Raising feeders 5 Questions

[Imperialreptileslv]

- 5 Questions -
For awhile now I have been breeding mollies and putting the babies strait into a salt water 18gallon bucket and feeding them off to my salt water fish as they get to size and by doing this I do not have to worry about feeders floating dead in 30 minutes or so I also know that there healthy and gut loaded before feeding and my fish are able to eat when they want to since they will live there life's out in salt water
Question 1 - Will the mollies breed faster or better if there kept in saltwater constantly or is it better to switch them over like I've been doing
Question 2 - Are there other live bearers that and be kept salt also
I know feeding goldfish and minnows bought for feeders are no good do to there raised in ponds and shipped in the thousands so there loaded full of parasites and usually starved
Question 3 - If I were to breed gold fish in my pond and controlled my water for parasites and feed high quality food would that be good for feeders(I know it would be better then store bought feeders) or are goldfish just a bad idea for feeders all together?
Question 4 - What other fish breed in the thousands or extremely high numbers that would be a better idea to raise as feeders? ( I've juggled the idea of a couple 18gallon buckets with a pair of convict cichlids)
I've bred cherry shrimp in the hundreds for smaller fish
Question 5 - are there larger shrimp and snails that are easy to breed for feeder purposes


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[basskid081990]

Depending on what climate your in you could put rubbermaid tubs out and fill with mosquito fish, i used to feed oscars this way in high school but kept them in a 55 outside during summer (probably not the best idea because of parasites now that i think about it.) But they bred like crazy

 

[Fat Homer]

Can't answer all your questions, but Goldfish are known to be bad feeders because they contain very high amounts of Thiamin (sp) which can cause fatty liver disease in our pets...

As for the snails and Shrimp question.. The largest snail i know of is the Apple Snail that is pretty common in the aquarium trade, as for shrimp, you could go ghost shrimp, but i think they need to transition between fresh and brackish before their eggs will hatch, meaning it might not be worth the trouble attempting to breed them?