# Other Aquarium Forums > Fish Care, Nutrition and Water Management >  Which is better, frozen blood worms or live tubifex

## allblacks

I'd like to find out from all who feed live / frozen worms to their fish friends...which is your preference.

I personally like to feed my fishes frozen worms but sometimes, they are too big for the cherry barbs and I see them struggling to intake the worms.

Live tubifex is smaller and thinner but more troublesome to maintain due the low heat tolerance. Once they turn blackish, it's a goner.

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## astro

There are smaller frozen blood worms ard

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## aquarius

After you defrost the bloodworms, use a pair of scissor and roughly cut up the worms into smaller pieces. Actually it's best to feed live worms cos you don't know how long the frozen ones have been kept, much like frozen chicken or fish that one would buy from the supermarket won't be as fresh as live ones. The problem with live tubifex or bloodworms is you need to wash and disinfect it with potassium permanganate first before feeding it to your fishes (very troublesome) and also live feed cannot be kept long.

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## allblacks

> After you defrost the bloodworms, use a pair of scissor and roughly cut up the worms into smaller pieces. Actually it's best to feed live worms cos you don't know how long the frozen ones have been kept, much like frozen chicken or fish that one would buy from the supermarket won't be as fresh as live ones. The problem with live tubifex or bloodworms is you need to wash and disinfect it with potassium permanganate first before feeding it to your fishes (very troublesome) and also live feed cannot be kept long.


Thanks aquarius for the tips, I previously just washed them with water whenever the water in which they are kept turned red or there is a strong smell. I noticed that after continuously feeding the c.pandas with the live tubifex, some of them had bodies that turned black instead of their usual pearl color. It is alarming and I think I will put them into Quarantine Tank soon.
I read somewhere within this forum that mouthwash can be used as well to disinfect the live tubifex. Have you done that before?

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## aquarius

I've never used mouthwash before so i can't comment on it..... Another tip would be to buy live worms, disinfect and wash them properly then freeze them in the freezer. That way you'll be assured that your worms are always quite fresh.

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## allblacks

> I've never used mouthwash before so i can't comment on it..... Another tip would be to buy live worms, disinfect and wash them properly then freeze them in the freezer. That way you'll be assured that your worms are always quite fresh.


That's a good idea-I'll exhaust my current batch of frozen blood worms then I'll freeze a batch of tubifex worms after disinfection process. Thanks for the tips!

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## clkong

i will advise not to use both either frozen or live. dry pellet the best. i have very bad experience with either forzen or live food, kill my entire bettas and flowerhorn infected with parasites

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## allblacks

> i will advise not to use both either frozen or live. dry pellet the best. i have very bad experience with either forzen or live food, kill my entire bettas and flowerhorn infected with parasites


Sorry to hear of your loss.
I bought worms that are treated with X-ray to kill whatever that is not to be there before being fed to the fish.

The only issue is they are too thick and my cherry barbs and cories looked like they are facing much problems in chomping the frozen blood worms down. Cutting it into smaller pieces did not work as it does not reduce the thickness of each blood worms. 
The other thing is the worms need to be defrosted before feeding other small fish like mine will hav a temperature shock if they rush to grab the worms as they always do because they do so love them. Read this info some where..Time consuming if you ask me.

Especially my cherry barbs which don't really eat The hikari micro pellets which the females devour with relish, I nave only to feed him worms. He's getting thinner by the day now as I have been busy. He refuses the dried worms too. Stubborn guy lol  :Razz:

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## RonWill

> i have very bad experience with either forzen or live food, kill my entire bettas and flowerhorn infected with parasites


 Just one question. How well do you wash live tubifex?

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## astro

I believe in feeding live food as they are natural & bountiful in our region, unlike Europe etc

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## wilsonguppy

> I'd like to find out from all who feed live / frozen worms to their fish friends...which is your preference.
> 
> I personally like to feed my fishes frozen worms but sometimes, they are too big for the cherry barbs and I see them struggling to intake the worms.
> 
> Live tubifex is smaller and thinner but more troublesome to maintain due the low heat tolerance. Once they turn blackish, it's a goner.


