Feeding Largemouth mice,safe??

[ozz465]

Excelent post grmanrocks.

 

[sandtiger]

1. yes the defienition of our hobby is to keep fish in the best possible habitat, and if we all "toss our bass into a pond where it belongs" then there wouldnt be much of a hobby to have then would there? my goal as an aquasitst , and i think i speak for many when i say this, is to keep my fish in as accurate, as comfortable, and as close to wild conditions as i can.

As accurate and as close to wild conditions as possible? Reading your sig I see a vast selection of fishes from all parts of the world being mixed together. I see African frogs mixed with South American catfish, whats natural about that? Trust me, I know people who keep their tanks as natural as possible, it's not very difficult to do actually.

and as for the fish using less energyin a tank i think you are very wrong my freind, bass arnt aquarium fish, they're wild,

When a bass is placed in a tank it is an aquarium fish and it adjusts to life inside of that aqarium.

and as a fisherman i can tell you that a bass uses the same amount of energy hoovering in one place under a lilypad waiting for food to drop by in a lake as it does in a tank.

How can you say that? You cannot compair a bass living in a tank that can fit in your house to a lake larger than your house. It's not a simple matter of "hovering under a lillypad" sure, wild bass do that but in addition to that they are doing so much more, things you don't even know about. In an aquarium bass don't have to "hunt" for their food, it has no place to go, it barely even has to swim after it. A bass cannot even swim at it's potensial maximum speed in aquaria. This part of your post shows a complete lack of knowledge on the lifecycles and behaviors of wild fishes.

one of the resons i feed my fish the occasional like food is so that they use energy to catch it !!!

That's like a fat guy who runs downstairs to eat a Big Mac. Sure, he used energy by running downstairs but he he still ate an unhealthy fatty Big Mac and pretty much gained nothing from the brief energy burn experiance.

2.i agree with the fact that mammalian flesh can be dangerous, if it isnt burned off, which is why i would only feed a lmb a mouse once a month or once every 2 months.

Being cold blooded, bass don't process their food like a human would, you assume that just because you can burn something fatty and unhealthy off in a short period of time so can a bass. You're wrong, there is a reason fish can go a month or more without food and you cannot. Even feeding your bass a mouse once a month is in my opinion dangerious and not necessary.

also in a deit consisting of a variety of things, such as prepeared foods, live fish, and dry foods, frogs, and the odd cricket or grass hopper. the fish gets pletnty of exercise and plenty of variation.

Exercise? I strong doubt it...refer to my Big Mac statement. People don't excercise by running to the fast food joint for a burger.

3. fisrt of all i dont see the relevance in what i feed my cats and dogs but ill give ya the breakdown neways.

Here is the relevance. You argue that bass are hunters and to deny them them the ability to hunt is to take away their "bassness" or whatever the heck you wanna call it. Well cats and dogs are also predators who enjoy hunting. Why do people think fish need to be fed live foods but not mammals? Why is it okay to post a video of a bass (or whatever) eating a mouse in a glass box but not ok to post a film of a cat locked in a small room with a mouse to hunt? Surely you can see the point I am making.

i currently only have 2 cats and both are quite the outdoosry type, they bring home plenty of mice, birds,lizards, rabbits and squirrels. and yes

Okay, so you have outdoor cats...figured you might. But if those cats lived indoors would you bring them home live prey to "benefit" from?

i do think that they benefit from this in addition to the spare table scraps and dry food that they get.

Do they benefit from any worms or parasites they might pick up from these wild animals?

i also know that they enjoy this hunting that they do. if they didnt they just wouldnt do it, they get plenty of other food and have no need to supplement their diets, but wow guess what, they hunt newyas isnt that wierd

Ugh, once again you are compairing an animal to a human. Firstly, you compair a cat to a fish. Like humans cats are a somewhat complex and intelligent animal...unlike a bass (don't even try to tell me a LMB is as smart as a cat or dog). Cats may very well enjoy the hunt, more likely it's simply their instincts telling them to hunt, they have an urge to do it that they cannot ignore, an urge that has been hard wired in the heads of all cats for the millions of years they have existed. Cats are not humans and bass are not cats.

dude, fish eat what they eat for a reason, if a bass eats a mouse then nature has equipped it with the ability to do so, now if ud let me be i have to go feed my fish

Nature equipped you to eat a variety of foods as well, many that you probably don't eat probably for health reasons. Just because you can eat something does not mean you should. Nature has equipped bass to eat a mouse but not in the conditions that you keep it with. Aquariums completely go against the rules of nature, the same rules don't apply.

