Feeding raw fish and others?

[Laticauda]

If I can convince my angels to eat the raw fish, they enjoy it, it's good for them. They've been spoiled with gelfood, and just look at the raw fish like "you expect me to eat what-now?"

 

[screaminleeman]

it is super healthy to feed predator fish raw fish/shrimp meat.............Always stick to white fish meat, and stay away from red fish meat when thinking about a diet for your predator fish.....When you get to larger fish like Arowana or Piranha, you can feed whole shrimp with shell with no worries..........Smaller fish like Oscars can be fed chopped up Tialpia slices or chopped up prawns...........Popcorn shimp and krill are an excellant food source to feed every other day, or even once everyday..........Krill adds a lot of color enhancing things to the body............

I am in 100% agreeance here. Not even considering the "health" aspect of the "oilyer" species for your pets, it is SO much harder to keep your tanks water "crispy, crunchy clear" when feeding oily fish vs. drier "white" fish that it alone say NO to oily!

I have done MOJO trial and error in this area. I can say that the fish do LOVE the oily offerings, but it puts the fishkeeper into a maintenance level several steps up from where they would probably prefer to be.

Super oily fish I would advise to avoid simply from a water clarity standpoint include:

Mullet,
Catfish,
Spot,
Butterfish (Your fish will attack this like it is the last supper!),
Mackrel,
Bluefish,

Fish for food that is gentler on you water clarity include:
Tilapia,
Flounder,
Bass,
Pollock,
Whiteing,
Herring,
Perch

 

[NCStateFisher]

just a thought, if i were to go catch a bunch of bream, fillet them up, and freeze them, would that kill any possible parasites and make them safe to feed to my fish?

 

[screaminleeman]

just a thought, if i were to go catch a bunch of bream, fillet them up, and freeze them, would that kill any possible parasites and make them safe to feed to my fish?

Wow, finally a question that I can weigh in on with vast experience (As a life long fisherman)!

1. First and foremost, make sure that removing the skin is part of your prosess of "fillet them up"! The skin and the layer immediately below the skin contain an extremely high concentration of fat. It is my understanding that almost all external parasites are removed by this process. In addition the fatty tissue is removed making your fish fillet both better for your fish pets nutrition-wise and taking a good deal of the stuff in fresh fish meat that will tend to foul your water clarity!

2. Organ meat is the most nutritious part for your fish, however it is also by far the highest chance that you have of "introducing parasites" into your tank. External parasite infections are often visible to the naked eye. Obviously it is a horrible idea to use a bream (or any other fish) that is visually infected with parasite regardless of what you do. Please do not take this as an insult, and it probably goes without saying, but visually inspect your catches and discard any obvoiusly infected fish! Internal parasites are far less obvious from a quick visual inspection of your catch. As tempting as feeding organ meat to your fish is (both to you and your fish) keep in mind that this is most likely how you will introduce parasites to your tank. Fillets should be removed from the rest of the body and skin as quickly as possible (preferably while the catch is still alive!)

3. If (Like myself) you are a tight-wad and "waste" of fish organ meat beats you up, it can still be used safely albiet with far less nutrition that it should supply. Get a meat cleaver and chop up the head, bones organs etc... A meat grinder works even better, and a blender the best! Reduce to very small pieces and boil (Fully!) the stuff. You can then strain off the liquid and pour the remaining contents into a mold(s). Icecube trays or the like will work fine. Freeze, you can even individually wrap frozen cubes of the stuff for later use. Just grab a portion out of the freezer and use it just as you would frozen bloodworm etc...

4. Did I stress strongly enough: NEVER USE ANY VISUALLY INFECTED FISH AS FOOD FOR YOUR PETS OR YOUR FAMILY!!!!! This will be the best "waste" that you ever made!