feeder fish

[sephir420]

i like to use feeders but i have to sneek them in because my wife thinks it is mean. i figure what she dosent know wont hurt. besides it is fun to watch the big fish eyeball the feeder then pounce on it with lightning speed.

 

[GTS]

i use goldfish about as often as i do other various aquarium fish for feeding my predators

LOL

Danios and tadpoles, anything works for you!

 

[GTS]

I use feeders twice a month. I keep them in a seperate tank and treat them with meds before I feed them to my fish.

Nothing like throwing in a feeder and seeing two freshwater barracudas attack it at once..

 

[crazystereo]

If anyone doesn't like fish that are piscivorous, stay the #$@% outta my house, cause it's a slughter house!

 

[piranha45]

If anyone doesn't like fish that are piscivorous, stay the #$@% outta my house, cause it's a slughter house!

but only a slaughter house for filthy goldfish, unfortunately.

 

[crazystereo]

True, bur like I said before (in a thread I cannot find now ) I go through about 2-3 dozen goldies/minnows every day

 

[shan24]

I used to have a friend who bred giant danios as feeder fish. He said the giant danios were great because they're very fast moving.... so he had lots of fun watching the big guns (mostly oscars) chasing these danios around. Plus the danios were easy to breed.

Shan

 

[shan24]

Additional note to the last post..... but does anyone else actually breed their own feeders?
I have read about people breeding convicts, guppies, zebra (danios).
What would make the ideal feeder breeder?

Shan

 

[piranha45]

large adult cichlid pairs.... oscars would be easiest. It would get you vast quantities of fry per breeding with a very fast fry growth rate. You'd need two 75gs for that, at least-- one for the parents and the newest batch of fry, and one for the 2nd batch of fry. Even this would not be sufficient to feed any reasonable-sized predators regularly, though.


breeding your own feeders is not really an effective practice though unless you devote immense quantities of tankspace (several hundred gallons to regularly feed a couple of 12" predators, for example) to the cause.

Then you have to factor in the electricity you're using on these feeder tanks (filter, heater, lighting), the food costs for feeding the feeders, and most importantly the AMOUNT OF TIME needed to get the feeders to reach a suitable size (several months for anything short of large cichlids, perhaps).

Its really not a practical method for most hobbyists.

 

[Oddball]

I have all the crayfish I need for feeders in my hatchery. The numbers are low now with only about 65,000 but, they're coming up steadily.