Live feeder options, advice needed please.

[Trucker84]

Hey guys, another question for you all.
I have been taking care of 5 monos for the past 2 weeks. They have been activly eating guppies and rosy reds, one at a time. (I am following dieselmack's feeding plan) I just got 3 orinos today and a very small pinima. The monos and orinos are both about 3 inches.

Now, my problem... Who ever distributes rosy reds in my area is no longer doing so, and none of the LFS cary them any more. Now i was feeding guppies, which is fine, but the monos are trained to strike so fast, that the orinos don't even get a chance to know whats going on. I went through 50 guppies in less than a minute and the monos got every one. The guppies are just too small to slow the monos down and give any one else a chance. I believe the Pbass are too small for goldfish and i would rather not feed them anyway because of thiamine.

So, my question is... What other options do i have for live food that is bigger than a guppy and smaller than a goldfish, that doesn't contain growth inhibiting hormones. I can't seem to find live black worms anywhere. Can i catch minnos from a local river? I'm affraid of parasites. I keep my feeders in a 55gallon drum cut in half, and its not that easy to observe them for parasites and such. I live in northern california, if that helps at all. I dont think i can go through 100 guppies a day for much longer, (the LFS cant keep up, they get 200 a week and there are only 3 of them around here) and i need to get those orinos some food!

 

[Rebel Souljah]

here is my suggested solution to your problem, it requires some patience, but pays off very well.

1) of course the usual, get them on frozen, i started with frozen bloodworms

2) start your own feeder community tank (aka wifey's tank!!! if you call it that she'll let you spend money on it....lol) here is a picture of mine and the baby fish they produce (about 80 in that little 2gal tank on the bottom picture). no parasite worries!!! stops you from keep spending money on feeders!!! mollies grow bigger than your average 10cents feeder goldfish. and you have a nice community tank!!! well worth it for me anyway!!! gl

but you kinda need to give more info on you fish for suggestions, what size are the fish, what else you feeding them besides minnows and guppies, what else have you tried, how big is your tank?

like i said here is my feeder community tank aka wife's tank
3 silver mollies, 2 black mollies, 2 sunburst platy, 2 yellow lyretail mollies, angelfish, dwarf powderblue gourami, 10 neon tetras,1 gold nugget pleco

 

[Pyramid_Party]

Breed them yourself. Also, you can try taking a guppy in your hand and almost hand it to the other fish not getting food. My Perch eats fast too, and I dont give him guppies anymore they are just too small and he always wants more. I had to keep increasing the guppies I was feeding. So I got him on Small goldfish for now. You can try ghost shrimp and possibly breed them as well.

 

[shovelnosecat]

i have 8 monos the eat beef heart readily as well as gudgeons;guppys and australian glass fish i have no probs with the beef heart but long term is it ok

 

[instantthc]

since u post space as your location i'm not sure of the laws there. u can always try cast netting or seine nets to catch feeder fish. as long as you have a tank for breeding you could also use it as a quarintine tank for wild caught fish. unless you live near seriously contaminated waters you should be fine.

 

[Trucker84]

We have problems with harmful algaes in the rivers here in sonoma. Damn Korbel Champagne pleace dumps tons of fertilizer in the river. Maybe Lake sonoma though, or clear lake perhaps....

since i last posted, i should say i now have them eating bloodworms and krill. The orinos i got from rapps were started in on the bloodworms pretty quickly and the monos got so jealous that they are now eating everything i drop in the water

 

[troutking]

i got a piece of wood like a stick but a piece of wood. 1/2 inch wide and very thin. and rubberbanded a toothpick to one end. when u feed the guppies put a guppie on the toothpick mouth first. put the stick with the guppy in front of the orinos and they'll snatch it off

 

[lee1]

i got a piece of wood like a stick but a piece of wood. 1/2 inch wide and very thin. and rubberbanded a toothpick to one end. when u feed the guppies put a guppie on the toothpick mouth first. put the stick with the guppy in front of the orinos and they'll snatch it off

You are going to have peta after you now