rosy reds vs comets

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Wiggles92;4402107; said:
Gars normally eat the wild equivalent of rosy reds (fathead minnows) in the wild...

Comets aren't the best idea, especially if you can get similar-sized fish of a different species, because goldfish have spines on them that could cause trouble if the gar should happen to swallow them the wrong way.

A good alternative to to rosy reds and comets is feeder guppies or mosquito fish. Mosquito fish do occur where Florida gars live in the wild, so they're most likely among the items that young Florida gars eat.
Click to expand...

The most readily available fish would be the rosy reds and the comets. Unfortunately there aren't any feeder guppies or mosquito fish at all in the aquarist shop that are sold as feeders.
 
MonsterMinis;4402092; said:
Cyprinds are as knife said generally bad feeders for fish.... Gars being Piscivors in nature "may" metabolize this issue w/out negative effects. I have not noticed any ill effects to feeding rosy's or goldfish to my florida. That being said... Convicts make a great tropical breeders for feeding live. Also some LFS are now stocking "feeder platies" and Varatias. personally I prefer the minnows to goldfish. they tend to be heartier and being such aren't as as prone to infections. they are ultimately a horse apeice in reguards to nutrition. QTing and feeding them a high quality flake makes a world of difference in their nutritional content.
Click to expand...

unfortunately, the aquarist store here doesn't sell any feeder platies, mollies, swordtails, tetras, etc. They are all sold as aquarium fish.
 
So buy them. It's the same species, just different recent genetic history.
 
i can't believe we're going over this again, or are you asking something that was not mentioned the previous debate? simply put, by gutloading your feeders you pay more for less nutrition and more risks compared to pellet feed. why not simply get the latter?
 
At $3 bucks a fish, that isn't feasible.
Click to expand...
So one male and two female guppies run you $9.00. That $9.00 will quickly become hundreds, then thousands of fish. You're not losing money with that investment.
 
knifegill;4403460; said:
So one male and two female guppies run you $9.00. That $9.00 will quickly become hundreds, then thousands of fish. You're not losing money with that investment.
Click to expand...

That's what I thought when I need food for my three gars, but I never got babies from my group of guppies :irked:. I ended up having to buy feeders (luckily small enough feeders were available), and I eventually just fed the guppies to the gars since I had no use for them any more.

It's worth giving it a try, but odds are that you will not get any baby guppies before the gar needs much larger food such as rosy reds.
 
xander;4402419; said:
i can't believe we're going over this again, or are you asking something that was not mentioned the previous debate? simply put, by gutloading your feeders you pay more for less nutrition and more risks compared to pellet feed. why not simply get the latter?
Click to expand...

I'm asking about the nutritional superiority between the comet goldfish and the rosyred minnows. Regardless of species or feeders, I will and do gutload all as well as quarantine. However, since my gar is now able t pound both, I am wondering which fish is naturally superior in nutrition. I am not inquiring about "live, prepared, or pellet," which was the last debate. I've already gotten the answers I sought, and that was to keep feeding live until my gar is 7-8 inches before experimenting or training/converting my fish into nonlive. I am now specifically inquiring about the nutritional content between these two specific feeders.
 
xander;4402419; said:
i can't believe we're going over this again, or are you asking something that was not mentioned the previous debate? simply put, by gutloading your feeders you pay more for less nutrition and more risks compared to pellet feed. why not simply get the latter?
Click to expand...

he's not asking about something that was mentioned in the previous thread, this is a different topic (still on feeding). we also went over that it was better to stick with live for now to get the fish up to size instead of messing with pellet conversion at this early stage. i definitely don't mess with pellets for very young gars (there is nothing wrong with doing so if you choose to, but unless you get quick conversion the fish may suffer in loss of growth and it can be time-consuming). better to wait until the fish is at least 6-8". a lot of the time i don't convert until the fish is 8-10".

reGARding the minnows/rosy reds...as ryan (aka wiggles) alluded to, gars do eat many cyprinid species in the wild. yes, the store-bought ones are not the same as wild fish as wild fish contain many more nutrients, etc etc, but the body shape of the rosy red (and their stupidity compared to platies and convicts) makes them a decent food for the gar as it is growing through the early stages.

the gut-loading of these fish before feeding is even better as the gar will gain from the pellets being consumed by the minnows. STICK WITH MINNOWS for now, and worry about conversion after the gar is about 8". i have done this with countless gars and have had no problems health-wise with the fish.

there are many sites and articles that TALK about thiaminase, but i am yet to see any definitive problems with gars that can be directly related back to this enzyme.

gut load the rosies and stick with those, their fusiform body type works well for the gars, and they don't have modified rays ("spines") on the dorsal and anal fin like goldfish do.

i agree on the tropicals...generally too expensive and waiting around for them to spawn may not always work out (we were going to do this with convicts for some of our lab fish and by the time the convicts spawned successfully the gars were too big to make use of the tiny fry/YOY).

good luck--
--solomon
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom