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

ultraArcite

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

Text guide: Aquarium Co-Op Blog
Video guide: YouTube

2. Have you ever grown your own live aquarium food and which type was it?
I hatch live baby brine biweekly to supplement frozen and pellet foods

3. Which live food, that you can grow at home, is the most beneficial to feed?
I think baby brine is great for the fish and phytoplankton is good for the coral and tank.
 

gerajn01

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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.
You have a website you can share r/t culturing them? What good did they bring your tank?
 

Gtinnel

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You have a website you can share r/t culturing them? What good did they bring your tank?
I got a lot of my information from a longtime aquarist on here @Paul B and from a YouTube Channel (David Ramsey). I started culturing white worms as a possible food source for a picky copperband butterfly fish that wouldn't eat. I can't answer any specific questions about how nutritious they are for the tank but I do know that everything in my tank loves them. They really are as easy to grow as putting some in a tub of moist dirt (or apparently coconut fiber) along with some food (I used wheat bread with full fat yogurt and yeast sprinkled on top). Just put the tub in a dark cool place and wait for them to multiply. Just add new food or replace the uneaten food every few days.
 

Susan Edwards

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I have done copepods, phyto and baby brine. Got too busy to do the copepods and phyto but plan to set up a new batch of each after vacations.

baby brine are easy with the hatchery. I even grew a bunch out and had them in a tiny aquarium to reproduce. That tank crashed. It was too new--like cycled--maybe. Again, will retry it when life settles.
 

MikeTheNewbie

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I have grown both phytoplankton and copepods semi-successfully this year. Working on my new culturing setup in preparation for a mandarin fish.
hey Mark, what challenges are you facing? I've been really lucky with phytho but pods just haven't worked for me. Still trying to figure out what to do differently.
 

Lukeluke

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I got a lot of my information from a longtime aquarist on here @Paul B and from a YouTube Channel (David Ramsey). I started culturing white worms as a possible food source for a picky copperband butterfly fish that wouldn't eat. I can't answer any specific questions about how nutritious they are for the tank but I do know that everything in my tank loves them. They really are as easy to grow as putting some in a tub of moist dirt (or apparently coconut fiber) along with some food (I used wheat bread with full fat yogurt and yeast sprinkled on top). Just put the tub in a dark cool place and wait for them to multiply. Just add new food or replace the uneaten food every few days.
I started skipping the bread after a week or so. I found the worms would dig in, meaning I'd throw them away when I tossed the moldy bread. Maybe wouldn't be a problem once the culture is big enough to eat it all. Is there any reason just yogurt and yeast would be bad? I just put a dollop of the yogurt directly on the mesh, and sprinkle some yeast over it. Worms seem to be doing well so far. Big gross snotty mess of them on the mesh when I check on them in the morning anyway. ;Vomit
 

Gtinnel

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I started skipping the bread after a week or so. I found the worms would dig in, meaning I'd throw them away when I tossed the moldy bread. Maybe wouldn't be a problem once the culture is big enough to eat it all. Is there any reason just yogurt and yeast would be bad? I just put a dollop of the yogurt directly on the mesh, and sprinkle some yeast over it. Worms seem to be doing well so far. Big gross snotty mess of them on the mesh when I check on them in the morning anyway. ;Vomit
I am far from an expert on them but I assume as long as the culture is growing on just the yogurt and yeast then it would probably be fine. For a while I was feeding them cat food just because it was easier, so I don't think they're all that picky.
 

Psychedelic Fins

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hey Mark, what challenges are you facing? I've been really lucky with phytho but pods just haven't worked for me. Still trying to figure out what to do differently.
I've had my phyto crash a few times. That's why I changed culturing vessels. I was using a plastic apple juice container that had ridges that the phyto would get hung up on.

No issues with pods so far. I have them in a dark 5 gallon bucket with very slow air. 1-2 bubbles per second. Add phyto when it is almost clear. I add fresh rodi for evaporation occasionally. I remove some pods for the tank 1-2 times per week. The first culture was good for 2 months before I shut it down. Getting g ready to restart now that my phyto us going again.
 

Lukeluke

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I am far from an expert on them but I assume as long as the culture is growing on just the yogurt and yeast then it would probably be fine. For a while I was feeding them cat food just because it was easier, so I don't think they're all that picky.
Fair enough. Just didn't know if I was missing out on some nutritional value for the fish.
 

willieboy240

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Baby brine shrimp. Super easy. Cheap too. Just buy or 3D print a hatchery. Get the one that looks like a dish with a lid. Has a hole in the middle. Saltwater and brine shrimp eggs. A day later. You have baby brine shrimp. Couldn’t be easier
 

Gtinnel

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Fair enough. Just didn't know if I was missing out on some nutritional value for the fish.
Sorry but I don't have any clue. My guess would be if there is food that is allowing the worms to grow then it is probably nutritious enough for the fish too. Again just my speculation though.
 

FragFarm

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Baby brine shrimp. Super easy. Cheap too. Just buy or 3D print a hatchery. Get the one that looks like a dish with a lid. Has a hole in the middle. Saltwater and brine shrimp eggs. A day later. You have baby brine shrimp. Couldn’t be easier
Any tips I have one and nothing hatch. Tried 2x threw in closet big black dish hole in middle
 

Lukeluke

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Sorry but I don't have any clue. My guess would be if there is food that is allowing the worms to grow then it is probably nutritious enough for the fish too. Again just my speculation though.
No prob. More rhetorical than expecting an answer from you. Wondering out loud. :D
 

ClownSchool

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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.
A picture, or two, would be much appreciated. Sounds very interesting.
 

darwindiaz

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Ive grown baby brineshrimp before when I was breeding rainbowfish. I was thinking of restarting this and see how it would benefit feeding it in a reef tank. Looks like there are some interesting topics about it benefitting corals.

I would like to also grow my own phyto culture.
 

Teku1998

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Would love to see more white worm setups, thinking of doing that myself, also based on the expertise of Paul B.
 
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