5 Easy Live Foods to Feed your Fish - Live Food Cultures You Can Keep at Home

[@aquamate]

Always an added bonus watching fish eat mosquito larvae, makes me happy haha

[@BlakesAquatics]

The best!

[@marypaigeflynn4512]

😂👍

[@MrsBJPalmer]

@@BlakesAquatics LOL!! Always!!

[@duktrilfromsouthafrica]

Same here! Fed a bunch to my acara last night & they love it!!🙈

[@censusgary]

I can confirm that culturing mosquito larvae will displease your neighbors (if they know you’re doing it), and, if you’re like me, certain members of your family. Mosquito larvae, while they’re still larvae, are harmless. It’s only adults (only female adults, in fact) that bite people and can spread diseases. So if you feed them to fish before they metamorphose into adult mosquitoes, there’s no real problem. But I’ve learned that the average irate person who thinks I’m ruining the neighborhood is uninterested in having me explain an insect’s life cycle, let alone the epidemiology of West Nile Virus.

[@BlakesAquatics]

🤣🤣🤣

[@Dr.CumsteinMD]

What they don't know won't hurt them

[@saltykraken9471]

Yeah please don't do this.

[@wan2shuffle]

@@saltykraken9471 yup, definitely don’t tell anyone your doing it.

[@debbieexcell5088]

I give my fish mosquito larvae and caterpillars as well. Their colours are brighter, they appear more sturdy and there are less deaths when I mimic nature.

[@dicksdaughter2274]

Thanks for that info

[@DocStab]

Been going through your videos and I have to say you're doing a great job. Your videos are very informative in just the right ways. In a lot of other aquarium youtube videos I find myself with a ton of questions by the end of the video but with yours I find you just... answer them in video. Keep it up you're definitely making my hobby easier and more fun!

[@BlakesAquatics]

I appreciate that!

[@Hooker-mma]

​@@BlakesAquatics I can totally vouch for that too Blakey mate, I've been into the hobby for a longggg time and your videos are by quite a longshot more informative than absolutely everyone elses! It's also awesome that you're not on some ego trip like everyone elses channel, it's straight down to biz with you. Excellent work!

[@PaulC.494]

Hi Blake, a handful of grass in a blender mixed with aquarium water then placed in a container with more aquarium water, instant green water, mosquitoes love it.

[@BlakesAquatics]

Great tip!

[@marypaigeflynn4512]

Nice Paul C 👍

[@PlecsExotics3]

Nice. Thanks

[@DanielKeepingFish]

Great video bud. Everybody should be feeding these in my book for the benefits to the fish and for the enjoyment of culturing them. 👍

[@TheSwiftCreek2]

Been getting interested in live food cultures for fish. Adding to the list above: sprintails combined with grindal worms. Same medium, intermixed. Worms sink to bottom, springtails to the top. Moist environment, some moss, powdered cereal, all they need. Piece of clear plastic on top makes for an easy harvest mechanism as does a small pippette.

[@BlakesAquatics]

Sounds great!

[@denyayong6834]

Terima kasih banyak tips budidaya pakan hidupnya yang sangat membantu dan bermanfaat

[@UncleLarryB52405]

I am surprised you had not included Daphnia.- I find these to work well for me, as my allergies are triggered when hatching BBS. Can't hatch them in the house. But I have kept or currently keep all of the others. I like that the creatures will live much longer in the fresh water column, or even survive and reproduce there!

[@BlakesAquatics]

Daphnia are a good call i just left them off because a lot of people truggle to maintain a colony. I do have other videos on daphnia and moina

[@tegannottelling]

Hi Thanks for this video, Really cool. Apparently you can make your own micro worm culture. cut a potato in half scoop out a hole in one side of the innards of the potato (Leaving a 1cm wall all around the skin side.) Burry the potato under a tree with a large tile or something to keep the rain off that spot, uncover it in a couple of weeks and you should have your own starter micro worm culture. 💌

[@blakehowden5086]

Cool video. I put in live blackworms for the first time the other day and my male apisto borellii turned in the boldest colours. Now just trying to keep up the live baby brine. 🙂

[@BlakesAquatics]

:O I can't believe I forgot blackworms.. im losing the plot.