Something to think about. Nature has also equipped fish with the ability to breed and pass on their genetic material...so with that in mind maybe you should start spawning all your fish. To deny any living thing the ability to pass on it's genetic material is to go against nature and the nature of the beast. You want happy fish don't you?

so lagemouthbadbass, u want a healthy truely monster bass right? heres what id feed it....

one of the following once a month:
1 frozen or live pinky mouse or 1 frog or 3 large grasshoppers

once a week:
about 2-7 quarentied minnows from your local bait store

dialy:
cut market shrimp
hikari sinking carni pellets

I'm going to post what I think would be best. In the interest of shareing information.

To the original poster
Daily: If you can do it, a high quality pelleted food would be best. my LMB eats mostly Omega One but I give him others as well. A variety of dry foods would also help.
OR
Since your bass won't eat dry foods I suggest something like earthworms or other inverts. Worms are cheap, healthy and unlike fish aren't as risky in regards of passing on a disease or parasite. Other inverts would also be a great choice. Many LPS sell crickets, mealworms and other similer stuff. Crayfish would also be a great part of a largemouth's diet and these can be bought in baitshops.
OR
Some kind of frozen food. I have just started buying frozen silversides for my fish. These are disease free and even my most picky fish (a rockbass) will eat them. I don't have to take care of them either. I also alternate with other frozen foods. Bloodworms, daphinia, krill or shrimp, beefheart, squid, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp...there are tons, I have used all the ones mentioned above. These obviously won't work as well with larger bass unless he swallows the cube whole.

Treats: Fish, ampibians or if you absolutely MUST...mammals. Make sure you QT whatever fish or amphibians you get. Amphibians can actually be a great part of a bass's diet but I put them as treats simply because they are messy. Make sure you clean the tank after giving them amphibians or especially mammals. As for mammals, I don't agree with giving them to a bass but If you really have to do it I would make it a very rare treat, something like a couple times a year when your friends are over and you absolutely must show off the awsome power of a bass in a box.

 

[Horiyoshi III]

Hey sandtiger.i do feed him crickets and mealworms and earthworms,iv'e even considered injecting small amounts of vita-chem into an earthworm for vitamin supplemtation...........good no??

 

[justin]

I gave my ferrets a couple mice every week to play with. It was great watching them play with it and rip it apart and then it eat.

 

[Polypterus]

Hey sandtiger.i do feed him crickets and mealworms and earthworms,iv'e even considered injecting small amounts of vita-chem into an earthworm for vitamin supplemtation...........good no??

If you are not feeding any prepared foods to the fish then this would be good to do. Don't overdo it though just inject a worm or two with a small amout. In the ideal world you should weigh your fish and supplement appropriately from that. This is not so easy and it is understood it is not. so go with very small doses infrequently. Just try to keep up providing as varied a diet as you can Untill your fish will take prepared foods. (Minus the Mice man it is not needed and has no point or any real benifit that cannot be found elsewhere).

 

[grmanrocks]

As accurate and as close to wild conditions as possible? Reading your sig I see a vast selection of fishes from all parts of the world being mixed together. I see African frogs mixed with South American catfish, whats natural about that? Trust me, I know people who keep their tanks as natural as possible, it's not very difficult to do actually.



When a bass is placed in a tank it is an aquarium fish and it adjusts to life inside of that aqarium.



How can you say that? You cannot compair a bass living in a tank that can fit in your house to a lake larger than your house. It's not a simple matter of "hovering under a lillypad" sure, wild bass do that but in addition to that they are doing so much more, things you don't even know about. In an aquarium bass don't have to "hunt" for their food, it has no place to go, it barely even has to swim after it. A bass cannot even swim at it's potensial maximum speed in aquaria. This part of your post shows a complete lack of knowledge on the lifecycles and behaviors of wild fishes.



That's like a fat guy who runs downstairs to eat a Big Mac. Sure, he used energy by running downstairs but he he still ate an unhealthy fatty Big Mac and pretty much gained nothing from the brief energy burn experiance.



Being cold blooded, bass don't process their food like a human would, you assume that just because you can burn something fatty and unhealthy off in a short period of time so can a bass. You're wrong, there is a reason fish can go a month or more without food and you cannot. Even feeding your bass a mouse once a month is in my opinion dangerious and not necessary.



Exercise? I strong doubt it...refer to my Big Mac statement. People don't excercise by running to the fast food joint for a burger.



Here is the relevance. You argue that bass are hunters and to deny them them the ability to hunt is to take away their "bassness" or whatever the heck you wanna call it. Well cats and dogs are also predators who enjoy hunting. Why do people think fish need to be fed live foods but not mammals? Why is it okay to post a video of a bass (or whatever) eating a mouse in a glass box but not ok to post a film of a cat locked in a small room with a mouse to hunt? Surely you can see the point I am making.



Okay, so you have outdoor cats...figured you might. But if those cats lived indoors would you bring them home live prey to "benefit" from?



