problems with feeding live

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snakeguy101

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jun 29, 2009
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Hello, I have a 1.5' royal clown knife that I have had for about 6 months now. He is in a large tank that has a bunch of other fish that eat live minnows as well as pellets but the knife fish never eats any of the pellets but rather goes for the minnows in the tank. I generally put about 300 big head minnows in the tank each week (they last about 3 days before every last one is gone) and my knife eats about 5-10 of them.
My question is will this hurt him? I know that it is recommended that I get him on pellets but it would be nearly impossible to get him feeding on them in this tank. what are the effects of having him fed minnows as opposed to pellets?

thanks for your help.
 
it won't hurt him. the concern with feeders is that they often transmit disease and can infect your fish. also, many hobbyist argue that the nutritional value of feeders is not balanced. the thought is that pellets are prepared and are nutritionally balanced for the sake of being used as a staple diet.
 
The only thing I know of being a problem is that the feeders are living in the tank, sometimes diseases can come in with them since you stated they survive for several days.
 
snakeguy101;3579199; said:
Hello, I have a 1.5' royal clown knife that I have had for about 6 months now. He is in a large tank that has a bunch of other fish that eat live minnows as well as pellets but the knife fish never eats any of the pellets but rather goes for the minnows in the tank. I generally put about 300 big head minnows in the tank each week (they last about 3 days before every last one is gone) and my knife eats about 5-10 of them.
My question is will this hurt him? I know that it is recommended that I get him on pellets but it would be nearly impossible to get him feeding on them in this tank. what are the effects of having him fed minnows as opposed to pellets?


thanks for your help.
Click to expand...

please discard.
 
My friend use to feed koi to his snake head and oscars. He had a seperate tank to keep the feeders and they were feed the best fish food for a week before feeding them to his fish.
 
knicks791;3579231; said:
My friend use to feed koi to his snake head and oscars. He had a seperate tank to keep the feeders and they were feed the best fish food for a week before feeding them to his fish.
Click to expand...


I have a pond in my courtyard where I try to breed the minnows so I also feed about 1/2 of the ones that go into the tank each week with some good pellets but my minnows don't breed fast enough so the other 1/2 are bought from a bait shop.
 
snakeguy101;3579238; said:
I have a pond in my courtyard where I try to breed the minnows so I also feed about 1/2 of the ones that go into the tank each week with some good pellets but my minnows don't breed fast enough so the other 1/2 are bought from a bait shop.
Click to expand...

Well, that is better than normal, but still, there's a high chance that eventually your fish will get infected. Eh, in case you haven't noticed yet, everybody here who talks about live feeding their fish and doesn't mention quarantining gets harassed. It's just the way of life.

Also in regards to the clown knife, it will be fine living off minnows. It might not be as nutritious as pellets, but sufficient nonetheless.
 
awesome, thanks. That is what I thought but just wanted to be sure.
 
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