Although there are many good types of food and some great types of food I would like to mention a food that I believe almost no one (except me) uses to feed to saltwater fish. I am refering to live blackworms which are sold in just about every LFS (in NY anyway) but I find that they are rare in other states. 
I know about the talk that freshwater foods should not be fed to saltwater fish and that is mostly true except for worms.
Fish will get into breeding condition in a couple of weeks by feeding live blackworms, how do I know? I have been feeding blackworms to fish to induce spawning and general good health for three decades. When I started in this hobby the only fish for sale were blue devils and a few other damsels. At the time I was also keeping fresh water and brackish fish so I always had blackworms. After just over a week of eating live blackworms, blue devils would start to spawn. I had one pair in particular that lived 7 years and spawned every few weeks by eating black worms almost exclusively. I also believe that they were responsible for my moorish Idol to reach almost five years old.
(he died in an accident) Blue devils, when sold are for the most part blue (duh) with clear tails. After feeding blackworms for a while some of the fish will also develop blue tails and these are the males. (personal experience) I don't know if they were born males or became males but since I have spawned many of them I know they are males. I do not keep blue devils any more but I never forgot what those worms did for the damsels.
I now keep mostly gobies (I get on a kich every now and then, now it's gobies)
Anyway, just about all fish will eat worms and you can see very plainly how healthy fish will become with this food. Copperband butterflies in particular will really thrive with them and I would not keep a copperband without black worms.
The problem with most fresh foods like fish, squid, and scallops is that we are only feeding the muscle of these "meats" Most of the nutrition lies in the viscera or guts. In the sea, fish eat entire fish, not just the fillets. Almost all of the vitamin "A" resides in the liver of fish (Vitamin A in a shark makes up almost a quarter of it's weight in it's liver)
From my 40 years of diving I can tell you that most fish eat other fish, entire fish. Even tangs which are algae eaters pick up many baby fish in their quest for algae.
When we feed live worms we are feeding the entire worm, Worms are mostly protein and contain oil, not fat. Never having eating one myself (on purpose anyway :shock: ) I am not sure how much of what type of oil worms contain but I am fairly certain that they contain a good quantity of omega 3 oil.
I have been telling people for years that fish in breeding condition (which they seldom are in captivity) almost never contract disease. If you do any diving you can see the difference in wild fish as compared to captive fish.
Anyway, I will have to continue this later as to keeping, obtaining, and feeding worms.
I will have to finish this later if anyone is interested in keeping or feeding them. Of course Iknow that many people use them but I posted this for anyone who wanted some information on a great food source.
Have a great day.
Paul
I know about the talk that freshwater foods should not be fed to saltwater fish and that is mostly true except for worms.
Fish will get into breeding condition in a couple of weeks by feeding live blackworms, how do I know? I have been feeding blackworms to fish to induce spawning and general good health for three decades. When I started in this hobby the only fish for sale were blue devils and a few other damsels. At the time I was also keeping fresh water and brackish fish so I always had blackworms. After just over a week of eating live blackworms, blue devils would start to spawn. I had one pair in particular that lived 7 years and spawned every few weeks by eating black worms almost exclusively. I also believe that they were responsible for my moorish Idol to reach almost five years old.
(he died in an accident) Blue devils, when sold are for the most part blue (duh) with clear tails. After feeding blackworms for a while some of the fish will also develop blue tails and these are the males. (personal experience) I don't know if they were born males or became males but since I have spawned many of them I know they are males. I do not keep blue devils any more but I never forgot what those worms did for the damsels.
I now keep mostly gobies (I get on a kich every now and then, now it's gobies)
Anyway, just about all fish will eat worms and you can see very plainly how healthy fish will become with this food. Copperband butterflies in particular will really thrive with them and I would not keep a copperband without black worms.
The problem with most fresh foods like fish, squid, and scallops is that we are only feeding the muscle of these "meats" Most of the nutrition lies in the viscera or guts. In the sea, fish eat entire fish, not just the fillets. Almost all of the vitamin "A" resides in the liver of fish (Vitamin A in a shark makes up almost a quarter of it's weight in it's liver)
From my 40 years of diving I can tell you that most fish eat other fish, entire fish. Even tangs which are algae eaters pick up many baby fish in their quest for algae.
When we feed live worms we are feeding the entire worm, Worms are mostly protein and contain oil, not fat. Never having eating one myself (on purpose anyway :shock: ) I am not sure how much of what type of oil worms contain but I am fairly certain that they contain a good quantity of omega 3 oil.
I have been telling people for years that fish in breeding condition (which they seldom are in captivity) almost never contract disease. If you do any diving you can see the difference in wild fish as compared to captive fish.
Anyway, I will have to continue this later as to keeping, obtaining, and feeding worms.
I will have to finish this later if anyone is interested in keeping or feeding them. Of course Iknow that many people use them but I posted this for anyone who wanted some information on a great food source.
Have a great day.
Paul
