Does a 3-4 inch RD eat feeder fish

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in truth, red devils are specialized invert eaters. look at Jeff Rapps' wild caught adults. the lips are large and calused due to them always sticking their mouths into crevaces in rocks to suck out snails and shrimp


a.labiat2.jpg



labiat3.jpg


see?

this doesn't mean that they won't eat other fish, it just means that they prefer inverts
 
My midas started hunting 3-4" giant danios before he hit 1.5", so yeah, they will go after live food pretty much anytime. I didn't really plan for him to have access to live food, but they were dither fish for some of the other occupants of the tank. It was fascinating watching him hunt fish that were much larger than he was though!

And none of my fish get feeders. Sure they might get a treat once in a blue moon with fry from some of my other cichlids. You'd be nuts to trust LFS feeders!
 
Connor0729;1679016; said:
in truth, red devils are specialized invert eaters. look at Jeff Rapps' wild caught adults. the lips are large and calused due to them always sticking their mouths into crevaces in rocks to suck out snails and shrimp


a.labiat2.jpg



labiat3.jpg


see?

this doesn't mean that they won't eat other fish, it just means that they prefer inverts


Good post!

Here's a nice comparsion shot showing the lips of the "invert sucker" RD (A. labiatus) next to the more generalized feeder that is a Midas (A. citrinellus). Don't worry, the two didn't stay together long enough to hurt each other. I just pulled their divider for a photo comparison.

IMG_4628.jpg
 
Although new to this site, I have been keeping fish for a long time. I've been over on Oscarfish.com and they have pretty much convinced me that feeder fish are a bad way to go, much like the 1st responder said. A quality pellet is the best way to go. They should make up about 90% of the fish's diet. You can treat with Krill, and the like, but live feedings are to risky if you ask me. Goldfish are the equivalent of fast food. Virtually no nutritional value and you run the risk of introducing a disease or parasite every time you throw one in there. Even Raised/quarantined fish are no guarantee as they may have a disease they have learned to live with, but still harmful to the fish who you plan on feeding them to. I finally made the plunge into the big tank world and got myself a 210. None of my fish have been feed live food. So, consequently, when my convicts breed, I have lost very few... if any to predation.


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RD/Midas AREN'T piscivours. You can clearly see that from their mouth structure. Crenicichla, Cichla, and Parachromis are all CLEARLY Piscivours.

They (RD/Midas) might eat 'feeders' because they are available and easy to catch in the home aquaria environment, but snails, and inverts are their prey of choice.
 
Really, who cares what they eat? Feed them whatever you feel like!!

The main concern here is members not getting along. If you don't like a certain member, or are having problems with that member either avoid them or bite your tongue. Please try to have a civil discussion...
 
Yeah, I did not mean gold fish, and I assumed you were talking about a pretty small devil. If you look at my threads see the one "I kept him"....Not the main devil in the shoot, but the smaller one with a lot more orange, that is the size I thought we were talking about.


It is more than OK, to give them tiny con fry at that size....Like, 2 month old con fry, or home bred, month old guppy fry.....They snatch em up.

When larger, they will get nothing from fish that size. And also when older they will not eat fish IME.


I AM well aware of what the book says, and I have researched fish too much....I know about the calloused lips and the cause and many many many unnecessarily ridiculously minute facts about RD's and New world cichlids in general.

I also feed Omega1, gold, bio gold, new life spectrum, prepped veggies, shell on tail off chopped shrimp, chopped Tilapia, algae wafers, Aquedin mixed cichlid formula, cichlid stix, and so on....



I only make this long winded post out of respect for MFK and all of the members, mods included. I am not stupid, I do research with the best of us, and I think I am just a bit quick minded, as I post in almost all of the forums. I need to SLOW DOWN.......I was misunderstood here....



Bold can be deleted when (if), deemed necessary...:D
 
bigspizz;1676129; said:
Try smaller feeders.....He is still a baby and un sure....Mine will NOT eat a feeder to this day at 9".....
my 6" RD will eat feeders. he doesn't chase them as agressively as my 5" oscar, though. he kinda waits for them to come near his mouth and sucks them up.
 
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