For those of us who've kept freshwater tiny fish, we know that those fish go into a frenzy hunting down daphnia, brine shrimp, and anything that's alive and small enough to fit in a mouth. Some people even feed live food in the form of feeder guppies/minnows/goldfish to some of the larger fish that we have. Obviously, quarantine is necessary for these live foods, as we have no idea where they came from, and proper quarantine is necessary to keep our fish from getting sick. I'm just wondering if anybody has experience here feeding live food to their sharks and/or rays. In particular, I'm focusing on invertebrate feeders (clams, shrimp, etc.), but if you feed live fish, please comment as well!
Mollusks: I know that cownose rays eat mollusks like clams in the wild. If I were to properly quarantine them, then gut load them with something appropriate like phytoplankton, as well as plumb them into the same system as the rays, would it work? This is based off of clam's filter feeding capabilities. Clams are filter feeders. Whatever the clams eat before they get eaten by the cownoses, is also digested by the rays, so this gives them some sort of access to food items they can't normally eat, like phytoplankton. At the same time, if they were plumbed into the same system, a large amount of the waste produced by rays and sharks could be made into phytoplankton, which would then be consumed by the clams, to be given to the rays at a later date. This would bind nutrients in the water that would normally only be taken out by skimmers and water changes. This would also give the cownoses some thing to chew on literally, as the dental plates would be used to chew the clams, rather than suck shrimp off the bottom or whatever is tossed in the tank for feeding.
(This idea is modified off of ReefCentral's Paul B, who feeds whole clam slices to his fish)
Fish: I don't really know that much, as I've only fed live fish once, in the form of rosy reds given to an archerfish. My idea here, is that fish are bony, and can give a lot of calcium, as well as the contents of their digestive tracts. By gut loading the fish before feeding, then we could give nutrition similar to what our sharks and rays would get in the wild. Also see Shrimp, for ideas on enrichment.
Shrimp: Anybody who's kept shrimp, knows how jumpy they are. The idea here isn't about gut loading, more about enrichment. Public zoos already provide interesting environments for their large animals, so my idea is that our sharks and rays get bored in the same aquarium. From what I've read so far, I can't add objects to a shark/ray tank as that would freak them out. However, I can add shrimp to the tank, which can be hunted down, allowing for rays/sharks to get a tad bit of excitement over the hunt, no matter how measly.
Worms: People use bloodworms (the polychaete, not the chironomid larva) for fishing. I don't know what for, as these worms are nasty little biters. But the important part here, is that certain fish want to eat these guys. That's all I've got for this...
If I've gotten something wrong, please correct me. I'm looking for reasons why to, or not to feed sharks/rays live food.
Mollusks: I know that cownose rays eat mollusks like clams in the wild. If I were to properly quarantine them, then gut load them with something appropriate like phytoplankton, as well as plumb them into the same system as the rays, would it work? This is based off of clam's filter feeding capabilities. Clams are filter feeders. Whatever the clams eat before they get eaten by the cownoses, is also digested by the rays, so this gives them some sort of access to food items they can't normally eat, like phytoplankton. At the same time, if they were plumbed into the same system, a large amount of the waste produced by rays and sharks could be made into phytoplankton, which would then be consumed by the clams, to be given to the rays at a later date. This would bind nutrients in the water that would normally only be taken out by skimmers and water changes. This would also give the cownoses some thing to chew on literally, as the dental plates would be used to chew the clams, rather than suck shrimp off the bottom or whatever is tossed in the tank for feeding.
(This idea is modified off of ReefCentral's Paul B, who feeds whole clam slices to his fish)
Fish: I don't really know that much, as I've only fed live fish once, in the form of rosy reds given to an archerfish. My idea here, is that fish are bony, and can give a lot of calcium, as well as the contents of their digestive tracts. By gut loading the fish before feeding, then we could give nutrition similar to what our sharks and rays would get in the wild. Also see Shrimp, for ideas on enrichment.
Shrimp: Anybody who's kept shrimp, knows how jumpy they are. The idea here isn't about gut loading, more about enrichment. Public zoos already provide interesting environments for their large animals, so my idea is that our sharks and rays get bored in the same aquarium. From what I've read so far, I can't add objects to a shark/ray tank as that would freak them out. However, I can add shrimp to the tank, which can be hunted down, allowing for rays/sharks to get a tad bit of excitement over the hunt, no matter how measly.
Worms: People use bloodworms (the polychaete, not the chironomid larva) for fishing. I don't know what for, as these worms are nasty little biters. But the important part here, is that certain fish want to eat these guys. That's all I've got for this...
If I've gotten something wrong, please correct me. I'm looking for reasons why to, or not to feed sharks/rays live food.
