# Angelfish Foods?



## aussieJJDude (Jun 9, 2012)

Hi,
Right now I offer flake food as the staple part of their diet. I do give my fish veggies like carrots, broccoli, lettuce, peas and corn but I never observed my angels having a "go" at them. :-D
Recently I became at interested at giving them live foods and began researching them. White worms seemed like the best choice IMO so I asked around if anyone was willing to give me a culture. Somebody said that they are willing to give my a culture of grindal worms, which by my research is a smaller species of white worms.
However, the main question is:
Would adult angelfish eat grindal worms? Or would they lose interest once they get bigger as they really small? 
I looked online and there was mixed options and would like to here from the forum before I make the decision to get them. I understand that every fish is different so mine might not like them when older - or even now if I got them. Would raising them up on the worms increase the chance of them eating them once they get older?
Thanks in advance,
aussie


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## aussieJJDude (Jun 9, 2012)

Please anyone?
I am going to get some soon - either tomorrow or the day after - and would like some advise...


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## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)

I'm sorry nobody has answered this! This particular section of the forum doesn't get a lot of traffic. I don't see what the size of the food would matter as long as it wasn't extreme. Give it a go! The worst that could happen is they don't eat it.


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## angelcraze (Aug 31, 2013)

I have white worms, I didn't know there was a difference in size between them and grindal worms. Angels would/do eat white worms, as long as they are not so extremely tiny, like microworms, that they cannot see them. Just be careful not to over feed them these worms, they are very high in protein and I have found them *once* to cause bloat. (Don't want to unnecessarily alarm) In this case, one of my angelfish ate the whole matted mess of worms in one gulp. The angelfish was ok in the end, I still have him, but I had to 'hospitalize' him for months and feed him only vegetable matter, until he finally passed it. Once a week, and make sure they are spread evenly should be plenty.

Have you tried or looked into frozen foods? Like bloodworms, brine shrimp? These fish love those too, and they are pretty nutritious as well. The live food's advantages is that it encourages a more natural aqualife, and it won't foul up the water if left uneaten (the worms will live for 24h or something like that), but it's not like any of the frozen goes uneaten in my tanks, lol, they are all over that like piranhas. 

You could also look into freeze-dried foods. Like brine shrimp, plankton, blood worms, mini krill......I like to mix it up daily, apparently the dried foods are very nutritious too. I just pre soak the bites, and feed them directly (by hand) to each angelfish. It's funny how they all take turns now eating from my fingers.

And I don't see why your angelfish would not eat them once they are older, mine are 8 years old now and eat the same diverse diet they were raised on from wigglers. I guess they are all different, that's just my experience with them, and other cichlids.


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## corina savin (Jul 11, 2012)

I have no experience with grindal worms but my adult angels will not eat baby brine shrimps although they were raised with them. I guess they are too small and they get frustrated. If I feed BBS to fry and parents are around, there is always the possibility that parents will start eating the fry because they can't eat the BBS.
Be careful with your own culture of live food. Often it gets contaminated with other creatures. I used to purchase live blackworms from LFS until I found leeches mixed with worms. The store guy told me that they are not harmful for my fish but I don't care...I want a pure culture. If I ask for worms I don't want leeches and if I ask for leeches, I don't want worms.
I feed flakes (including Spirulina flakes) and frozen brine shrimps or bloodworms by Hikari.


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## angelcraze (Aug 31, 2013)

Yes, my angelfish too, when I feed the fry baby brine shrimp, the parents don't 'see'/eat them. I have to feed the parents frozen Brine shrimp.


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## aussieJJDude (Jun 9, 2012)

Thanks guys! 
I think I might give it a good and see how it goes! :lol:
The problem with frozen food is that it is quite expensive in my area and would prefer to raise a culture of worms - some old bread or a bit of dog/cat food - as they pretty much cost free!


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## angelcraze (Aug 31, 2013)

Ok, but just to advise, don't give adult angels grindal worms more than once a week (twice at the most). Like I said before, adults don't need all that protein since they are not growing, and you could run into problems overfeeding them. Keep your flakes or pellets as your staple. I often wet the flake food a bit in my palm and squish/roll it into pellets when feeding my cichlids. They get more per bite, and this way, I can feed them all by hand and make sure they are getting enough/not too much.


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