Feeding General

I have some troubles during winter time with feeding, – I use artemia extensively because these are easy to make. I always then try to have different other sources of food, but it becomes difficult when living in a flat (with my partner) – and no extra space. So the amount of cultures of live food that I can have in the cupboards is limited 😉 , moina dafnia is possible, but they often crash and dont seem to be a reliable food source for me to have. So then I have microworms which I actually use also regularly for the grown ups.
And the I buy occasionally live mosquito larvaes, or live red worms (red mosquito larvae) if I can get them in small sizes. But I not too fond of these anymore, have had a few accidents because of these I think, – either they are still too big or something else cause problems for the fish, or they pollute the water. So now I only feed like one or two pr. fish so that I have some control of it. And rather not.
In the sommer though, I use a lot of black mosquito larvaes, and they are excellent. Escpecially because I get them from my summer garten, – and I can get them in all sizes, and find a lot of really small larvaes. Even down to the size of microworms and the fish loves them. And I dont feel this food will be causing any problems, – I quess uneaten larvaes might actually end up developing into mosquitoes which of course could be a problem, however of a different nature.

Frozen foods are out of the question? Are they ignored, is that they pollute the water, or are they inadequate nutritionally?
Combining prepared and live foods is not a successful method?
BTW has someone out there made the simplest possible method of hatching baby artemia, I’ve done that a million times but I want the most easy, automated way to do it so that is is almost effortless. Since baby artemia seems like the smartest staple, the eggs are always available and it is really nutritious. It’s not like it’s that hard or time consuming to use an inverted plastic bottle and siphon out the hatched artemia, but why not perfect the laziest way possible to raise them?
Sounds like worms as a second food are a good idea, worms are probably on the easy side of culturing and maintaining a large amount of them at all times. I don’t know that from experience, except blackworms, but the issue of being able to depend on their availability and survival seems to be good and also fish are said to love worms and get huge benefits from eating them.
My tank has little “copepods” swimming in it, I hope the large amount of wood and plant matter will sustain a big population and there will be real benefit from it.

The first thing I want to say is a big praise for Kevin that he started this thread on the feeding-question. Feeding is, alongside with water, one of the two clues for successfull Parosphromenus-aquaristics.
Then I should like to add three remarks:
1. As has been said before frozen food is possible but not recommendable. The reasons have been named already. Ease and comfort have limits with these fish, and that’s one of the reasons why caring for them and their offspring is and will be a pretentious form of the hobby. But there is a good level of ease to be possible: that’s food cultures. The same refusal (as I am concerned) holds for Tubifex and bloodworms that live in waters loaden with debris; for me, they will be nearly never safe enough to be given to rare and endangered fish that live in floating fresh water habitats. (I know very well that some friends don’t care for that rejection.)
2. Variation in food is always a good maxime, not only with man, but also with fish. Nevertheless I admit, in winter I am largely dependent on Artemia and Moina. But it is always interesting to see in spring when there are again Culex and other small larvae to be caught, that my licorice gouramis begin displaying and breeding again. A good friend of mine does not believe in that “variation-doctrine”. He says: “The necessary nutrients must be guaranteed, that’s all.” But I don’t think so, seeing my winter-nagyi chasing the first Culex-larvae.
3. A symbiotic aquarium of licorice gouramis and shrimps is a fascinating idea, since several sorts of shrimp must be the most eaten food by them in nature. (But we most certainly do not have those species at hand; I do not know why. The optimum of the many shrimps cared for in those “Nano-aquaria” is not the low pH and the very low conductivity of the water environment of Parosphromenus-fish).
In our tanks many things differ from nature. At one time the shrimps control the licorice’s offspring, at the other it is vice versa. I don’t think that one could realize the dream of a balanced tank with both, simplyfying our feeding-duties to a minimum. If there are enough shrimps to feed them to the fish, it’s OK; but I should never let the shrimps interfere with the wish to rise the offspring of them.
Anyhow, I think this issue is not fully understood presently.

Drosophila, as useful they are for surface-feeding fish, are useless for Parosphromenus. In nature they normally don’t feed from the water surface. In our tanks it might happen sometimes because the tank-height is much lower than their ecological niche is in nature: their activity extends more in the depth than to the surface (see their colours, see their normal neglect of their labyrinth). They are often caught in depths of more than 1 meter. So they might catch the one or other fly in our tanks, but it does not fit in their behavioural scheme.

Hallo!

In the summer, I give daphnia and moskito larvae I fish in a little pond (1,5 x 0,4 x 0,5) I created in my garden, it is perfect and give me always breeding (in the course of time P. sp allani, ornaticauda, linkei, sp bintan). I try to catch the little rafts with moskito eggs and to put them in the aquarium, because very young larvae are the best food. The only potential problem ist to avoid planaries and hydrae … a very acidic water helps for that. In these catches are also cyclops and so on, food more rich than daphnias, and very little animals too, that young fishes can eat

All the time and in winter especially, i give artemias, but it’s make that the water is soon not so soft as it should be, in a very short time from 30-40 microsiemen to 60-70, that’s makes more waterchange necessary. I notice too that artemia feeding can cause ‘accidents” by young fishes at the age whan they begin to grow colored, and artemias are no more rich when they are older than 2-3 days.

So, in the winter, main fod are bloodworms and tubifex. P. Finke wrote on the homepage that these foods are not without risk, but i prevent them by having the tubifex a long time in very clean water (1 cm), With waterchange each day, and giving them spirulin. I take only the littlest worms to feed. Tubifex on this way can be kept a long time if not to hot (circa 15°). With bloodworms, I do the same, but giving no food to the worms and taking only the littlest. Problem: bloodworms can be kept alive so long, even in cold conditions in fridge.

But principal, I am an extensive breeder, tanks are jungles of ceratopteris, microsorium, anubias, floating plants, I never bring the mulm away by waterchanging and there is always plankton in them.

I tried to produce moinas but could not keep them in the long time, always lost if not daily feed, or out not known reasons, cultures were always poor, and I can find them any more. The first I bring back from Germany. (I am living in northern France). I think moinas is very superior to other foods, but moskitos larvae.

I never use frozen food.

“collembols” (german “springschwanze?) could be interessant too, but they are too many floating plants in my thanks for paros catching them. The same with drosophilae, which are too big and paros are not surface feedersp.

I think that in tanks of this kind, shrimps are a great danger for eggs, if not for fishes, and you can never get lose of them.

With kind regards,
Hugues

Hallo again!
(thank you for you private answer, too)
I tried once, but here they are difficult too find and to keep, and I don’t see a great advantage /artemias, but for the little size perhaps. For young fishes, I have also a sort of “big” freshwater infusiora Jürgen Ende in Germany gives me, which is easy to keep and to breed, with very much animals you can see with the naked eye in a little bottle and sometimes develop later in the tank. That can I send you, too.

Hugues