[@haroldgreen1425]

Hatching mosquito larva. I take a five gallon bucket and fill it half way with dead leaves. Add old tank water and a tbl of milk on top. Set it out in the shade and in a few days to a week you should have lots of wigglers. A brine shrimp net works well to net them out.

[@Dobromir_Chodkowski]

Thanks, very informative video

[@karenrennie1196]

I put a handful of grass clippings in a bucket of water out on the lawn. I scoop up mozzie larvae with a sieve every day, for my fish. Yum.

[@BlakesAquatics]

Great tip!

[@paulhunt2888]

Another easy to culture live food are White worm. Just garden multi purpose compost and feed porridge oats mixed to a paste with water . Keep compost moist and store in a dark cool place with a cover over to stop drying Put an old out of date credit card also on surface which worms will be attached to Feed directly to fish to condition for breeding or a special treat

[@BlakesAquatics]

Sounds great!

[@adkaquatics212]

Nice info, I agree that live food is superior to pre-prepared food. I do live blackworms (bought from a store.). And live baby brine (hatched at my house.)

[@BlakesAquatics]

I love blackworms and they are also easy to culture.. cant believe I forgot to mention them 🤦‍♂️

[@donaldlyons17]

@@BlakesAquatics people seem to like to rise off them so it may not be bad you forgot

[@taryziforde7662]

Great informative vid as usual, microworms, ironically I got a new culture today off a mate down the road after mine crashed... 👍

[@BlakesAquatics]

hahahah great minds think alike

[@cameronbeveridge9603]

Brooooo is that Neolamprologus tretocephalus you? Great vid mate currently marking my brine shrimp hatchery using your old vid. Thanks for that too 😉

[@BlakesAquatics]

Yep they are 👍 cheers mate

[@edstar81]

Great tips mate. thanks for the upload

[@kathydoro1527]

Do you sell any of the starter cultures Blake? I like the idea of the vinegar eels.

[@BlakesAquatics]

I can send a starter for micro worms no problems at all. Message me and we can work it out.

[@ISayNukem]

Hi Blake, I have a question. My walter worm cultures are infested with hydra. Is there any way I can eliminate them without also killing the walter worms? Love your video, thanks so much!

[@BlakesAquatics]

That is a tricky one. If it was me i would try and make a secondary culture trying to avoid taking any hydra and then treat the original for hydra. No Planaria or a similar hydra treatment may not affect them but id make a backup culture in case it does

[@ISayNukem]

@@BlakesAquatics I tried some things to separate them, but I think it'll come down to picking them out one by one! Thanks for answering, I'm going to give it another try.

[@jac.mobile5646]

I feed them lil scuds 😇 they love hunting them!

[@Fogdiver69]

I've heard from many people that brine shrimp are some of the least nutritious live foods. I know it's common and relatively easy to raise, but I've heard a lot of mixed information about them. What I've heard is that Daphnia provides the best nutrition of the most common live foods.

[@BlakesAquatics]

you are confusing adult brine shrimp with baby brine shrimp I think. Freshly hatched (under 24 hrs old) brine shrimp is one of the best foods possible. Adult brine shrimp is comparable with daphnia.

[@Fogdiver69]

@@BlakesAquatics okay, thanks for clearing that up! I love this hobby, but there is so much conflicting information out there that it's difficult to sort it all out. So, if I were to choose only one form of live food, you would recommend baby brine over daphnia? For reference, I have a few different tanks, but they are all nano in size, all small fish. I have a 20 gallon freshwater community, a 10 gallon shell dweller tank, a 9 gallon betta + CUC tank, a currently cycling 15 gallon nano salt water reef, and soon planning to set up a 5 gallon for a single pea puffer.

[@kennethcoutinho4439]

Thanks Blake

[@BlakesAquatics]

No problem

[@leolass5081]

Fantastic info, thanks! What are your thoughts on Daphnia, and how to breed them?

