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Hi, any tricks on feeding freeze dried tubifex worms to corys? Will they eventually sink if you saoked them long enough?

The cube will disintegrate and the dried worms will float around the tank, eventually falling to the bottom.

I've found that soaking the cubes in hot water makes them sink. I find those from Germany absorb water quicker than the British type.

I soak them a bit of water. Then, take small bits off of the cube. I roll the bit in my fingers for a minute or so at the top of the tank(in the water). This hastens the worms sinking for me.
Amanda

I used to use weighted bell shape grids designed to hold the cubes on the bottom where the corys could suck the worms through the grids. It was ideal for this use. But I have'nt seen this useful product available for many years. No soaking was necessary.
Another way that I accomplish the same thing is to cut a 2x2 in square of craft plastic grid and put a small suction cup at each corner and use it stuck to the front glaa near the bottom, Confining the unsoaked cubes allows the cats to eat at their leisure without loss of floatig worms. Floating worms often end up in the filter where they just rot unless there are other fish that feed at mid to top water.
I use these same home made grids to cover discus eggs when pairs have a pattern of eating their spawns before they hatch.

When feeding my Corys a cube of freeze dried tubifex, I squeeze !

I take the cube in my fingers, lowers it down in the tank to the bottom where the front glass meets the sand, and there I really squeeze hard with my index finger to make it stick to the glass. The cube is almost flat (or half the thickness) when I'm done. When you squeeze, lots of tiny air bubbles are released from the cube.

So when I'm done squeezing, the tubifex cube is almost glued to the front glass:)

The Corys then have a feeding frenzy like never before, they just love tubifex.

Some bits and pieces may be released and float to the surface, but the main part stays down there where the corys gets most of it. They tear bits of it with their mouths and are having a party;-)
Any left overs floating on the surface I remove with a cup. Sometimes though, I don't have to as the corys sense the smell and swims up to feed from the left overs. This behaviour though only occurs in the tanks where there's no other fish than Corys. I think they only do it when they feel completely safe.

mona o wrote:I take the cube in my fingers, lowers it down in the tank to the bottom where the front glass meets the sand, and there I really squeeze hard with my index finger to make it stick to the glass. The cube is almost flat (or half the thickness) when I'm done. When you squeeze, lots of tiny air bubbles are released from the cube.

So when I'm done squeezing, the tubifex cube is almost glued to the front glass:)

Hey thanks for the tip!
It worked a treat until the Hoploâ??s got involved â?? then they sucked it up, taking half each!

I can at least sneak it past the BA Tetras now though.

I tried the same sort of thing with the bloodworm, but I had to bury that in the sand...

mona o wrote:
The Corys then have a feeding frenzy like never before, they just love tubifex.

Is the freeze-dried tubifex concentrated in flavor(I'm not exactly up for a taste-test)? I've used the frozen but they they go crazier for the freeze-dried tubifex. The other foods, the frozen gets their attention quicker. It's so much fun to watch. I didn't know they could tear like that!
Amanda

Tried squeezing the air out of the FD cubes and it worked, it stayed in the bottom!

Yep, my method is to cut the cube in half (or quarters, for my three cories even less than a quarter is more than enough for one feeding), drop the chunk into a small cup of water, squeeze the air out, and then pour off whatever little pieces that won't sink. Then I pour the worms into a length of PVC pipe that goes straight to the bottom, wait for them to settle, lift the tube, and watch the party begin.

As far as taste, I'm using Wardley's and the cories love them. Meanwhile my betta, who will gorge himself on grindals, spits them out immediately. The difference in people... err... fish I guess.

It strikes me that you're all so positive about tubifex. I used to feed it a lot long ago, until I found out it came from relatively bad waters and could easily carry diseases. That's no problem with freeze dried worms, you might say. True.
But I also heard these little worms are full of PCB's, which will not be digested by fishes but remain in their bodies. I doubt it that the process of freeze drying will get the PCB's out of the worms. Overhere it's nowadays almost impossible to buy live tubifex; freeze dried can however still be bought, but is regarded as inferiour food.

Marc van Arc wrote:But I also heard these little worms are full of PCB's, which will not be digested by fishes but remain in their bodies. I doubt it that the process of freeze drying will get the PCB's out of the worms. Overhere it's nowadays almost impossible to buy live tubifex; freeze dried can however still be bought, but is regarded as inferiour food.

I've heard this also. But it really depends on the source of the worms.

"Tubifex were once commonly collected in open sewers in Mexico because they thrive in polluted waters with high aeration and good circulation. These days, most Tubifex come from Worm Farmers or from trout or salmon hatcheries, where they are collected from the race-way effluent."
http://www.gsas.org/Articles/1997/tubifex.html

Isn't that an old myth, Marc van Arc?
It used to be like that, but hardly no more?

Anyway, I don't use FD tubifex too often because it's very fat and like humans it's not good for fish to build up too much fat and weight:) But I use it when I try to condition them before spawning. It's excellent for the females egg production.

mona o wrote:Isn't that an old myth, Marc van Arc?
It used to be like that, but hardly no more?

I am very old...
Seriously, it's been decades since it was regularly available here, so I can't possibly say anything about the quality of tubifex nowadays.
If it has improved like you say, I wonder why LFS-ses overhere (still) don't sell it again. My fishes used to be very fond of it and I wouldn't mind feeding "good" tubifex.

Just a glimpse of the feeding frenzy that occurs when feeding FD tubifex. They go totally mad, stacking themselves in layers upon eachother to reach the food:D

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