# Did anyone try to grow your own fish food??



## champion_qh (Apr 23, 2010)

howdie, i'm a newbie, heard something like " growing your own fish food by hatching Brine shrimp". I'm a simple guy and thought it's a great idea of supplying your own fish food, save $$.

Any other thoughts on it?


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

There are many people hatching their own red wrigglers, microworm cultures, etc.

Me, I'm growing organic zucchini, peas and other vegetables watered by my fish tank water for my plecos.


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## Scholz (Apr 21, 2010)

I grow micro worms, vinegar eels for my fry. And white worms for my fish...


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## Ursus sapien (Apr 21, 2010)

white worms, microworms, daphnia, copepods, scuds, baby cherry shrimp, snails, organic kale. I also keep a couple of very small, uncovered still-water containers to lure in mayflies, mosquitoes and such, for their larvae.


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## Adz1 (Apr 21, 2010)

any one breeding there own live black worms?


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## Fish Whisper (Apr 22, 2010)

Adz1 said:


> any one breeding there own live black worms?


Any particular reason for black worms? Red wigglers are aprently very easy to grow and in the process make compost.

My Wife talked me out of the idea as it`s to icky for her 
And would be an extra hassle.. maybe next time if there`s another recession i`l revisit the idea


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Blackworms are much much smaller than the wrigglers which are small earthworms. Plus the blackworms can live in water for weeks so it won't foul the water if uneaten.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

I have microworms and daphnia, for as long as I can keep them happy.


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## NegativeLogic (Apr 25, 2010)

I hatch brine shrimp pretty regularly for my fish. It's pretty straightforward and they definitely enjoy them.


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## Ursus sapien (Apr 21, 2010)

most of these vegetable and live foods cost virtually nothing to grow and require minimal effort. the benefits to your animals include increased vitality and health. the benefits to you are intensified colours, better breeding and fry survival rates, more interesting behaviors and activity.
did I mention the cost benefits compared to frozen food?


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## Scholz (Apr 21, 2010)

Here's something that works too.... When you have too much of a culture make your own frozen food.... Eventually you get to a point with a white worm culture that you need to divide it into a new one. Take the left over half of worm filled soil into a sieve with the bottom of the sieve barely submerged in water. Put a light over it. The heat and light force the worms out through the bottom of the sieve and into the water. Collect the worms and freeze away. You now have your own frozen fish food.


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## 4ptbuck (May 8, 2010)

You guys should try feeding your wingless fruit flies.
Easy to culture, and a blast to watch the fish feed.

Snapple has a bunch for sale.


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## 4ptbuck (May 8, 2010)

The Fruit Fly culture is easy to maintain, and you can get a continual supply of live feed.

We've all seen fish eat flake food. Most of us have seen them get excited about frozen food. Put in a bunch of fruit flies, and watch them go bonkers.


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## Scholz (Apr 21, 2010)

white worm are the best food i've found for fish...


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## Hammer (Apr 22, 2010)

When I had big SA/CA cichlids, I fed a lot of earthworms. I noticed that if you combine it with a crustacean (krill etc.) you get pretty fast growth rates. Of course, massive filtration is needed. I really like the idea of growing wigglers or something. I think people are pretty successful with whiteworms too. The worms aren't the maintenance that brine shrimp are.

My 2 cents


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## pistolpete (May 2, 2010)

The original question was about hatching brine shrimp. In my experience brine shrimp hatching is tedious and actually quite expensive. It's worth it for feeding "special" fry. some of the other live foods are definitely easier and cheaper. By far the easiest is a 5 gallon tank or rubbermaid out in the yard. Mosquitoes will breed in there and all you have to do is scoop out the larvae. The down side is that it's seasonal and if you forget to harvest you get bitey bugs buzzing around.


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## CloudySky (Apr 22, 2010)

Scholz said:


> white worm are the best food i've found for fish...


I read somewhere that white worms have a high fat content, and should only be fed sporadically. Anyone know if this is true?


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## Scholz (Apr 21, 2010)

Read this....

http://www.killi.net/feeding/live/cultured/worms/white/

The actual breakdown (see source below) is approximately for dry weight : protein 70.0, fats 14.5, ash 5.5, carbohydrates 10.0.

Reference: Mass Cultivation of Invertebrates, I.V. Ivleva (1969).

I've had no problems so far...

The thing is killifish have a fast metabolizism so the higher fat content of the white worms may not be a problem for them. Also I'm sure there is some kind of relationship to the protein the fat raito that matters... I'm not a scinetist enough to know. I don't feed my fish just white worms. They get alot of different live foods. The puffer gets fed white worms the most and when i started feeding him white worms his growth was expolsive. Compared to when he was being fed frozen blood worms. He just keeps getting bigger now. Makes me Happy!


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## haleycoll (Apr 17, 2013)

Many people try to grow their own food to save some money. It absolutely is possible to grow your own food by gardening and at that, to do year-round gardening to keep the supply going. Year-round farming doesn't even need to be that costly, as one doesn't necessarily need a state-of-the-art laboratory to do it.


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## hbb (Mar 30, 2012)

Hi the A-Z bible for growing your own aquarium fish food is "Culturing Live Foods" by Michael R. Hellweg. I grow some local wild algae in a co culture with daphnia, harpacticoid copepods & some kind of wiggly larvae that carries on in a one gallon fish bowl & couple of pop bottles for occasional treats for my tropical. I've also for the nutrient boost (after rinsing) ground up (blender) ulva (green kelp, sea letttuce) & strained, the tea going into my aquaponics system & the mash after it dried fed as crumble to the goldfish in the same system. I've also infested my under gravel filters with live black worms to help keep them working. I would suggest not getting too carried away too fast & do some research! hbb


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