Feeders
- Thread starter jpitcl
- Start date
Feeders are ok as a treat. I would ween the fish off live food to pellets or frozen. Vary it's diet. Give some frozen foods (raw shrimp, bloodworms, ect), pellets, live worms, etc. Feeders are known to cause disease because they are put under so much stress when it comes to shipping them in a bag by the 100+ and if any of them are sick, it'll trasfer to the other fish, especially if the other fish start picking on the dead one. So when your fish eats a diseased fish, it may very well get sick from that sick feeder.
watching a big mean fish smash feeders is soooo cool 
watch out where you get the feeders from. ive seen many a diseased pet shop feeder tank. thers all sorts of things living on some feeders. lucky a shop near me has a nice feeder tanks with not a white spot or worm to be seen.
watch out where you get the feeders from. ive seen many a diseased pet shop feeder tank. thers all sorts of things living on some feeders. lucky a shop near me has a nice feeder tanks with not a white spot or worm to be seen.
feeders to saltwater you are usuallyo.k. hole in head disease is a common problem from feeding feeders to oscars. solution... frozen silversides, quarantine feeders for 1 month with a bunch of medication, a u.v. sterilizer on main tank will help alot to guard against ick
Like goldfish, bala sharks are cyprinids and all cyprinids contain thiaminase. So, while there is nothing dangerous about feeding an occasional cyprinid to your killer fish, I would guess they could cause a thiamine deficiency
It's not just disease and thiaminase that's a concern with comet feeders. The farms that raise comets for live feeder supply use large amounts of copper sulfate to fend off diseases associated with overcrowded grow-out ponds. High copper levels can cause liver disease in fish and can be fatal to reptiles. Quarantining comets does little to reduce copper levels unless 80-90% water changes are done on a daily basis. Copper stays in their systems for a long time after its use.
Feeding a variety of live foods to predators will reduce the risks somewhat. I stopped using feeder comets in lieu of using wild caught and farm raised bait fish. The shiners I get are medicated with methylene blue which is safe for my fish and reptiles.
I still quarantine my live foods and rotate through 4 bins with a week separating each batch. So, 4th week quarantined fish are always the ones to get fed out. I don't medicate my feeders arbitrarily but, only do so if any disease is detected.
The feeders are fed a basic staple during quarantine and then gut-loaded prior to feeding out with high protein foods containing meats and plants so my predators get a full balance with each feeding. I also place Vita-Chem in all my tanks to add/replenish vitamins and minerals to each system.
Feeding a variety of live foods to predators will reduce the risks somewhat. I stopped using feeder comets in lieu of using wild caught and farm raised bait fish. The shiners I get are medicated with methylene blue which is safe for my fish and reptiles.
I still quarantine my live foods and rotate through 4 bins with a week separating each batch. So, 4th week quarantined fish are always the ones to get fed out. I don't medicate my feeders arbitrarily but, only do so if any disease is detected.
The feeders are fed a basic staple during quarantine and then gut-loaded prior to feeding out with high protein foods containing meats and plants so my predators get a full balance with each feeding. I also place Vita-Chem in all my tanks to add/replenish vitamins and minerals to each system.
the best thing to do is raise your own feeders. it may take a little while to get going but once you do you'll have a steady supply of healthy feeders. the easiest things to use are either platys or mollies. feed them a good quality diet so they have some nutritional value to whatever you're feeding them to. 