 
In my opinion, I feel that both will be good. However, the difference i that frozen has lower chance of receiving bacteria or germs as compared to live tubifex.

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## allblacks

> In my opinion, I feel that both will be good. However, the difference i that frozen has lower chance of receiving bacteria or germs as compared to live tubifex.


Yes agree- mixed diet of live , frozen and pellets are what I feed to my community tank.
Even Otos join in the fun when I drop some micro pellets.

As for live worms, I wash them everyday until the water that they live in becomes clear and no sediment is floating around. 
In my bid to disinfect a previous batch, I tried rinsing them with potassium permanganate until water becomes clear.
However, i think it was not so clean after two casualties resulted from this incident.
Darned...

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## wilsonguppy

> Yes agree- mixed diet of live , frozen and pellets are what I feed to my community tank.
> Even Otos join in the fun when I drop some micro pellets.
> 
> As for live worms, I wash them everyday until the water that they live in becomes clear and no sediment is floating around. 
> In my bid to disinfect a previous batch, I tried rinsing them with potassium permanganate until water becomes clear.
> However, i think it was not so clean after two casualties resulted from this incident.
> Darned...


How did you manage to wash the water of ur tubifix till no sediment can be found?

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## tetrakid

Whenever I want to give my fish a Tubifex treat, I will always buy only those fresh and succulent ones I come across in the lfs. It can be easily seen by the good colour and liveliness of the whole batch on display.

I then feed it to my fish after jet rinsing it a few times in a big container, by using tap water.

After that first feed, I immediately pour ice-cold water over the remainder and drain the excess cold water until only a thin layer of water is covering them the worms. I then put it in the freezer to freeze. The next day, I only need to break a piece of the thin 'ice-biscuit' and feed the frozen worms to my fish.

I never leave live Tubifex worms overnight. Washing Tubifex worms after they are left overnight can never make them safe for fish. This is because dead worms and 'partially dead' worms are not easy to separate from the other worms.

If one must feed Tubifex every day, it is best to buy fresh ones every day if that's possible. Live fish shops usually have their own on-going culture of good Tubifex for a constant supply.

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## wilsonguppy

Woh that will be hard work. No wonder a lot of hobbyists would prefer Brine shrimps.

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## RonWill

Hard work then better don't keep fish. I heard that pet rocks don't need maintenance leh...

Okay, I was being mean to say that but seriously, how far and how much to provide for our fishes depends on our expectations from them. Personally, I love to breed fishes and will stop at nothing to provide the best for them, even if it means spending lots of time (like an idiot) cleaning tubifex, maintaining live-food cultures or making home-made goodies.

Newly hatched BBS is very good and full of nutrition but eating the same thing everyday is boring. Danged if I have to eat roti prata every meal for a week!!

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## tetrakid

Hatching Brine Shrimp also requires a lot of work. Though they will hatch in a day or two, they require attention too, mainly to ensure the air supply and lighting is okay. It is easier to buy fresh Tubifex every other day.

By the way, freezing Tubifex does not really require much work. It is a very easy and simple process. After freezing a batch, it can last for many days.




> Woh that will be hard work. No wonder a lot of hobbyists would prefer Brine shrimps.

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## allblacks

> How did you manage to wash the water of ur tubifix till no sediment can be found?


I use a sieve, tweezers, and spoon - combination of some or all. It's really a best effort basis. I unravel the worms by pouring some water on them , thereby loosening the unwanted stuff from the worms. Then followed by quickly pouring out the suspended gunk plus the vile black and grey bits. Sometimes I have to use tweezers to get these out.

I will try to make worm wafers out of a new fresh batch of tubifex sometime this week after getting the tips from tetrakid.  :Smile:

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