live fish as food
- Thread starter agra113
- Start date
Since any live fish can be a disease or parasite carrier, unless you breed them yourself in a controlled environment, and feed the feeders a very nutritious diet, the negatives out way the positives.
I tried the live fish route, mistake. I won't do it again, a lot safer to use frozen or dry foods. When they get hungry enough they eat frozen stuff.
Predators species won't starve themselves to death and I don't have any problems to train any wild caught species to eat market prawns. However, I've issue with non-predators species that refused to eat our commercial foods (pellets, flake, frozen) and starved to death.
Rarely is there ever a fish that won't take dead/frozen food. My sanchezi piranha has never been fed a live food a day in his life. Started on tilapia fillets and now he's on carnivore pellets. As much as some fish are sight-predator fish in the wild, they almost ALL hunt on some form of scent. I got my sanchezi to take pellets by not feeding him for a few days and then just dropping one or two pellets in the tank every other day till he started taking them. Pellets/prepared food are often way more complete and balanced than live. My sanchezi has grown the most and shown the best colors since being on pellets.
Agree with the foregoing.
There is also a stickie on the topic here and in the "Diseases" forum.
There is also a stickie on the topic here and in the "Diseases" forum.
Benefits? IMHO, the benefit is that a piscivore gets to be a piscivore. It's what they are born to do - hunt and eat fish.
But I agree with the above, raise your own healthy and disease-free fish, but more as an occasional snack. You would need a massive operation to be able to keep enough feeders around anyway.
But I agree with the above, raise your own healthy and disease-free fish, but more as an occasional snack. You would need a massive operation to be able to keep enough feeders around anyway.
IMHO, there is no real benefit. Captive fish have a weaker, compromised immune system versus their kin in the wild. Hence, they can't really be 100% that wild nature piscivore, albeit I like Adam's wordage.
RTC is not a piscivore altogether but a scavenger-opportunist. It's as much a piscivore as a raccoon a carnivore
If there was a benefit, I'd think the Zoos gave captive tigers, leopards, lions, wolves, weasels, etc. etc. live prey. But no. They get dead meat. Same with Public Aquaria, AFAIK.
RTC is not a piscivore altogether but a scavenger-opportunist. It's as much a piscivore as a raccoon a carnivore
If there was a benefit, I'd think the Zoos gave captive tigers, leopards, lions, wolves, weasels, etc. etc. live prey. But no. They get dead meat. Same with Public Aquaria, AFAIK.