feeder fish

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My only concern with guppies, is that they are widely produced as feeder fish, just like comets. When working at PetSmart, majority of the time the guppies had internal parasites bulging out of their sides, or a bad case of mouth/fin rot. The 'needlefish' would get these same parasites after feeding them the guppies.

Mollies are usually a little healthier..

Gut-loading is a great practice. You will also gut-load better if you fast the feeder fish first.

Ghost shrimp are great treats, but I don't see them being a big filler. Even if you gut-load them well, its a small amount of nutrition.

All of the options get expensive..

True, Pellets are 'cheaper' but they are by far the most nutritional.


I have read that predatory fish DO need some live fish in their diet.. Due to the concept that live fish will have nutrition in the bone/spine/organs that prepared/commercial food dosn't offer.
 
When I was in Singapore, the most common food they feed thier arrowanas were crickets and other bugs. (Roaches, beetles, scorpions...) Frogs were also fed to the LFS arrowanas as well. I feel that crickets are the cheapest and probably the healthiest of all the live foods. They're cleaner, easier to gut load and I've never seen crickets with parasites. They are also wasier to keep, all you need is a box with pieces of cardboard and some cricket food (gut load). Plus, they give my arrows a great reddish coloring.
 
Has anyone tried pond minnows from the bait store as feeders? i usually by a few every now and then. mainly because they are bigger in size than most available feeders in town. usually put them thru a 2 week QT before i serve them up. havent had a bad experience with them yet.
 
islander671 said:
Has anyone tried pond minnows from the bait store as feeders? i usually by a few every now and then. mainly because they are bigger in size than most available feeders in town. usually put them thru a 2 week QT before i serve them up. havent had a bad experience with them yet.
Rosies are the albino version of said minnow, which were discussed somewhat.
 
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