[@Orwellian-Purple-Grapes-1984]

Daphnia are pretty easy, imo. I bought a starter culture and dumped it in my low-tech neocaridina-only tank (uses only light and heater, filtration happens through plants). As long as I feed the shrimp, they grow on their own. I recently dumped 4 newly born endler fry in that tank too, but I'll fish them back out as soon as they start being a threat to the baby shrimp.

[@valiaudet3415]

April 2022 mozzie shouldn't be bred. Parts of Australia have Japanese encephalitis. Unfortunately the continual wet weather has caused mozzie explosions in many areas. I've been collecting larvae of all sizes for weeks to feed fry. Most containers in yard I remove water now

[@turtleman190]

If you're feeding them all off then it will reduce the number of mosquitos rather then increase them.

[@Jen.K]

My brine shrimp eggs arrived in the mail this week. I had watched some videos and it seemed simple enough. But there was 3 pages of instructions which came with the eggs, making them seem extremely complicated, time consuming and not worth all the effort. I threw the packet of eggs in one of my fish drawers and ordered a Grindal Worm culture instead. I don't have any babies to feed yet, just a few guppies and a betta, so I think they will appreciate the larger live food for now. I'm sort of planning on breeding some endlers at a later date, so maybe then.

[@RandySoWavvy]

It’s super easy to hatch bbs 1 tbsp salt to 1L of water and 1tsp of eggs or if you want a large amount I’ve seen ppl add up to 1tbsp of eggs it’s up to you. Add a airline in the hatchery a air-stone is your choice a heater isn’t necessary and neither is a light wait 24-36hrs you should have bbs ready to feed to your fish. If you have soft water or water under 7PH add a pinch of baking soda

[@atravelersdairy42]

I will try mosquito larvea

[@m2ym2y99]

Is fly larvae good live food for bettas?

[@KingsAquariumsAndAntWorld]

Great video Blake

[@craigbroderick8935]

👍

[@bigeizsupportgroup1427]

gday blake

[@BlakesAquatics]

gday mate

[@MELODYMUNRO]

I have a red wriggler worm farm that I feed my goldfish, severum, silver dollars.

[@jmorginski]

YES! YES! You are the only one I have seen besides myself that has a worm bed specifically for fish food!

[@bombithestampede]

What about daphnia? Is it a viable food for fish?

[@BlakesAquatics]

Daphnia is a great food, just not as easy

[@joemroz1033]

sorry - where do you get vinegar eel culture?

[@BlakesAquatics]

I can sell you one if you are within Aus

[@joemroz1033]

@@BlakesAquatics no, alas.

[@mandarw86]

which is more suitable for betta fish and endler guppies?

[@BlakesAquatics]

Baby brine, mosquito larvae, blackworms

[@mandarw86]

@@BlakesAquatics will they big enough for adult bettas and guppy fish?

[@Mundarium]

The microwave worms are just like the fruit flies' maintenance

[@chrisrusso4512]

Hunting is fun, and there’s less poop

[@sunriseoriental2951]

Why don’t have daphnia

[@BlakesAquatics]

because its difficult to keep going, a lot of people struggle keeping it cool enough and keeping up with the green water feeding.

[@paulsoutbackgardenaustrali7674]

I am new..ty

[@frany269]

Your eyes are awesome.

[@brandonlasvegas]

🙏😎

[@sujalthapa4595]

Infisoria are not coming broo... I have done as you said but no infisoria....🤷‍♂️

[@BlakesAquatics]

Give it more time

[@JasonLaveKnotts]

You really should read about the type of water you put out for mosquitoes as the feeding/breeding preference is genus specific. You are better off trapping adults and using breeder medium. Find a species that doesn't require a blood meal to lay eggs. Not all species bite most in fact eat plant nectar.

[@sharonwhiteley4616]

ha e you thought about black worms

[@BlakesAquatics]

Love blackworms, have kept my culture for 3 years.

[@FustFPV]

So its official. Microworms are aussies that love their weet-bix. But now I need to know how they like it? With or without sugar? Honey? Strawberries? Blueberries? bannana?

[@Kalinux_ai]

intro sounds like Retro game