Guys, please this is a great topic and lets not ruin it by making personal attacks and throwing invectives. Lets just have a discussion about predatory fish and its feeding habits without getting nasty.
Please ?
Please ?
serious question
- Thread starter RobD23
- Start date
i personally like predaory fish because of thier interactive personality- i dont intentionally use feeders (although I do use quarantined dithers that often end up as feeders).Watching a pred fish (or any pet ) eat w/ gusto is satisfing enough for me . My fish eat better then me sometimes - i even feed them lobster on occasion!Thats just IMO and maybe someday ill get into raising my own feeders but untill then im more then happy when my fish will come out and jump at pellets
I feed my tank lice crickets, mealworms, earthworms, non-copper and quaruntined goldfish, endlers live beares, guppys, danios, ghost shrimp, and white clouds, as well as several kinds of frogs and pinkies on occasion. I also feed krill, beefheart, lots of different kinds of pellets. I think its important to give a fish the most variety in diet you possibly can. A feeder every once in a while is a good thing. I almost never watch my fish eat live, and when I do, its more with a sense of pride then a sense of sadism. At least in my mind.
AlaskaJammin said:
My fahaka puffer just recently died of gill infection that either came from ick or this salt that i thought was suppose to be healthy for him. two days ago i made the switch from feeders to ghost shrimp frozen brine shimp and freeze dried krill so that both my rainbow wolffish and my tiger tetra wolffish never have to suffer the same fate....It's cool to watch your fish eat anything and i'm happier that they will stay alive.
ps. Sorry for doubting you guys
I have a large gold clown knife and a fahaka (separate tanks) because they look awesome. I fed my last puffer feeders and I and everyone else in my office loved watching it destroy the poor guppies or comets, but one day I got a feeder guppy that didn't look so hot. The next day I had a sick puffer and a 3 days later I was pufferless.
I don't keep my fish because they eat fish. The predatory personality attracts me to them. The calculating looks I get as I pass the tank, A look of intelligence. And of course its good to be able to tell peaple what you have got.
On the original statement at the start of the thread talking about Feeder fish. Most predators do not exclusively feed on fish and you can get the same actions by feeding shrimp or worms etc. Arowanas natural diet has more Invert content than fish.
The most interesting feeding experience I have is with my small Nandus feeding on shrimp nearly their own size, with my snakeheads it doesn't matter what I feed them, the food item is gone within half a second of it hitting the water surface.
I do agree that there is a nutritional value to be had from variety so I do feed frozen fish aswell as other frozen items. Theyre easier to store, less risk and cheaper. Theres also alot of nutrition within pellet food as they have been engineered to provide as much nutrient as possible.
I do feel for the feeder fish, I started in the hobby keeping smaller fish and still have an interest in them. I would prefer not to see them as lunch for my bigger fish.
If a fish will only except feeder fish I am not against it. I generally use the least intelligent organism I can to get it to eat.
On the original statement at the start of the thread talking about Feeder fish. Most predators do not exclusively feed on fish and you can get the same actions by feeding shrimp or worms etc. Arowanas natural diet has more Invert content than fish.
The most interesting feeding experience I have is with my small Nandus feeding on shrimp nearly their own size, with my snakeheads it doesn't matter what I feed them, the food item is gone within half a second of it hitting the water surface.
I do agree that there is a nutritional value to be had from variety so I do feed frozen fish aswell as other frozen items. Theyre easier to store, less risk and cheaper. Theres also alot of nutrition within pellet food as they have been engineered to provide as much nutrient as possible.
I do feel for the feeder fish, I started in the hobby keeping smaller fish and still have an interest in them. I would prefer not to see them as lunch for my bigger fish.
If a fish will only except feeder fish I am not against it. I generally use the least intelligent organism I can to get it to eat.
You know, I have been keeping fish for about 6 years now, still learning. Ive occasionly fed my fish frozen foods, and Im starting to see the benifits of that. But I usually fed my fish live feeders. The point is, that not once in all that time did any one of my preds ever die or get sick from a parasite or disease from feeders. Am I just lucky or do some of the people who make these comments just buy from really scummy places?
Oh, and part of me feels bad for feeding live. Seems like that part of me gets bigger as I get older and softer. Thats why Im trying to go strictly frozen foods
Oh, and part of me feels bad for feeding live. Seems like that part of me gets bigger as I get older and softer. Thats why Im trying to go strictly frozen foods
Whoa! this got a bit lairy! I hate using feeders, but if you have a freshly imported fish then sometimes it's all they'll eat at first and getting the weight on the fish is of primary importance. Once you know you have a back up plan you can experiment with dead or dry foods. Just make sure your feeders are healthy as they can carry some nasty stuff. Live river shrimp are buggers for it aswell!
Caporegime, I think you got lucky (or a great supplier). All in all my favorite feeders are live shrimp but those can get expensive, crickets are a close second, then fish. For fish like pike topminnows or boulengerellas it is a rush to see the way they slash into a cricket, you might be able to get them onto pellets (don't count on it) but they don't show near the interest or excitement in feeding if the food does not move. For fish that are stalk and pounce types like pickerel watching them sneak up on a mollie is also great and they just don't act the same with an earthworm.
