Grow your own LIVE food! But which one is the easiest?

Have you ever grown your own live aquarium food?

  • YES and it was a success (tell us in the thread)

    Votes: 85 23.5%
  • YES but I couldn't sustain it long term

    Votes: 59 16.3%
  • NO, I tried but couldn't

    Votes: 12 3.3%
  • NO, I have never tried

    Votes: 202 55.8%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 4 1.1%

  • Total voters
    362

revhtree

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Have you ever grown your own LIVE food for coral or fish? YES it takes time and extra effort but can be rewarding and valuable for the health and well being of your reef aquarium. But which one is the best and easiest to grow? Let's talk about it today!

1. Which live food is the easiest to grow at home?

2. Have you ever grown your own live aquarium food and which type was it?

3. Which live food, that you can grow at home, is the most beneficial to feed?


image via @Brad Miller
IMG_0818.JPG
 

hart24601

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I grow baby brine shrimp daily to feed my sps. Plenty of articles on google scholar showing the benefit of bbs and sps growth. It’s pretty amazing how work pumps off the water almost totally clears after an hour or so.
 

gerajn01

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I seriously have tried probably 12 to 15 times to grow a copiopod culture. I had success with the phytoplankton culture but I could never harvest a successful batch of pods. I don't want to completely give up because I want anthias but I need a break.
 

Goaway

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1. Which live food is the easiest to grow at home?

Do amphipods and live macro algae count?
2. Have you ever grown your own live aquarium food and which type was it?
Just algae. Maybe someday I will raise that green water stuff.
3. Which live food, that you can grow at home, is the most beneficial to feed?


Green grape caulerpa and ulva sea lettuce. I just don't see a lot of growth on the ulva, the pods eat most of it.
 

olonmv

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Did the brine shrimp for a bit to feed my mandarin but he’s been eating frozen mysis/brine 2-3 x’s per day. They’re so easy to do.
 

stephnjeph

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I grow a few. I grow multiple cultures of nannochloropsis as it is my staple food source for my pods. The nannochloropsis is grown out in six 1 litre bottles and harvested every other day. I sell off what I don't use in that time between harvests. I have multiple ziss brine shrimp hatcheries set up for baby brine. I hatch daily and again sell off what I do not use. The brine left over is fed nannochloropsis until used or sold. The tispe, tigs, and cycs are all grown out in blacked out 5 gallon buckets. I have three separate cultures of each which are also fed nannochloropsis. I harvest regularly to keep my pod populations up as I have many pod eating fishes. I sell off from time to time whenever I am doing water changes. It works moderately well but takes up a little time each day, alot of space, and looks like a mad scientist lab. Been running it all since 2009.
 

Gtinnel

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I had been growing white worms for my tank. I started as a way to try and get a CBB to eat. All you need is a tub of dirt with some food in a cool dark place. I have since neglected it and the cultures died but I'm considering starting them back up.
 

davidcalgary29

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I had been growing white worms for my tank. I started as a way to try and get a CBB to eat. All you need is a tub of dirt with some food in a cool dark place. I have since neglected it and the cultures died but I'm considering starting them back up.
A tub full of coconut fibre works even better. :)

Grindal (white) worms certainly are the easiest fish food to cultivate: nothing but fibrous substrate (or dirt) and food required. And -- as a bonus -- they're one of the few cultures available in Canada.
 

Rocketfish

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I did several types of redworms, black worms, daphnia, and vinegar eels for raising Apistogrammas years ago.

I have done some baby brine shrimp, but I found the set up a bit more labor intensive for the amount of brine shrimp I got from it. I saw a new little dish that looks fairly simple and have been thinking about getting one and trying again.

Can anyone give insight on the Brine Shrimp Hatchery from BRS?
 

Gtinnel

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A tub full of coconut fibre works even better. :)

Grindal (white) worms certainly are the easiest fish food to cultivate: nothing but fibrous substrate (or dirt) and food required. And -- as a bonus -- they're one of the few cultures available in Canada.
Thanks I'll do that when I setup my new cultures.
 

Cpthairychest

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I tried to grow tiggerpods and they all ended up dying not totally sure why, I had them all in a food safe 5 gallon bucket. Ill probably try again at some point, anyone have advice? Or a good YouTube video they went off to make one?
 

Aquatic acrobat in your aquarium: Have you ever kept an eel?

  • I currently keep an eel in my tank.

    Votes: 29 14.8%
  • I have kept an eel in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 33 16.8%
  • I have not kept an eel in my tank, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 35 17.9%
  • I have no plans to keep an eel.

    Votes: 96 49.0%
  • Other.

    Votes: 3 1.5%
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