Live foods such as tubifex
worms, mosquito larva, daphnia and brine shrimp are tasty morsels that
all fish will appreciate and their appreciation will show through
enhanced colouration and healthier fish.
The simplest manner in which
to obtain live food is by buying them from your local pet shop, but a
more cost effective and interesting method is to cultivate the live food
yourself. It may seem difficult at first, but when you get the knack of
it, nothing could be simpler.
MOSQUITO LARVAE
The easiest of them all is mosquito larva, and
personally revenge is very sweet. As any South African knows all you
need is stagnant water, but to enhance their growth a food source such
as lettuce, apple or any other vegetable or fruit in a stocking should
be suspended into the water.
At first you will notice the
egg rafts which look like small pieces of bark, floating on the water
and then they hatch and the tiny larva emerge. When the larva seem to
have a very big “heads” it is time to harvest or else you become the
food and not them.
Harvesting can be done by
either removing the stocking and straining the water, or the larva can
be caught out with a fine net. The last method has the advantage that
the supply of larva is not interrupted but on the other hand it must be
harvest frequently, as not all the larva are caught and hatching may
occur.
DAPHNIA
Daphnia is a great source of colour enhancing
carotenoids that enhance the natural colours of the fish. To produce a
population of daphnia is trickier than mosquito larva as the daphnia is
sensitive to water temperature, metals, chlorine, water temperature and
oxygen levels.
The container or old
aquarium in which you want to cultivate the daphnia should be half
filled with appropriate water and the starting culture should be
introduced to their new environment in the same manner that you would
fish. Daphnia are filter feeders and feed on single cell algae and other
foods in the water. Green
water (large alga blooms) is the easiest way to feed your daphnia, and
the culture can be feed either by being introduced into the green water
or the green water can be added daily to the daphnia. It is important
not to overfeed the daphnia, as too much algae causes a depletion of
oxygen and this in turn is an unfavourable environment for daphnia and
they will die.
It is advisable to harvest
the daphnia frequently, as this ensures that the food and oxygen levels
remain advantageous to the colony.
The introduction of the
live food to your aquarium will be met with great excitement. The
predatory instincts of the fish come into effect and they can be seen
darting after the live food. The breeding instincts are also awakened
and very evident in the cichlids, as they change to their breeding
colours immediately.
