Feeder fish?

[No Worries1979]

I was wondering what species can be fed live fish? What kind of fish can be feeder fish? Thanks

 

[Jerry W]

The use of fresh water feeders is widely discouraged. Long term they can cause health problems in SW predators. They can also introduce pathogens into your system.
Predatory fish should be trained to take frozen foods. The use of ghost shrimp is fine. Some people will also use mollies that have been raised in SW. Stay away from goldfish, "rosies", etc..

 

[stykthyn]

what are you trying to feed?

 

[alancolinet]

Yes, stay away from fresh water live feeders.... they will only cause problems in the long run and like stykthyn asked.... what are you feeding?

 

[psychodave]

What about live "bait" fish...for ocean fishing...like sardines and what not? (provided you can get them small enough) You can usually pick them up at fishing shops on the coast...just a thought, i meant to ask that in another thread.

 

[PuffersKick]

Ghost shrimp are your best bet. And just about any aggressive SW fish will eat them.

 

[SW1TCH]

I would think if you live on or near the coast at them same bait shops they sell live shrimp.

 

[No Worries1979]

I have a small picasso trigger and a small panther grouper. They are currently eating frozen mysis and fresh shrimp as well as krill.

 

[Paul B]

If you live near the sea (like I do) you can collect as many bait fish as you like. Some like minnows will live well in a small tank, others like baby bluefish, which are very common will only live a few minutes in a bucket. I feed these animals including sandworms, crabs, shrimp, seaweed, snails, sponge, mussels, and amphipods every day in the summer. I even strain the mud under rocks for copepods and dump that in. Since I am lucky to have access to this stuff I would never buy frozen food in the summer. I always believed live is better. When I used to keep frogfish and ran out of food I would inject guppies with cod liver oil to feed the frogfish, of course, live saltwater fish is much better.
Paul
Paul

 

[Patchy]

My lfs sells " marbled shrimp" they are a saltwater shrimp that looks similar to ghost i fed them to my lion til i could ween him over.
Now he eats a variety of frozen food and i get a clownfish chucked my way weekly-fortnightly from a friend who breeds them.

 

[LRS078]

Only use live if you have no other option or live on the coast.... Live brine and ghost shrimp are nutrionally weak....best to gut load or vitamin soak them before feeding. Avoid any freshwater feeder fish if at all possible, some of the tissues CANNOT be broken down by your fish and will cause problems.

Wean fish from live to silversides to frozen or chopped seafood. (think fresh market variety of shrimp, squid, mussels, etc)

 

[stykthyn]

I'm with Paul B, 8 months out of the year, my lions eat live fish/crabs from the ocean

 

[alancolinet]

If access to the ocean isn't as possible then the best bet is frozen food, easy to get and simple to load with nutrition supplements.