Anyone feed frozen mice?

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Keeper of the Ropes

Feeder Fish
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Mar 29, 2006
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Pinkies? Fuzzies? Small? Medium? Anybody?

I picked up a four-pack of mediums forever ago, and my mom was cleaning out my freezer and found them (she was SO pleased...). I remember when I tried to feed them back when I bought them, the fish hadn't seemed interested. Before I tossed them in the trash I thought I'd offer them one more time. Both were wolfed down. Any thoughts on it? 44% protein isn't too bad... but their waste is horrible.

Keeper
 
There fine every once in a while but not as a staple

I like pinkies better the fur on larger mice is harder for fish to digest
 
Once in a while as treats should be ok but not as part of the main diet-Anne
 
I guess my question would be, "Why would you?" I mean you're feeding a mammal to a fish! How often do you think that happens in the wild to a bichir in their lifetime? Probably never! Why risk it? You have alot of expensive, upper end bichirs! What if your bichir bichir had blocked up and been unable to pass this mammal? You've already stated that the waste is horrible! What should that tell you? Your bichir may be in-gesting it, but is obviously not di-gesting it! Again that means they're not capable of breaking down a mammal, probably particulairly the fur and bones, to use as nutrition! If you insist on feeding something out of the ordinary, try african aquatic frogs. They're small and usually cheap!:confused:
 
I tried to feed my frozen mouse once........... He just laid there and would not eat :)

Bichirs are opportunistic predators so I would venture to guess that during the flood season there is probably a decent chance they could ingest small mammals that get caught unaware. Also frogs and fish make up a large portion of their natural diet and to my knowledge both of these contain bones.
 
smaller bones or weaker tho
 
Hapdude;2716012; said:
I guess my question would be, "Why would you?" I mean you're feeding a mammal to a fish! How often do you think that happens in the wild to a bichir in their lifetime? Probably never! Why risk it? You have alot of expensive, upper end bichirs! What if your bichir bichir had blocked up and been unable to pass this mammal? You've already stated that the waste is horrible! What should that tell you? Your bichir may be in-gesting it, but is obviously not di-gesting it! Again that means they're not capable of breaking down a mammal, probably particulairly the fur and bones, to use as nutrition! If you insist on feeding something out of the ordinary, try african aquatic frogs. They're small and usually cheap!:confused:

Hmm. What would YOUR waste look like if your diet was 90% grapes? They're healthy... They'd come out VERY digested, correct? And if you ate a fat greasy hamburger? Might be a bit more, um, solid. And that's not so healthy. I don't think you can judge the nutritional value of a food by how it looks coming out of the fish. Ideally, we're trying to offer our fish a wide variety of food and meet several parts of their nutritional needs. WHY would I feed them mice? Something new. Something different. Something they don't get every single day I feed them. Pure curiousity on how they'd react.

***

I fed the fuzzies last night - they're a hit with some fish and not with others. The fuzzies went better than the medium mice; they seemed to go down easier and didn't have nearly as much fur on them. Anyway, yeah I'd vouch for them as food to fatten a fish up, but nothing I'd feed regularly. $10.99 for six of them is a bit high for fish food. But I'm glad to know I'm not the only one to try it :)

Keeper
 
I did once. None of mine were really interested in them so I haven't since. I can't honestly see what negative impact a small mouse would have on meat eating opportunity feeders.
 
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