Live Fish As Food - Nutritional Value & Concerns
- Thread starter Oddball
- Start date
hi oddball, it was a very enlightening read...must have taken an aweful lot of time to research all the info and even longer to type it out.....thanx a ton for the info and kuddos to u.
My word, Oddball, I don't know how you have the strength to not prune out all the ...less informative posts.
Have you read any of Neale Monks' writings on the thiamine issue with coldwater freshwater fish? I know that in other postings that he's made elsewhere, he cites various scientific articles on the vitamin content of these fish. Sadly, the site that I know this article is posted on is down today, so I can't find the citations directly.
In short form, Dr. Monks writes that coldwater FW fish such as goldfish and rosy reds are not suitable as feeders for freshwater fish either. As alluded to by certain other posters, this is because these coldwater fish contain Thiaminase, an enzyme which breaks down vitamin B (Thiamine). Since this vitamin helps the body absorb energy and also plays important roles in the nervous system, the excess of Thiaminase which occurs from a goldfish-rich diet directly offsets all the benefits attributable to using live feeder fish. Consideration should also be given to the fact that coldwater fish such as goldies and rosie-reds have much higher fat content than would normally be encountered by a tropical predator. For this reason, it is advisable to feed tropical predators tropical feeders such as livebearers or cichlids.
"But aren't coldwater fish used to make commercial prepared diets?" Sure, but Thiaminase is broken down by cooking (heat) and excess fat content is removed from tropical feeds. The prepared diets are then fortified with various nutrients to be appropriate for a specific purpose and designed such that most of those nutrients are in turn consumed by the fish. The trick in this case is to select a food well-suited to the fish in question--and a manufacturer who can be relied on for good quality.
I have a request! (Assuming that Oddball is even still paying attention to posts in this thread.) Would it be possible for you to post up some nutritional facts regarding tillapia as well? It seems that it could be a reasonable nutritional analogue to the tropical feeders seeing as it is (a) native to warm waters, (b) adaptable to brackish conditions like mollies/guppies and (c) a cichlid.
Have you read any of Neale Monks' writings on the thiamine issue with coldwater freshwater fish? I know that in other postings that he's made elsewhere, he cites various scientific articles on the vitamin content of these fish. Sadly, the site that I know this article is posted on is down today, so I can't find the citations directly.
In short form, Dr. Monks writes that coldwater FW fish such as goldfish and rosy reds are not suitable as feeders for freshwater fish either. As alluded to by certain other posters, this is because these coldwater fish contain Thiaminase, an enzyme which breaks down vitamin B (Thiamine). Since this vitamin helps the body absorb energy and also plays important roles in the nervous system, the excess of Thiaminase which occurs from a goldfish-rich diet directly offsets all the benefits attributable to using live feeder fish. Consideration should also be given to the fact that coldwater fish such as goldies and rosie-reds have much higher fat content than would normally be encountered by a tropical predator. For this reason, it is advisable to feed tropical predators tropical feeders such as livebearers or cichlids.
"But aren't coldwater fish used to make commercial prepared diets?" Sure, but Thiaminase is broken down by cooking (heat) and excess fat content is removed from tropical feeds. The prepared diets are then fortified with various nutrients to be appropriate for a specific purpose and designed such that most of those nutrients are in turn consumed by the fish. The trick in this case is to select a food well-suited to the fish in question--and a manufacturer who can be relied on for good quality.
I have a request! (Assuming that Oddball is even still paying attention to posts in this thread.) Would it be possible for you to post up some nutritional facts regarding tillapia as well? It seems that it could be a reasonable nutritional analogue to the tropical feeders seeing as it is (a) native to warm waters, (b) adaptable to brackish conditions like mollies/guppies and (c) a cichlid.
pica_nuttalli;1208401; said:
I do refer back to these threads as time permits. I made a post earlier on the disadvantages of using feeder goldfish and included the thiaminase issues.
I'll check (as time allows) on the nutritional properties of tilapia. I'll check hatchery reports first since these facilities perform more frequent and intensive testing.
pica_nuttalli;1208401; said:
What about feeding tropical freshwater predators tropical freshwater feeders?
Thanks
FF
Hello everyone
I would like to say that I love fish/tanks..I have 4 at my house all set up and ready.. I have a 125 gallon,55 gallon,75 gallon and a 10 gallon. All of them have fish except the 10 gallon tanks.
I would like to say that I love fish/tanks..I have 4 at my house all set up and ready.. I have a 125 gallon,55 gallon,75 gallon and a 10 gallon. All of them have fish except the 10 gallon tanks.
this is a ton of info...my eyes are all blurry now. 
very interesting, where did you find this? i've always thought live shrimp was the way to go and i guess i was right!
very interesting, where did you find this? i've always thought live shrimp was the way to go and i guess i was right!I'm not sure if this was my problem but I had 2 big Angelfish in a community tank and brung home some black velvet mollies, I think thats what they were and the female had some fry and I figured oh well let the others snack on them which they were doing of course. The next day I found my bigger Angel stomach was all big and just figured it had more than its full. Within a few days later the Angel's stomach got even, so I put it in a nursing tank and medicated it and it still died. The guy at the lfs told me that Angels get tumors in their stomachs sometimes so I figured that was it. About a month later the molly had more fry and the same thing happened to my other Angel. Has anyone else had this problem. I figured after the second one died that fry must have been unhealthy for the Angels. Nothing happened to any of my other fish that ate them.
