Switching food

[rachel1]

My larvae had been eating daphnia of various sizes since they hatched out. They are now a month old and I am trying to wean them onto blackworms. I have noticed that their poops have changed significantly, and I'm worried the worms are giving them diarrhea. Is this possible? They used to have nice clean little poop pellets that I could baste out easily. This is the 3rd day on the worms, I am seeing hardly any solids pass, just bits of stringy goo, and the water seems much dirtier. They also seem to have a lower prey response to the worms. I have still been offering some daphnia as well, but much smaller quantities. Does this sound normal? Should I go back to magna, or keep trying with the worms? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[bugdozer]

Same thing happened to mine when I began feeding them bloodworms. I think it's normal. When they got bigger and changed to eating earthworms, their turds changed texture again.

 

[rachel1]

Yeah, I'm a worrier. I think it's just that the worms are more digestible compared to the daphnia. The daphnia probably have more fiber, making for bigger poops. And they might be less enthusiastic about eating cuz I'm over feeding. They still eat lots, it just took a lot more daphnia to fill them than it takes worms. I'm used to feeding about 15 med sized daphnia each twice daily, compared to about 1 or 2 large blackworms(chopped) each. I guess the worms fill them up a bit more. They're obviously eating fine, as most of them are putting on almost 1/8" per day.