Live food for aquarium fish - the "delicacy", the presence of which in the aquarium causes a revival among its inhabitants. This variety has an increased nutritional value, but when choosing it, one should take into account both positive and negative aspects.
Live food for fish - benefits
Live food for fish - not only a useful and necessary element, but also the maintenance of natural instincts in the inhabitants of a home aquarium. Activity of fish grows if live food appears in the aquarium. Individual species of animals are at risk of dying, deprived of the ability to hunt for livestock if their daily diet consists only of dry food ("fixed food").
Live food for aquarium fish for predatory subspecies is mandatory, without it they can not produce a healthy offspring. The rational use of living substances helps to maintain the purity of water in the aquarium for a long period of time. Remains of dry waste, not eaten by fish, begin to decay, contribute to the rapid deterioration of water, its turbidity.
Types of live food for aquarium fish
The organization of feeding food in the form of live food for aquarium fish is a good option: it is natural, does not subject to processing, is devoid of any harmful ingredients, is saturated with protein, it has a harmonious ratio of all incoming elements. There are several types of live food for aquarium fish:
- The butterfly (mosquito larvae), a useful food, contains up to 60% protein.
- Tubular (annel worm), has the greatest nutritional value.
- Daphnia (freshwater crayfish), is recommended for feeding young individuals.
- Artemia (a crustacean living in salt water), is able to quickly multiply.
What kind of live food is better for fish?
Choose a feed taking into account the preferences of the inhabitants of your aquarium, being guided by its qualitative and nutritious characteristics. It is desirable to provide a variety of species to the animals, the number of useful substances and elements necessary for the formation of bone and muscle systems, they vary. Fans of aquarium content prefer live fish feed for fish, attributing to its advantages the presence of a large percentage of protein and hemoglobin.
How do aquarium fish need live food?
Live food for aquarium fish is necessary for fry, it helps them grow life-sustaining, with well-developed immunity, prevents the occurrence of diseases in the future. Various combinations of living organisms are used to feed carnivorous predators and omnivorous fish, especially they are recommended for pets weakened after illness and during spawning. There is a list of species of aquarium fish that can not live without natural feeds:
- catfish;
- haracine (some of them);
- piranhas (red bellies);
- barbs (family of carp).
Selecting different fish breeds for living in an aquarium, consider their needs for various types of food, providing the kind that is characteristic of these representatives of the aquatic world. Do not expect that the fish species you have chosen will adapt to the food that you offer them. Some species of aquarium pets do not accept dry food as a food, therefore, the aquarist, when deciding on the choice of individuals living in the aquarium, should be sure of year-round provision of pets with live prey.
How to feed fish with live food?
Looking at the feeding process is interesting and funny, you just need to get to know how often you can feed live fish food without harming them. This type of food poured into the animals every other day, dividing the daily portion by 2-3 times. During the first fall asleep, the fish actively absorbs the proposed food, if you see that the appetite has decreased noticeably, you can finish feeding the feed.
All living organisms have the ability to bring with them into the aquatic environment the infected bacteria, this is facilitated by the natural environment in which they are extracted. The best way to save the inhabitants of the aquarium from the possibility of infection is the freezing of food before consumption, this method helps to destroy a number of harmful bacteria. In the pet stores sold frozen briquettes, consisting of a mix of several species of living organisms.
How to store live food for aquarium fish?
Positive moments in choosing natural food crops are indisputable, but you need to know how to store live food for fish, saving it from loss of quality and useful properties. The storage conditions directly depend on the type of living elements used, the initial state and the number of preserved live crops. Aquarists prepare the feed data in three known ways:
- Frost. Feed in this form can be purchased in ready-made briquettes or frozen independently, the nutritional quality is preserved in them up to 6 months. To the inconvenience of storage can be attributed the need for their maintenance in the freezer, next to the products, not all people like it.
- Drying. This method is durable, but some nutrients lose their value during processing. Self-drying is done in the oven, this food can be stored for up to 15-18 months.
- Natural way. It needs tanks, they pour a little water and place the purchased food, storage is possible for a short time (3-7 days) in the refrigerator. So you can store bloodworms and tubule, their useful properties will remain maximum, but not for long.
Live food for aquarium fish own hands
Growing live food for fish with their own hands requires time and effort, but it justifies the safety that disappears when purchasing this product in a pet store. At home, the following methods of growing "live food" are used:
- You can not supersaturate bred live plantations with nutritional supplements, rapid breeding will have a disastrous effect due to a lack of oxygen and an overabundance of living products.
- Requires frequent water changes in the vessels.
- Divide the cultivated culture into several containers, if you fail, there is a high probability of recovering the loss.
How to grow a live fish food?
Live fish food at home is not difficult to dissolve, serious and addicting aquarists know that the efforts made as a result will provide their pets with strong health, activity and attractive appearance. Experts advise to grow the houses of the below listed creatures:
- Daphnia. These crustaceans breed in water with a temperature regime of 22-26 ° C, and an aerator for oxygen production is also needed. For their feeding, add yeast, water with blood from rinsed meat, vegetable juice (cabbage, beet, carrot will do).
- Worm-nematodes. For breeding, they can be collected in humus or last year's foliage, then placed in a container filled with milk mixed with flour, and put there the same piece of wood on which in 4-5 days will begin to reproduce worms.
- Flies are fruit flies. In a closed container, place a mashed potatoes of fruit, add oat flakes and yeast and wait for the flies to appear. In a week their quantity will reach the volume, capable to support the whole flock of fish.