One major beef I have with feeders is pathogens. Most of the LFS sold feeders need to be dewormed, treated, gutloaded before being "safe" to feed one's prized fish.
Second major beef with feeders: What a mess! As the emperors strike 3" feeders BEWM! ...little sparkles everywhere, scales. Not to mention that the male, what a prick, as soon as he had swallowed a few of them whole ...well, what do you know, he'd spit the heads out, seriously, he only ate the good stuff.
I moved to another city before putting together a "self-sufficient" system. My intention was to pair up a couple Midas, or something that has a good ratio/spawn and accelerated growth rate. A decent pair spawns at least once a month, anywhere +/- 1000/spawn, growth rate in a month is +/- 1", perfect snack bits to be swallowed whole.
I'm actually working on the above, with Jack Dempseys and convicts for now, gotta see if it will work for my rays. The Emperors and Frontosas are on NLS Thera-A diet until I get back to Vancouver.
Scatocephalus;2991869; said:
One of my best memories regarding my Cichla is when I threw a bunch of small, live crawdads into the tank that I had caught out of a local resevoir. Watching the Cichla try and decide what to do with these little bugs running around their tank was amazing. At first they approached with interest and curiosity but great caution. They would suck them in and spit them right back out. I saw crawdads latch onto the lips of the Peas and the Peas freak out trying to dislodge them. It took the Peas a few minutes to figure out the best direction to grab them and avoid getting nailed by the claws but they were soon very efficient at dispatching any crawdad that dared show it's face. Watching the Peas hunt the crawdads was incredible. It is these types of activities that I feel these fish need to keep them interested and active.
Again, thanks all for participating. Let's keep hearing about your experinces and what you feed. In the end it benefits everyone here.
Of course live food is very rewarding in all terms: nutrition, fish demeanor (there's always a rare treat to see fish use their natural instincts).
There's only one similar case I recall with my Boulengerochromis that left me in awe. There was this male Lobochilotes labiatus that every now and then would piss the living crap out of the male emperor. The Lobo would run for his life, dart under a pile of rocks, exit on the opposite side of the rock pile, and he would dart to the other side of the tank for safety. Needless to say, a couple of those episodes in I catch the male Boulengerochromis chasing the Lobo (a good 7") to the pile AND quickly he snapped above the rocks and BEWM caught the Lobo mid body up top his spine as he was coming out from the rock pile on the opposite side he entered. He didn't die, but the roughing up he got that day was enough to keep him away from Mr. Muscles.
Big fish in general are smarter, or at least we judge them such. Never a moment spent in front of the tank, or next to it, while watching TV, that the Boulengerochromis pair would not come next to where I was and WATCH me... many times I felt like a case study and imagined some funny dialogues going on...
