Live/Frozen Food Advice?

[Bryan_D]

I’d like to improve the diet of the fish in my CT and try some live or frozen options.
I’ve heard they can be very beneficial so I thought I’d ask her for some advice as I’ve never tried any before.
My CT will soon have a Rainbowfish majority, so it’s primarily for them I’m thinking of.
At the moment I’m using Fluval bug bites colour enhancing flakes and the bug bite tropical pellets but wound like to provide a more varied diet.
I don’t know my bloodworm from my brine shrimp from my Daphnia!
Freeze-dried, live or frozen?
Any suggestions or advice?

[Andys temperate tank]

I don't like flake foods.

To feed my fish I take 150ml of water from a tank into my gamma feeding bottle. 1 cube of bloodworm and a cube of lobster eggs, some oase organic colour granules, NT labs catfish pellets then 0.75ml of seachem nourish and 0.75ml seachem garlic guard.

Leave it on the bench for 15-20 mins to defrost then feed my 2 tanks from the one bottle.

[plankton]

Freeze dried need a good 20 min soak before feeding or they can remove water from the fishes' digestive systems and cause problems, so I avoid them.
I also avoid flake and use granules/pellets. I've had fewer problems since I changed.
I have trouble sourcing live food locally, so use frozen - defrost as above (but I only use the food as I use garlic every 3-6 months depending on what's going on).

[John Linklater]

can you does garlic (in liquid form like Seachem Garlic Guard) directly to water or better to mix with food? Was reading a bit about the benefits of garlic last week and wasn't too clear.

[Staffylover]

I like frozen, find live food far too expensive unless you can bulk buy, for Rainbows you might be best with floating foods like mosquito larvae and brine shrimp, Daphnia is good, but you might find it's a little small they will still eat it but not before a good amount gets sucked into the filter, bloodworm can cause bloating issues with certain fish but I think Rainbows would be ok, Tubifex is good but sinks so better for bottom feeders, live tubifex clumps together so that's not ideal some fish may miss out, some frozen food comes pre - soaked in garlic I don't know if that's a good thing it's probably better to soak your own.

I also like Fluval bug bites for bottom feeders, it's a slow sinking granule all fish love it, and for the Cory - Hikari sinking wafers, I try not to use flake but it's handy for new and very small fish.

[Andys temperate tank]

can you does garlic (in liquid form like Seachem Garlic Guard) directly to water or better to mix with food? Was reading a bit about the benefits of garlic last week and wasn't too clear.

This is what I mix the fish food up in John. I feed my fish 2 days on one off now.

https://www.horizonaquatics.co.uk/colle ... 0870706233

[John Linklater]

can you does garlic (in liquid form like Seachem Garlic Guard) directly to water or better to mix with food? Was reading a bit about the benefits of garlic last week and wasn't too clear.

This is what I mix the fish food up in John. I feed my fish 2 days on one off now.

https://www.horizonaquatics.co.uk/colle ... 0870706233

Thanks Andy. I use frozen food once a week that has garlic and aloe Vera added and the fish are noticeably in ore of a rush to eat it. Mixing garlic with pellets and giving them a healthy additive more often makes sense to me.

[Andys temperate tank]

can you does garlic (in liquid form like Seachem Garlic Guard) directly to water or better to mix with food? Was reading a bit about the benefits of garlic last week and wasn't too clear.

This is what I mix the fish food up in John. I feed my fish 2 days on one off now.

https://www.horizonaquatics.co.uk/colle ... 0870706233

Thanks Andy. I use frozen food once a week that has garlic and aloe Vera added and the fish are noticeably in ore of a rush to eat it. Mixing garlic with pellets and giving them a healthy additive more often makes sense to me.

I had a pair of angels spawning every 17-21 days last year when I was feeding that mix daily. The more frozen over dry the better for me.

[Bryan_D]

Thanks very much for all the feedback.
It seems that frozen food and pellets seem to be the way forward. I’ll switch to pellets rather than flakes from now on.
I’ll watch a few vids on YouTube on how to prep and feed using a gamma bottle as recommended.
I’ll experiment with some brine shrimp and mosquito larvae to start off with.
How often should you feed frozen food per week?
Are there any recommended brands? I hear Hikari and gamma are good?
I also have mollies, black phantom tetras, neon tetras, swords and rummy nose tetras in the tank.
Would any of these foods affect them negatively, or would they likely tuck in as well?
I’m completely new to the frozen food diets!

[Andys temperate tank]

I'm feed my fish frozen 4-5 times a week. That's every feed for fish.

All of your fish will benefit from more frozen food.