Hów do you feed frozen bloodworms?

[damien]

I'm feeding my axies frozen bloodworms (red mosquito larvae.. the same thing according to the petshop guy), but I think I feed them a little clumsy.
I have a foodbowl, where I put the frozen cubes in to let them warm up first.
When they're unfrozen I have another bolw that I put on top of the one where the food is in, so that the worms stay in the bowl. If I just put the bowl in the tank, the bloodworms are everywhere.
I think that there should be a better way of doing this, thus my question:
How do you make sure that the food stays in the bowl when you put in in the aquarium?

 

[kclinton]

I defrost mine in a small cup of tank water suck them up in a turkey baster. Them squeeze them into the food dish slow. If you do it slow they will stay in.

 

[gershco]

I used to defrost the bloodworms in a plastic pot, then rinse in cold water and feed them to the axies on the back of the handle of a spoon. The axies would rise to the surface of the water and suck the bloodworms off the spoon. Any bloodworms that sunk were usually eaten before long.

I'm now feeding with trout pellets as I can buy and store them more easily. Most of my juvenile axies took to the pellets striaght away, though the biggest one has been a little more awkward and is only accepting them after about a week of trying.

 

[mary_kate]

I held the cube of frozen bloodworms in the tank and let the axies snap chunks of worms off it. The cube starts to thaw instantly and the worms kind of dangle off the cube. The challenge is to keep hold of the cube while the axie tucks and pulls at it! It's pretty funny watching their little bodies thrashing around as they 'fight' for their food. Not sure if this would work with larger axies...

 

[damien]

Theoretically my adult axies can gulp a whole cube up with no problems.
Isn't it a problem with the temperature? The cubes are frozen..I don't know if it's too cold for them or something.
My juvies only eat one cube, but they are joined together in the package. Breaking is possible, but they're COLD!

Seeing axies fight with their food is só cool I give them long worms on purpose.

 

[dancas]

mine will eat half a cube out of my fingers, the left overs they suck off the floor like vacuum cleaners... frozen works best and they dont mind the temp...(for mine anyway) my oldest boy uses a mechanical arm thingy to feed earthworms....

 

[kapo]

The problem with dropping the frozen bloodworm in or letting it thaw in the tankwater is that the defrosting ice adds to the bioload/waste in the tank.

You should really thaw it before adding it to the tankwater. We thaw it in one of the nets (give it a quick rinse then upend it into the tank). It tends to fall into one small area.

 

[gr33neyes]

i usually give mine frozen bloodworm the day a water change is due. I just hold the frozen cube in the tank and they pull chunks off as it thaws, tried using a container to keep it in but the axies normally flick it about everywhere anyway when they are feeding. I give them an hour or 2 to suck up any left over bloodworm from the tank floor. Then I go in with the hose and do the water change and at the same time i can suck up muck and leftover bloodworm.

 

[nixx1985]

My new axie swims away from where i drop the worm... how to make sure it eats it???

 

[nzgirl87]

i just cut my blood worm cubes in half then using plastic tweezers i wiggle them in the water and my axo's usually just swallow the half cube and theres never much mess!