Feeder fish

[fishtanker]

On a whim I bought a few feeder fish for my 220gal aggressive tank (triggers, lion, puffers) and noticed they really "œperked up" in terms of hunting instinct when feeding them. Typically I feed selcon and vita chem frozen or freeze dried food.

Since the vitamins leech into the tank causing nitrate/phosphate spikes I was thinking of setting up a small feeder fish tank and "œgut load" them with the vitamins. My thinking is that the DT fish will get he vitamins that way and I won't have to soak they're regular food in it and keep the tank cleaner.

Am I way off base on this?

 

[billdogg]

What are you using for feeders? Freshwater fish (even mollies acclimated to salt) have different fatty acids and other metabolites that aren’t digestible by marine fish. Frequent feedings can end up causing issues.

 

[fishtanker]

Used Ruby reds (minnows?) but I was thinking breeding feeder guppies and only use vitamin loaded food for them.

 

[OurCoralReef]

Billdog is right once in a while might be ok but marine fish can't digest the freshwater feeders properly

Set up a feeder shrimp tank and feed those

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Can anyone provide a link to a scientific paper that proves fresh water fish, or even salt water mollies are not good food for salt water fish? I have heard this for years, but I've never seen the science to back it up.

What difference does it really make? All fish, no matter what salinity they come from have to osmoregulate, so marine fish are no saltier than fresh water fish.

I just want to make sure this isn't one of those 'accepted facts' that gets passed down without the science to back it up.

If mollies live in salt water, they are likely eaten by salt water fish. It is hard for me to believe they wouldn't be a good meal. Someone please enlighten me.

 

[Tripod1404]

Can anyone provide a link to a scientific paper that proves fresh water fish, or even salt water mollies are not good food for salt water fish? I have heard this for years, but I've never seen the science to back it up.

What difference does it really make? All fish, no matter what salinity they come from have to osmoregulate, so marine fish are no saltier than fresh water fish.

I just want to make sure this isn't one of those 'accepted facts' that gets passed down without the science to back it up.

If mollies live in salt water, they are likely eaten by salt water fish. It is hard for me to believe they wouldn't be a good meal. Someone please enlighten me.

I have never seen any scientific report on the accuracy of that topic either. Generally speaking, you should not feed warm water species to cold water species. This is because fish are cold blooded(with few exceptions), their body temperatures is same as the water that surrounds them. As a result, oil/fat that is liquid in the bodies of warm temperature organisms can solidify in the guts old cold water organisms. This can cause digestive issues ranging from gut blockage to malnutrition if the fish are fed exclusively this way. For our hobby this is not a big issue as we keep fish that live on the warmest edge. But if you are farming salmon, this is something to consider.

I dont think doing reverse would cause much problem this way, but keep in mind most cold water fish are very oily. Feeding that to a warm water fish can cause an unbalanced diet that is very high on fat/oil. This can cause fatty liver disease. I think one potential issue with feeding tropical marine fish with feeder fish such as comets is this. Comet is a carp and it is a cold water fish, so it is probably oily.

 

[fishtanker]

Billdog is right once in a while might be ok but marine fish can't digest the freshwater feeders properly

Set up a feeder shrimp tank and feed those

Was thinking of the feeder shrimp tank too. How difficult is to breed them?

 

[fishtanker]

Can anyone provide a link to a scientific paper that proves fresh water fish, or even salt water mollies are not good food for salt water fish? I have heard this for years, but I've never seen the science to back it up.

What difference does it really make? All fish, no matter what salinity they come from have to osmoregulate, so marine fish are no saltier than fresh water fish.

I just want to make sure this isn't one of those 'accepted facts' that gets passed down without the science to back it up.

If mollies live in salt water, they are likely eaten by salt water fish. It is hard for me to believe they wouldn't be a good meal. Someone please enlighten me.

I was getting at this too. I've always heard the same thing but never verified it since I've always had reed tanks but now with the aggressive tank I'm much more interested.

Great replies all.

 

[OurCoralReef]

Was thinking of the feeder shrimp tank too. How difficult is to breed them?

1-10 its a 8
but you can buy most people do they are really cheap