Live food growth question

[shookONES]

...and that's not to say live foods are limited to fish. Crayfish, earthworms, shrimp, and the occasional insect are all viable options. I'm actually trying to get a colony of Marmokreb self cloning crayfish going for this very reason.

 

[Dr.B]

I was actually thinking about the self cloning crayfish as well. I just kept coming up with the dilemma that it would take them a while to create a large enough batch to feed and even then I would only be able to feed every once in a while. Also I don't think I'd be able to house enough of them to make a decent sized feeding for all my polys

 

[Champagne Papi]

This is an interesting topic that I've been debating about with myself for a while now. I've been an advocate for not feeding live food for a couple different reasons. 1) Through live feeders your fish can contract diseases and parasites. 2) It can promote aggression. However over the past year I've looked around and seen that some of these monstrous bichir collections you see, are on live feeders. Also in the wild Polys don't eat pellets, they eat live fish (plus other things). I currently don't feed live because of the second reason. And when I say aggression I don't mean they are becoming more aggressive, but they start to get a little bit more nippy around feeding time. That wouldn't bother me if I didn't have a size difference of about 15"-16" from my biggest to smallest fish in my tank. As far as diseases and parasites, it's just a matter of watching the feeders. I'd assume that picking the healthiest looking ones, and QTing them for a couple days would prevent that. So I'm glad this topic was brought up, because it kind of made me question my own stance on Live food or not. If I didn't have such a large size difference in my tank I would probably feed live a lot more often.

I'm glad you joined this question dr.b, I always worry about my endi and lap getting out of control but I've never seen any aggression and I watch my tank a lot. The only culprit I see aggression with is my buetikoferri and it's the smaller and skinniest bichir I have (I'm working on getting a new one). But I've noticed since I've just been feeding live they all act different as soon as I drop the live food in the tank they start lurking and stalking their prey. Also they come out a lot more and act less shy.

 

[Champagne Papi]

...and that's not to say live foods are limited to fish. Crayfish, earthworms, shrimp, and the occasional insect are all viable options. I'm actually trying to get a colony of Marmokreb self cloning crayfish going for this very reason.

That's also true. I even feed geckos if I get lucky

 

[shookONES]

I was actually thinking about the self cloning crayfish as well. I just kept coming up with the dilemma that it would take them a while to create a large enough batch to feed and even then I would only be able to feed every once in a while. Also I don't think I'd be able to house enough of them to make a decent sized feeding for all my polys

My plan was to "clean house" every couple of months...feed off 75% of the colony at the time, and let it rebuild. I guess freezing is also an option if you want a more consistent supply.

 

[jaws7777]

other than worms what can you recommend feeding them ? would the worms at the bait and tackle shop be a good choice ? I can't get behind feeding live fish way too many pathogens to potentially deal with.

 

[Dr.B]

I think those worms will be fine. I basically get them from my local Walmart or Academy.

 

[Champagne Papi]

other than worms what can you recommend feeding them ? would the worms at the bait and tackle shop be a good choice ? I can't get behind feeding live fish way too many pathogens to potentially deal with.

There's a Walmart out here that has a fish store in it. They often have crawfish(just break the arms off), there's ghost shrimp, they sell them at most local fish stores. They also eat leftover small scraps from bichirs. They're pretty healthy at the bass pro shop out here I buy live small shad, shinner minnows, and I get lucky every now and then with tadpoles

 

[Champagne Papi]

There's a Walmart out here that has a fish store in it. They often have crawfish(just break the arms off), there's ghost shrimp, they sell them at most local fish stores. They also eat leftover small scraps from bichirs. They're pretty healthy at the bass pro shop out here I buy live small shad, shinner minnows, and I get lucky every now and then with tadpoles. Also mealworms and crickets.