# Musho3210's Guide to Fun Fish Food



## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

Ok i hope you have all read my guide to basic fish food. If you havent http://www.fishforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=4928 read it now.

Ok i have gone over the basics of food. Once you have gotten what ive reccomended, then your good to go. But wait, taking food out of a bag and into the aquarium... BORING. This is my guide to fun food. 


Live food: Ok lots of this information was pm'ed to me by Fish_4_all so dont think it was all me.

Grindal Worms
Micro Worms
White Worms
Red Worms cultured cleanly
Mealworms
Fruit Flies
Vinegar Eels
Mosquito Larva, you can get viable eggs online although I can't find the link
Scuds raised in a tank
Paramecium cultured of course
Daphnia, aka water flies

those are most of the live foods. Now i dont think many lfs carry most of these (although my lfs has almost anything you can think of, another good reason to move to Chicago) so obtaining them can be a fun thing to do. I dont know how to start a culture of each of those, thats where our friend google comes in, but i do know how to start some cultures.

Fruit Flies: This works well with kilifish as well as getting rid of all these gnats in your home. If your home is invaded with wingless fruit flies, follow this (you can also buy first cultures at your lfs). Take a drinking glass (one that you dont like since you will be using it a lot) and put a 1/4 inch layer of oats at the bottom. Then take some rotting apple or some other fruit and place it on top of the oats. The more fish you have the more drinking cups you use. Then take some netting, around 2 mm holes in there, and place it on the opening of the cup. Now put the cup where all the fruit flies are in your home. Wait a few days and soon the cup will be filled with flies. They will spawn and you will see little maggots in the fruit and on the oats. to harvest them just somehow take the flies out and place them in your aquarium. Close the lid as well since you dont want them to escape.

Mosquito Larvae: all i have to say about this is dont try to spawn mosquitoes at home since of all the health risk of the mosquito bites. Buy some mosquito larvae at your lfs

Brine Shrimp: The all-time favorite culture food for fish. I have another post talking about this and only this so go read that.



Ok those are the more meaty live food. What are we to do with these herbivores? Easy, algae and vegetables

Algae: Take a container, sealed is prefered, and put a few aquarium safe rocks in there. Put some old aquarium water in there (high nitrate water) and place it next to a window that gets loads of direct sunlight. Wait a few days and boom, you will see a very large algae growth. If it is the algae you want (it will probably be green algae) then take a rock out of the container. Gently place it in a bucket of old aquarium water and shake ever so gently to clean it. Then place it in your aquarium. Your algae eaters will go and graze over it. Take the rock out when the algae is all eaten up and place algae covered rock in there. Keep going back and forth. The container that grows the algae will do best with daily water changes to keep oxygen levels up. Using a diy CO2 injector i dont think will hurt and lightly dosing fertilizer wont hurt too much either. If you dont like daily water changes then just place an airstone and air pump in there and change the water weekly.

Vegetables:
These include: cucumbers, zucchini, spinach, peas, and lettuce 
Boil these for 30 seconds and place a toothpick in them. Stick them in your gravel. Of course you dont have to use toothpicks, buying vegetable clips works fine as well and rubber bands or string can work too. This is good food for pleco's and oto catfish. Dont leave these in for more than 8 hours or they will start to rot and foul the water. Peas are also good food to help constipation. Remember, feed your fish vegetables but also feed yourself vegetables, humans are omnivores too.


There are many more foods out there that you can create yourself. Of course, do as much research as you can before you do anything to your aquarium.


----------

