Feeder fish everyones FAVORITE

[sampster5000]

Well, they don't exactly get pellets in the wild do they? They eat other smaller fish. Sure there may not be a lot of benefit nutrition wise, but it allows your cichlids to be cichlids and hunt. Plus, hybrid fish... aren't always welcomed in LFS's. There is one I could take mine too, but I don't shop there all that much to use a store credit on fish. Mine have only had feeder fish once since I've had them and they've had Ghost Shrimp 2 times. So 3 live treats spread out over 10 months isn't over doing it.

I like to mimic what happens in nature as well but I also like pellets. I am sure fish dont live as long in the wild. Who knows what kind of diseases and parasites could be crawling all over anything or everything out there. We can control this by not risking things like this. Thats why I would say growing your own fish is the best idea if you for sure want to feed live fish.

 

[Gatorxxx420]

I like to mimic what happens in nature as well but I also like pellets. I am sure fish dont live as long in the wild. Who knows what kind of diseases and parasites could be crawling all over anything or everything out there. We can control this by not risking things like this. Thats why I would say growing your own fish is the best idea if you for sure want to feed live fish.

Mine only get the live stuff as a rare treat. Typically I feed pellets, flakes, frozen brine shrimp with spirulina, frozen mysis shrimp, frozen bloodworms, skinned frozen peas and recently I bought some freeze dried red shrimp they seem to really enjoy. But I'd rather feed them live stuff I've raised that I know is disease free when I go with live feeders. I also get the occasional night crawlers for em. They really like that stuff too.

 

[rain21]

if the fish are big , definitely u need a big tank

 

[Lusus_Naturae]

My preferance would be mollies or platies. I like mollies because they don't eat their babies as much, allowing more to live and grow up without separating them. You can raise them with more salt in the water as well which seems to help with diseases.
I also like platies, the babies had a fairly good survival rate, and they were easy and pretty to look at in a 55 gallon in the livingroom. We used to pick out the ugly ones to feed, even the kids didn't seem to mind feeding those off.

 

[Kaosu]

Well if you really want to breed something for food I say Comets. Get some healthy feeders at your pet store, wait about six months. Then bump the temp up 15F over a couple days and they'll spawn like nuts. Have insuforia ready.
But trust me, it ain't cheaper than buying them for .12$ a pop, and disease can pop up in fish that have been born and raised in your own tanks.

hm i think you have comets confused with guppies....goldfish DONOT reproduce like that...or untill almost 5 years of age...witch for a comet would be huge!...you would need a very big pond or tank.


oh to the topic..

I breed guppies and soon to be convicts. my large female guppies (mature almost 3 inches) gives me 80-90 fry every 3-4 weeks, takes me 3-4 weeks of power feeding a huge verity of food, to ger them to 1/4 to 1/2 inch....but im only feeding 1- 4 inch fish that will max out at about 8....

my breeeder tank is a 10 gallon planted 5 females 2 males...been established over a year now and is a baby making machine ^_^

 

[flowerpower]

Any efforts put into breeding feeder fish would yield more food for your fish if devoted to breeding feeder insects instead. Earthworms, nightcrawlers, megaworms, crickets, cockroaches, etc. are all better for a jack dempsey than feeder fish imo. Insect breeding projects are low maintenance, low cost, and usually highly productive. Most will eat the left over food that you scrape off your plate every night after dinner.

 

[knifegill]

He just wants his fish to grow faster.

Growth is improved by frequent water changes more than food.

 

[sampster5000]

He just wants his fish to grow faster.

Growth is improved by frequent water changes more than food.

I second this.

I also agree with feeding insects over fish, though. But I do understand wanting to mimic nature by feeding smaller fish.

 

[DCOWBOYS]

Depends on the size of fish you're feeding. Guppies maybe? Cons breed quickly, but you'll need a half dozen grow outs to feed them constantly to your predators. If you only wanna treat your fish every once in a while, CONS are a good choice. My puffers get 1 or 2, once a month or so.

I agree.

 

[Cichlid Me Up]

Well i always do water changes no matter what so that isnt the factor.. He might just be growing slow maybe? 6 inchches for a jD for almost a year? a good growing rate or is he just growing slow it seems to me though its just slow