i agree on mollies and guppies in tanks with nets ...
more faster and easier even than convicts ...
more faster and easier even than convicts ...
Breeding Feeder fish
- Thread starter Gobrian44
- Start date
I have a breeding pair of Tilapia snyderae and they are the convicts of West Africa. They are always breeding and producing hundreds of fry. They breed so much that I am just using the newly born fry to feed to my Blue Gene Jack Dempseys that are growing out. It really improves the growth rate when fed live food!
How many of you suggesting convicts actually grow out the babies to a usuable size (2" at least). I wonder if you realise the tank space required to do that for one, and the amount of tanks for two.
The work involved in it is also ridiculous. You can't just throw babies in a tank and feed them every day. You need to perform multiple water changes every week to keep nitrates down and remove the growth inhibiting hormone released by growing fish.
I'm not sure on the laws over in America but I assume that goldfish are sold primarily as feeder fish like they are here? IF that is the case then have you wondered why?
a) They don't have sharp spines/fins on them to damage the fish eating them's mouth.
b) They can be breed in huge numbers in outdoor ponds and then grown up in huge numbers in outdoor ponds where there is little maintance required apart from some additional food when needed and some water changes if the pond is on the smaller side.
Guppies are shocking for feeders. They are small runty fish with next to no meat on them. Very little nutrional value. Mollies are better but then again have to be raised to full size before they offer anything better then guppies.
The next question I ask you is why do you want feeder fish? In Australia there is only a very small variety of fish compared to what is available in America, but I assume even still that nearly all and by that I mean over 95% of fish could be adjusted to eating pellets and frozen food. The other 5% probably shouldn't be kept in an aquarium. So why do you want to feed feeder fish that can risk transferring something to your prized fish & then don't offer the nutrions available in commerical foods and frozen foods?
All this has been said assuming the feeder fish are for adult fish, not growing young as the story can be different then as there is no need to grow the young feeders for much longer then a week of so.
The work involved in it is also ridiculous. You can't just throw babies in a tank and feed them every day. You need to perform multiple water changes every week to keep nitrates down and remove the growth inhibiting hormone released by growing fish.
I'm not sure on the laws over in America but I assume that goldfish are sold primarily as feeder fish like they are here? IF that is the case then have you wondered why?
a) They don't have sharp spines/fins on them to damage the fish eating them's mouth.
b) They can be breed in huge numbers in outdoor ponds and then grown up in huge numbers in outdoor ponds where there is little maintance required apart from some additional food when needed and some water changes if the pond is on the smaller side.
Guppies are shocking for feeders. They are small runty fish with next to no meat on them. Very little nutrional value. Mollies are better but then again have to be raised to full size before they offer anything better then guppies.
The next question I ask you is why do you want feeder fish? In Australia there is only a very small variety of fish compared to what is available in America, but I assume even still that nearly all and by that I mean over 95% of fish could be adjusted to eating pellets and frozen food. The other 5% probably shouldn't be kept in an aquarium. So why do you want to feed feeder fish that can risk transferring something to your prized fish & then don't offer the nutrions available in commerical foods and frozen foods?
All this has been said assuming the feeder fish are for adult fish, not growing young as the story can be different then as there is no need to grow the young feeders for much longer then a week of so.
I tried to breed convicts for live feed, and I did, they had babies right away yay right, NO. It took about a month for them to get big enough to at least be handled in a net and 2 months later of WC, FEEDING, filter, heater, they still are not an inch long. I would say do not wast the time, just buy a bunch from the pet store and treat them in their own tank, maybe some will breed, but it would take months for the feeders to get big enough and to have back ups after the first batch is eaten.
tydus;3187457; said:
I agree on tilapia for feeders.
they can spawn every 10 days if need be, just take the eggs from the females mouth and she is ready to go again.
place the eggs in a beaker with some waterflow or airation to keep the eggs moving.
after they hatch place them in a small 10g tank it takes me about 30 days to get them to 2"
i use Niloticus and aurea.
if you like a better setup buy a mac donalds breeding jar at aquaticeco.com