Do they benefit from any worms or parasites they might pick up from these wild animals?



Ugh, once again you are compairing an animal to a human. Firstly, you compair a cat to a fish. Like humans cats are a somewhat complex and intelligent animal...unlike a bass (don't even try to tell me a LMB is as smart as a cat or dog). Cats may very well enjoy the hunt, more likely it's simply their instincts telling them to hunt, they have an urge to do it that they cannot ignore, an urge that has been hard wired in the heads of all cats for the millions of years they have existed. Cats are not humans and bass are not cats.



Nature equipped you to eat a variety of foods as well, many that you probably don't eat probably for health reasons. Just because you can eat something does not mean you should. Nature has equipped bass to eat a mouse but not in the conditions that you keep it with. Aquariums completely go against the rules of nature, the same rules don't apply.

Something to think about. Nature has also equipped fish with the ability to breed and pass on their genetic material...so with that in mind maybe you should start spawning all your fish. To deny any living thing the ability to pass on it's genetic material is to go against nature and the nature of the beast. You want happy fish don't you?



I'm going to post what I think would be best. In the interest of shareing information.

To the original poster
Daily: If you can do it, a high quality pelleted food would be best. my LMB eats mostly Omega One but I give him others as well. A variety of dry foods would also help.
OR
Since your bass won't eat dry foods I suggest something like earthworms or other inverts. Worms are cheap, healthy and unlike fish aren't as risky in regards of passing on a disease or parasite. Other inverts would also be a great choice. Many LPS sell crickets, mealworms and other similer stuff. Crayfish would also be a great part of a largemouth's diet and these can be bought in baitshops.
OR
Some kind of frozen food. I have just started buying frozen silversides for my fish. These are disease free and even my most picky fish (a rockbass) will eat them. I don't have to take care of them either. I also alternate with other frozen foods. Bloodworms, daphinia, krill or shrimp, beefheart, squid, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp...there are tons, I have used all the ones mentioned above. These obviously won't work as well with larger bass unless he swallows the cube whole.

Treats: Fish, ampibians or if you absolutely MUST...mammals. Make sure you QT whatever fish or amphibians you get. Amphibians can actually be a great part of a bass's diet but I put them as treats simply because they are messy. Make sure you clean the tank after giving them amphibians or especially mammals. As for mammals, I don't agree with giving them to a bass but If you really have to do it I would make it a very rare treat, something like a couple times a year when your friends are over and you absolutely must show off the awsome power of a bass in a box.

ok, ok we have both presented great points and counter points and have definatly provied largemouthbadbass with plenty to base his decision on, now i have to clarify something

i have recentyl taken quite a long break form the hobby due to all the moves ive made in the past few years, and i got back in with a few tanks, ive only set up a few tanks and my bigger ones are waitng in the backyar to be set up.
the tanks in my sig are not an adequate example of my fishkeeping,the 10 gallon listed as "who the hell knows" is now an amzon biotope with corys and neons. the 10 gallon with the corys and frogs was put together against my will (not to fond of the frogs execpt for feeders for bichirs) and is my 3 year old bros tank, and the 29 gallon is a sort of recsue tank, the african butterfly and bichir were its original inhabitants. the L-200 was bought by a freind and presented to me as a gift, the red tailed shark had a bout of ich n the sotre he was from so i decided id treat him, and the rapheal was also a rescue from petco, it was in with african cichlids . my this november the tanks will be divided into continintal set ups.

with my 125 as being a polypterus tank (plus the L-200 cuz i dont have another place for him)
my 29 will be a temporary native species tank for my sturgeon (dont flame me! he was in real bad shape in a lfs and im trying to get him up and runnin so he can be adopted and hes like 2 inches long)
and my 41 gallon hex will be an asian set up with the red tailed shark and some gouramies and the like

so ya i do like to keep my fish in as close to natural as i can but im having soem truble right now (i have this thing called compassion and when thres a fish in bad conditions i just cant help but try and give it a new lease on life), the new fish come in faster than the new tanks.......

i agree with you on a lot of pionts and im sure i have presented points that you have had to think on. so lets give it a rest shall we?

]v[FK FOREVER!!!

 

[Skipjack]

Good job Sandtiger!

 

[Horiyoshi III]

Hey,i have no problem(Monetarily or otherwise) feeding him live foods,and supplementing with vita-chem,should be a different experience injecting worms with it!! See,just feeding this guy is fun!!!!!

 

[fishingaddict]

lasrgemouth eat everything, ive fed mine worms, fish, circkets, lizards, frogs.. pretty much anything that moves

 

[soggysandwich]

you could prob feed it frozen mice, i wouldnt go live and also maybe as a treat not an every day kinda thing