Treats for fish...

[SKISWETPETS]

So I was in the our new pet store today, and I noticed they had frozen brine shrimp. Has anyone fed these to there fish as sort of a treat in there diet, maybe once a week or so to help with growth and or maybe enhance there diet for spawning... 

[danielratti]

Yeah i use a little weekly some times more. For spawing I normally use stuff like blood worms and mysis shrimp.

[Regalblue]

It all depends of which species that you're wanting to give the food to. Not all species digestive systems can handle brine shrimp.

[SKISWETPETS]

I was in the pet store today, and they now have frozen blood worms too. About $3.00 for 4oz. Seems reasonable?

[Ron]

I was in the pet store today, and they now have frozen blood worms too. About $3.00 for 4oz. Seems reasonable?

I've never understood why people like feeding bloodworms so much. To save me some typing...

There have been medical reports that people can develop an allergy to this creature over time (takes 1 – 2 years) just by touching it, breathing in dried blood worm dust or its contaminated water. A bad reaction (itchy or swollen eyes, coughing, shortness of breath, skin swells) to this fish food can build up over several years and you should be aware of this.

If you want some more scientific based research, here's an example:
www.jiaci.org/issues/vol16issue01/11.pdf

Another thing with bloodworms is that they have tiny hooks and sometimes can cause issues in the digestive tracts of fish if they get caught and cause a blockage, particularly those with long intestines (since there's more time spent passing through the gut). FWIW the species with longer intestinal tracts tend to be species with a largely herbivorous diet, as plant material takes longer to break down than animal-based proteins.
(More on the topic if you're not familiar and curious: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Anatomy_and_Physiology_of_Animals/The_Gut_and_Digestion)

As for treats, for species that at least partially consume animal proteins naturally, shrimp/krill/mysis/ or brine shrimp are all things I've used before. For species that are herbivorous,  spinnach/non-iceberg lettuce/zucchini/(and probably a host of other veggies I haven't tried) can be used. This past summer I planted a variety of lettuce in my garden and my tropheus ate it more often than I did.

[Regalblue]

I was in the pet store today, and they now have frozen blood worms too. About $3.00 for 4oz. Seems reasonable?

bloodworms are more for New World species,  feeding them to your JDs would be fine.

& that allergy info Ron posted is No joke. I have developed an allergy to them.  (I used to use it as a staple for Flowerhorn fry)
 Not sure if anybody remembers my post from MittenState,  but I found out about the allergy in a very uncomfortable way..... I went to the bathroom (#1) after feeding a bunch of frozen to my fish&  I thought I had gotten crabs  it was when I went back to feeding some freeze dried to my fry when I realized what was going on. I started sneezing like crazy&  my face got all itchy&  red. It was like I had rubbed my face with a cat. (Another allergy of mine)

& yes I'm sure it was the BW&  not crabs.... Lol

[Marty]

And that was way more info about your bloodworm allergy than I ever wanted to know

[Regalblue]

LMAO!  oh well that's the beauty of being our fearless leader....  You have to read the forum.

Not that it mattered,  as I said there has been posts about it in the past.

[RichE]

Blair, something sounds "fishy" about that story 

Allergies suck

[Ron]

Not that it mattered,  as I said there has been posts about it in the past.

I somehow missed the posts in the past on MS, but while I'm kind of LMAO reading through it, I feel for you - it can be serious stuff! No everyone is affected the same, but I've only bought them once back when I had angelfish, which was before I knew about the potential health issues, and have steered clear since.

[Thriftyfisher]

I feed them regulary to my fish, mostly livebearers and Cory catfish but also to my West African Cichlids.  I have never had a problem with them but I know someone at the local store where I buy them that will not even touch the package to scan them.  The only brand that I purchase are are Hikari BioPure.  8 years of using them and no issues, however, I am not touching them either.  I pop them out of the tray into a glass and then add water to thaw them.  No touching and I normally wash my hands afterwords, so no problems, at least for now.