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