Blood worms for saltwater fish?

[Congaken]

I have a pretty new package of frozen Hikari bloodworms...is it a truly bad idea to feed them to salt water fish?...If so, why?... I have 2 ywm, a purple fire fish and chalk bass...I would chop the worms a bit since the fish are small...what do you think?

 

[KorL]

Fish love em

 

[Duke4Life]

Good 2 see everyone is doing well!

 

[brandon429]

It won't hurt. That's giving them protein and vitamins, it's missing the correct form of marine calcium and fatty acids but isn't supplying unhealthy fats. They'll get the required extras in alternate feeds, bworms are harmless to feed, corals included

For three years all I fed my corals was soft frog bite pellets. Still lacking in those two key nutrient groups, those vitals were attained in other ways by the coral including part of the natural food webs that give them small bits to eat. Corals have more of a need for protein in their feed since low natural sources can provide the others, it's fish that need the cholecalciferol and fats beyond nominal givings which is why frog pellets work just fine for years on coral only systems

 

[saltyhog]

I don't feed them regularly but as a treat. Every fish I've ever owned loves them.

I primarily use them in QT to get a finicky fish to eat. Every difficult fish I've gotten through QT got started eating with frozen blood worms.

 

[KorL]

Picky copperbands gobble them up

 

[Congaken]

Good 2 see everyone is doing well!

Thanks, Duke...all looks very good (knock on wood)...purple ff, 2 ywm, and Chucky 2.0...all eating, all happy, no hiding...getting an actinic strip (Reefbar) this week...

 

[Lionfish Lair]

It's absolutely fine to feed our freshwater food items to saltwater fish. It shouldn't be considered a meal replacement. I think that's where people run into the problems we hear about, when the freshwater food is the main bulk of the diet. The hardest issue to overcome is the "wrong fats". Marine fats are only in marine fish. There is nowhere else to get it. It will eventually be an issue for you and I as the stocks of the sea are depleted and the numbers on land increase. There are so many studies going on right know to try and find an alternative. You'll also hear people speak of thiaminase that is found in freshwater fish. It is known as an anti-vitamin and basically renders the Thiamine (Vitamin B1) in your body ineffective. What people don't realize is that marine fish can have that as well, it just happens that the freshwater ones we were commonly using as feeders (carp/goldfish) had it. Not all freshwater fish have it either.

What I "love" hearing is "I've been feeding my fish [insert inappropriate food or feeding regime here] and they are perfectly fat and healthy, so it's fine. That's an eye roller for me. Here's a couple of examples of how the evaluation of their fish is inaccurate. There's a little girl who is now 13 that has a eating disorder. She has only eaten Ramen Noodles for those 13 years. It wasn't her primary food, it was her only food and that's how she made the news. She's alive. She's a beautiful young girl and it's not something you can tell. She looks perfectly healthy. Would anyone here say that is a healthy diet? Anyone?

I remember a 95 year old man was in hospital dying. He smoked since he was 12 and never had any ill effects that were evident. It certainly didn't kill him. Would anyone here say that was a healthy habit? Anyone?

It's the same as "gold fish are perfectly fine to feed because my fish have lived a long time and they look fat and healthy"..... Now, would anyone say it was healthy based on the assessment provided... alive.... fat.... healthy. That's like saying smoking and a 100% diet of ramen is good for you. *eyes rolling*

Unbeknownst to some of us, we are feeding out freshwater fish anyways. There's a food called Silversides that a lot of preds eat.... did you know that a couple of the popular brands sell "freshwater silversides" to our marine fish? PE mysis is also sold to us and that's a freshwater 'shrimp".

 

[Congaken]

It's absolutely fine to feed our freshwater food items to saltwater fish. It shouldn't be considered a meal replacement. I think that's where people run into the problems we hear about, when the freshwater food is the main bulk of the diet. The hardest issue to overcome is the "wrong fats". Marine fats are only in marine fish. There is nowhere else to get it. It will eventually be an issue for you and I as the stocks of the sea are depleted and the numbers on land increase. There are so many studies going on right know to try and find an alternative. You'll also hear people speak of thiaminase that is found in freshwater fish. It is known as an anti-vitamin and basically renders the Thiamine (Vitamin B1) in your body ineffective. What people don't realize is that marine fish can have that as well, it just happens that the freshwater ones we were commonly using as feeders (carp/goldfish) had it. Not all freshwater fish have it either.

