Feeding Wild Caught Fish to Rays?

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T

tanglovers

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Dec 28, 2007
528
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Michigan
Hi All,

I am an avid fisherman and was wondering if any of the fish I catch (mostly panfish) could be fed to my rays.

Most of my fishing is done in the Great Lakes (Lake Michigan) or small inland lakes in the area.

What sort of disease / parasite issues would be of concern? I would not plan on feeding whole fish but instead fillets. Would there be anything I could do to the fish to eliminate any disease concern - is freezing enough?

If this is a viable option, would the fillets need to be completely boneless or could the rib cages stay in?

Thanks!
 
I should problably add this would not be fed exclusively would be fed periodically and possibly mixed in with the homemade diet I have been making.
 
Thats perfectly fine. As long as the fish are frozen thoroughly then theres no worry. Just remember to thaw it out lol(One of my mistakes).
 
Hmm...freezing it should kill any parasites. I don't imagine contamination would be a problem. I live close to the Wabash river, and they only recommend eating a certain amount of the fish each month due to things like mercury/lead content...you know, the good stuff. Might look into that but then again, it may be a good way to talk the wife into new fishin gear! :grinno:
I do sometimes wonder if more freshwater foods should be fed to freshwater rays?
 
I do a lot of perch fishing in Lake Michigan, depending on the time of year and where the fish are located sometimes we are fishing in 60-90 feet of water. When you bring the fish up they do not handle the decompression and are basically dead. I am thinking this would be a good option for the smaller ones instead of feeding them to the sea gulls.
 
Currently I feed my ray bits of perch, whitefish, and lake trout from Lake Superior. It is a treat type thing, mostly because my dad save a little of what ever he catches on the Big Lake and freezes it for me for whenever I stop by. No harm so far!
 
I too would be concerned with the chemicals (Mercury, lead). If they don't want us eating a lot of it I wouldn't want rays eating any of it....lol.

Otherwise I think more WC food would be great for them. Have often wondered this as I live near a lake, but have always questioned the Mercury. Maybe someone can enlighten us.
 
mercury contamination for sure but that wont kill your ray.all the larger preditory fish in those lakes eat them their whole lives thats why its not reccomended to eat more than one meal a week of the top preditory fish ie..pike,walleye out of populated areas.

i have collected crawfish and prazied them for 2 weeks and than quarantined for 3 months and fed them live.you could feed sunfish and panfish no problems but i have found many smaller fish species contian tapeworms.perch are the worst in my experience for having them here in alberta.

i dont really think freezing them will kill the eggs of some parasites,i have herd that some eggs can survive being frozen just because of their simple makeup.i bet even some larger parasites could survive being frozen,frogs can so can crickets????

i think you should catch live ones and treat them with anti parasite meds than feed to your rays.but its just as cheap to buy goldfish from the petshops lol!!

heres something to think about.... would you ever eat any of those fish raw your self??? why would you feed to your rays than raw.
 
i have a friend who has been feeding Carp to his rays for about 6 years now. his rays are THE most beautiful rays ive seen color wise . they also are huge now at first i thought he was crazy but after seeing the results im starting to think im crazy for spending tons of money on frozen fish and shrimp when $14.00 can get me a fishing license that could feed my rays. idk great thread tho. im prob going to stick with crawlers, shrimp and the rest but maybe i should try some panfish??????
 
i cant get my rays to eat chopped fish meat.they will eat smelts no problem but salmon meat no go
 
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