tried everything but they just don't want to know. I therefore soak their food in Kent Zoecon and Kent Zoe 10 minutes before feeding to make sure that they are getting essential minerals. This stuff is very pricey at £20 a bottle, luckily only a couple of drops per feed is needed.
As for prawns Vs shrimps I really do not think that there is much nutritional difference if any, just make sure that it is shelled and not precooked. If you go for prawns I would also ensure that it is well liquidised as you 'll be getting those 10 youngsters soon and you don't want to take any risks. I would always blend whole prawns just to be on the safe side.
Adam
-
Andrew C
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- Posts: 251
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- Location: Bridge Of Weir, Scotland, UK.
Thanks for the info.
I have a 1/2G tank that i can culture the worms in.
I may test them on some other fish first, its just when i did used to get some live food from the lfs (before i found out how dangerous it can be), the fish loved it and it greatly stimulated them.
I will get some Live Blackworms next week, they seem not too risky to use from what i have read so far on the forum about them
Just made up my first homemade fish food, mainly what McEve said plus a couple of other things (didn't use Crab Meat, have you seen the price of it
)
Prawns,
Mussels,
Spinach,
Parboiled Carrot,
Corgette,
Garlic,
Algae Wafers,
Flake Food,
Zoe’s Multi Vitamins
Used some Gelatine as well, so that hopefully when i feed the mixture to the fish it just dosn't dissolve in the water
Won't be getting my Zebras until after Easter.
Dietmar said he needs to book them on direct cargo flight with a temperated room, which are hard to get around holiday time, i was told that before bidding for the Zebras.
Adam
Did you manage to contact Dietmar about your fish ?
Shell
I'm starting to go off the use of Frozen Bloodworm for Zebras, for every good story i hear, somebody else is saying, no don't use it
Andrew.
I have a 1/2G tank that i can culture the worms in.
I may test them on some other fish first, its just when i did used to get some live food from the lfs (before i found out how dangerous it can be), the fish loved it and it greatly stimulated them.
I will get some Live Blackworms next week, they seem not too risky to use from what i have read so far on the forum about them
Just made up my first homemade fish food, mainly what McEve said plus a couple of other things (didn't use Crab Meat, have you seen the price of it
)Prawns,
Mussels,
Spinach,
Parboiled Carrot,
Corgette,
Garlic,
Algae Wafers,
Flake Food,
Zoe’s Multi Vitamins
Used some Gelatine as well, so that hopefully when i feed the mixture to the fish it just dosn't dissolve in the water
Won't be getting my Zebras until after Easter.
Dietmar said he needs to book them on direct cargo flight with a temperated room, which are hard to get around holiday time, i was told that before bidding for the Zebras.
Adam
Did you manage to contact Dietmar about your fish ?
Shell
I'm starting to go off the use of Frozen Bloodworm for Zebras, for every good story i hear, somebody else is saying, no don't use it
Andrew.
Hi Andrew,
You shouldn't really have a problem with the black worms, my community fish loved them. I do think that they are a lot safer to use than other live feeds.
That's quite some mix you're going to make up there, the only thing I would consider adding is spirulina. I know that discus keepers who make up their own food use it. What sort of gelatine are you using and where are getting it from?
Haven't got around to contacting Dietmar about the L250/L236 yet.
I've stopped feeding bloodworms to all of my fish for quite a while now since I lost a couple of hundred cardinals
. I put it down to feeding non gamma blood worms but I will never be sure. They weren't being fed black worms as I had managed to kill off the colony long before this happened.
Adam
You shouldn't really have a problem with the black worms, my community fish loved them. I do think that they are a lot safer to use than other live feeds.
That's quite some mix you're going to make up there, the only thing I would consider adding is spirulina. I know that discus keepers who make up their own food use it. What sort of gelatine are you using and where are getting it from?
Haven't got around to contacting Dietmar about the L250/L236 yet.
I've stopped feeding bloodworms to all of my fish for quite a while now since I lost a couple of hundred cardinals
. I put it down to feeding non gamma blood worms but I will never be sure. They weren't being fed black worms as I had managed to kill off the colony long before this happened.Adam
-
Dr. P
- Mentally Certified!
- Posts: 462
- Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2004 10:59 am
- Location: Fife, Scotland
- Contact:
Tetra Prima is a good staple diet IMO. Its the food I use most often, and it's greatly accepted by all my Zebras (and other fish for that matter). Being a proccessed food, it contains alot of the nutrients that your fish need, so fed along side frozen/live/freeze dried foods give your fish the best of all worlds.
Sword Pies. As Good as it Gets - Guaranteed!! [img]http://www.refreshdesign.co.uk/dale/scotsmile2.gif[/img]
I think quite a few of us use Tetra Prima. In my case, they get it once or twice a week as I tend to rotate their foods so they are always getting a variety. Prepared foods like Tetra Prima are good because they contain vitamins and things that the fish might miss if we fed them only protein foods (like worms, etc). Last night my zebs had a little bit of black mosquitoe larvae, tetra prima and a catfish sinking wafer. All was gone this morning, but they do have a little help from a couple dwarf honey gouramis, a guppy and an Otocinclus.
The reason for that combination of fish is due to my own circumstances. I have set up another tank which will be predominantly for my Zebras, but I won't put them in there until it's fully mature, just be on the safe side. There are fish in there to cycle it, but the zebras, meanwhile, had to go in one of my existing (mature) tanks which had other occupants in it - the aforementioned Gouramis, Guppy and Oto. There were some Harlequin Rasboras in there too, but I moved them while the Zebras were in residence because they are very greedy eaters and I didn't want the zebs to starve.
However, I have heard that it does the Zebras good to have some "dither fish" to make them feel more confident, etc. But it would be important to choose fish that would be compatible with the Zebras, i.e. no really greedy or messy fish. Also, I personally would avoid things that dwell in the lower levels of the tank as there may be tussles over territory.
However, I have heard that it does the Zebras good to have some "dither fish" to make them feel more confident, etc. But it would be important to choose fish that would be compatible with the Zebras, i.e. no really greedy or messy fish. Also, I personally would avoid things that dwell in the lower levels of the tank as there may be tussles over territory.
I don't have platys so I can't advise, but I will tell you that I have one female fancy guppy in the tank with the Zebras and she is the GREEDIEST thing I have ever known. She will go anywhere for food (upper or lower tank levels) and doesn't seem to have stop mechanism to let her know she's full. Even after I've turned the lights off. I'm surprised she hasn't burst yet.
I will definitely not be putting her or any of her kind in with the Zebras when they go to their own tank. Simply because I worry that she's eating way more than I'm comfortable with. It's the Zebras that need plumping up... not that fat mama!
I will definitely not be putting her or any of her kind in with the Zebras when they go to their own tank. Simply because I worry that she's eating way more than I'm comfortable with. It's the Zebras that need plumping up... not that fat mama!