What I "love" hearing is "I've been feeding my fish [insert inappropriate food or feeding regime here] and they are perfectly fat and healthy, so it's fine. That's an eye roller for me. Here's a couple of examples of how the evaluation of their fish is inaccurate. There's a little girl who is now 13 that has a eating disorder. She has only eaten Ramen Noodles for those 13 years. It wasn't her primary food, it was her only food and that's how she made the news. She's alive. She a beautiful young girl and it's not something you can tell. She looks perfectly healthy. Would anyone here say that is a healthy diet? Anyone?

I remember a 95 year old man was in hospital dying. He smoked since he was 12 and never had any ill effects that were evident. It certainly didn't kill him. Would anyone here say that was a healthy habit? Anyone?

It's the same as "gold fish are perfectly fine to feed because my fish have lived a long time and they look fat and healthy"..... Now, would anyone say it was healthy based on the assessment provided... alive.... fat.... healthy. That's like saying smoking and a 100% diet of ramen is good for you. *eyes rolling*

Unbeknownst to some of us, we are feeding out freshwater fish anyways. There's a food called Silversides that a lot of preds eat.... did you know that a couple of the popular brands sell "freshwater silversides" to our marine fish? PE mysis is also sold to us and that's a freshwater 'shrimp".

So what is a healthy salt water based diet for little fish?...I do brine, mysis (Hikari), marine flake......

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Variety is the best... flake, pellets, freshwater, saltwater, inverts, fish flesh.... I also feed strawberries, as it's really REALLY hard to get stabilized vitamin C into them. I also use a lot of vitamins and supplements, but that's easier for me to do with the fish I keep.

I had a Orange Spot Filefish for 5-6 years. I'm not sure if you are familiar with them or not, but they are notoriously hard to get onto frozen and then a lot of times they don't thrive. The main thing I fed that fish, besides pellets that it loved oh so much, was shaved frozen "people fish". Cod, Salmon, Scallops, Mussels... whatever was at the market fish counter that week. I cut them in little cubes and freeze them. Then I would take the food out and shave it while frozen with a tiny little grater. That fish looked like a little cigar and did very well until I killed it with neglect. Whatever you can think of, throw it in the mix. So, the best food in my eyes is variety and not one thing in particular.

 

[Greenstreet.1]

Funny I got a pack of blood worms a few months back by mistake and was afraid to use it guess it's time to defrost it and mix it with some larrys. Thank you for the info reefers.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Bust it out, Green!.... it's also getting old, so use it as fast as you can. LOL!

 

[Greenstreet.1]

Going and pull it out in a min give my wrasses an afternoon treat.

 

[PatW]

Even though salt water has far more ions than fresh water, fish pretty much have similar ion concentrations in their tissues whether they come from salt water or fresh. So heck yes, they can eat blood worms.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Some freshwater fish have saltier "innards" than marine even....

 

[Congaken]

Funny I got a pack of blood worms a few months back by mistake and was afraid to use it guess it's time to defrost it and mix it with some larrys. Thank you for the info reefers.

So what are larrys?

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Larry's

 

[Greenstreet.1]

So what are larrys?

LRS fish frenzy has black worms not blood worms

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I think they meant they were going to mix the blood worms with what they normally feed of Larry's products.

 

[ReeferReefer]

I also feed Larry's Reef Frenzy along with San Fransico Omnivore, Mysis, Enriched Brine, Formula One Flake and New Life Spectrum Pellets. I feel variety is important in any diet and blood worms can be used as part of a varied diet. That being said I highly recommend Larry's Reef Frenzy or Rod's food as staple frozen foods since they are high quality fresh sea food blends.