Feeder fish

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A good pellet is all they need. I feed my cichlids NLS exclusively, and I don't feed anything else. (This is of course barring some species that need something else.....But Oscars are fine off of pellets only)

Anything else is just for your enjoyment.
 
petspoiler said:
wild fish are already gutloaded with bugs, smaller fish & algae. keeping them to gutload, it's more likely they'd get
a tank illness.
It's IPs that are risky with wild caught feeders.
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Good points but wouldn't wild fish tend be not as nutritious since they don't have a regular feeding schedule? Or would this actually make them healthier?


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Zfishies said:
Good points but wouldn't wild fish tend be not as nutritious since they don't have a regular feeding schedule? Or would this actually make them healthier?
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well, I was only talking about small fish. Around here, there are warm springs & creeks (in addition to cold waters). The fish in there do good all year. There's always algae, mosquito fish having fry, and blood worms naturally in the water. Fish are eating insects and smaller fish, even their own young. I see occasional stray young trout in there, I'm sure they're scarfing on mosquito fish. I always wonder if those little trout are lost, or seeking out mosquito fish to eat ;-) it's so strange seeing them dart through warm creeks, and I know they prefer cold water. but they're always headed towards the heavy mosquito fish populations. Fast! LOL.
Large fish may go for a while between big meals, but I wasn't thinking of them as 'feeders'.
:-)
 
Me personally i used the "hold" route, which basically means i buy my feeders usually by about 6 dozen and house them in 2 separate quarantine tanks,1 10 gallon and 1 55 gallon, the 10 gallon more of a sick tank which has added "cure all" higher salt content to help rid any illness that maybe lurking i'll keep them in the 10 gallon normally for 48 hours,then sort out the dead ones to the trash the rest get moved into the 55 gallon,which has a similar,chemical balance and curing agents,just has added decor and plecos and so far that seemed to work well for me.Hope this helps
 
ecoli73 said:
Not really. Most fish prefer other stuff over pellets, any pellets. Given a choice, my fish would abandon any pellet and go for the freeze dried affairs; that's why I feed them pellets then the worms and krill.
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You're kidding me right?????

For Oscars, a good quality pellet is all you need. Anything else is just for your enjoyment. End of discussion.

I don't care what their taste buds prefer. 100% good quality pellet is going to provide better nutrition than 50% pellets and 50% whatever you concoct with worms, prawns, krill, etc...
 
LOL Another NLS fanboy. So testy.

Oscars I had would disagree with you ;) They spit out NLS and go for the krill and they were quite healthy when I had them.
 
ecoli73 said:
LOL Another NLS fanboy. So testy.

Oscars I had would disagree with you ;) They spit out NLS and go for the krill and they were quite healthy when I had them.
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Of course they spit pellets out if you are offering them krill when they won't eat pellets. Get them properly pellet trained, and they won't do that. My big haitiensis DESTROYS NLS. But I'm sure if I didn't properly pellet train him like you with your oscar, he'd spit out pellets as well. Again, I don't care what they WANT. I care about what they NEED in order to be healthy.

And I'm not an NLS fanboy. I happen to use it, but there's other good quality pellets out there (such as xtreme).

So you really think you feeding only a few different types of food (such as worms, prawn, tillapia, etc...) is really better than giving your fish a pellet that is designed by people that know what they are doing? Are you a veterinarian or an animal dietician? How exactly is it that you think that the addition of a couple worms will suplement your fish with whatever is lacking in pellets?
 
seedubs1 said:
You're kidding me right?????

For Oscars, a good quality pellet is all you need. Anything else is just for your enjoyment. End of discussion.

I don't care what their taste buds prefer. 100% good quality pellet is going to provide better nutrition than 50% pellets and 50% whatever you concoct with worms, prawns, krill, etc...
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That viewpoint is overly cut and dry- no pun intended. The hard line approach is not totally correct.
As long as the overall diet is balanced, and fresh foods have no disease or parasites, variety is good for fish just like any other animal and people.
I feed good pellets as staples, & just like ecoli, give pellets before fresh & variety items. If not, the fish would start refusing pellets.
You're wrong about there being no benefit. I see my fish's color & vigor increase when adding fresher items.
Would you live on 100% dried foods just because each serving is more "balanced" than when you eat an apple?
Health is not optimized by each bite consisting of exact proportions, but by quality nutrition overall.
Some food elements are ruined by processing, no way around it. Pellets, etc. are a more convenient way for us to have some balance on hand. There are days when pellets are all I feed.
 
@seedubs:

ecoli73 said:
........... Given a choice, my fish would abandon any pellet and go for the freeze dried affairs; that's why I feed them pellets then the worms and krill.
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you need to read. he said he feeds pellets first, then the other things, so fish won't refuse pellets altogether.



seedubs1 said:
........ I'm sure if I didn't properly pellet train him like you with your oscar, he'd spit out pellets as well. ........
like he said.
*[[his fish do eat pellets.]]*


So you really think you feeding only a few different types of food (such as worms, prawn, tillapia, etc...) is really better than giving your fish a pellet ...........
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Again, he never said that.
 
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