breeding feeders...

[jebusAUST]

i have a some red devils and tiger oscars that are starting to need more food and the pellets and flakes just aint keeping up with them anymore. i got some gudgons and small crayfish for them to eat and they loved them. my 2 oscars got 35 gudgens in a 6ft tank in about day.

anyway, to the point. due to the number of fish i am wanting to feed i was thinking about breedin my own food. reading the other posts on the matter didnt help much so i hope a new thread will attract some new knowladge.

does anyone have any good ideas about breedin gudgens or perhaps crayfish??

[cichgirl]

try convicts... They breed like rabbits. You'll have plenty of live food - you'll just need 2 tanks. One for the parents to breed and one to grow out the fry to the size you need them to be. I have a crayfish but know nothing about breeding them.

Also try mixing veggies, shrimp (make sure you have enough for yourself to snack on too), beefheart and garlic in the blender (add a little unflavored gelatin or water if you prefer) and mix it all up. Then pour it into a baggie, get the air out, seal it and press it flat (about 1/4" thick) and stick it in the freezer. Break off frozen pieces and drop em right into the tank. It's a really cheap & healthy way to feed your fish. For veggies try carrots, spinach, peas & zucchini.

[convicts910]

Thats cruel to the convicts. Why dont you use platies or mollies? Why dont we feed your children to the sharks?

[LoJack]

Originally posted by convicts910
Why dont we feed your children to the sharks?

Last I checked fish get eaten by other fish every day. Its the way things go ... this comment is ridiculous and out of line.

feeding mice to snakes is cruel ... but its the way things are. Feeding animals to other animals is the way things work, they call it a food chain.

[jonah]

Originally posted by convicts910
Thats cruel to the convicts. Why dont you use platies or mollies? Why dont we feed your children to the sharks?
That's pretty funny. I've got mollies that are worth 10-30 times the average convict. Convicts are great fish, but that doesn't make them more valuable.

Big fish don't care about the species of their next meal. However, it's much simpler to train fish to take prepared foods than it is to set up extra tanks just for breeding feeders. Maybe you could try earthworms instead.

[LuckyCricketMafia]

Originally posted by convicts910
Thats cruel to the convicts. Why dont you use platies or mollies? Why dont we feed your children to the sharks?

I can see by your name you are a fan of convicts, but I think that has clouded your judgement :rolleyes: . I am just wondering why you feel for the convicts and not for the platies or mollies? And are you really equating convicts to children ? I think you are being just a little dramatic.

[jonah]

Maybe just a little.:D

I like my cons, but the fry are worthless except for using as food for other fish. Not a store within a hundred miles would take them in trade and they're almost as hard to sell at auctions.

[Glaive]

We can'tpick and choose nature, I have a piscevore and he eats some of my Julies. Can't get my boxers in a bunch because he is doing what nature intended...

[jennigypsy]

Originally posted by convicts910
Thats cruel to the convicts. Why dont you use platies or mollies? Why dont we feed your children to the sharks?


whoa.....
simmah dahn nah....


really...do you see convicts as 'real fish' and mollies not?

hmm....

(for the record, mollies and platys are technically harder to keep and breed than convicts....)
...feeding children to sharks.....I know great white sharks are 'man eaters' and all, but I really didn't realize humans were generally on the menu....

[jonah]

That's just because humans make them gassy.

[jennigypsy]

oh!..well, geez..that makes sense then!

[SabrinaD]

Also feeding people to sharks would be very bad for most sharks (especially great whites). Humans don't have a high enough fat content for them. It would be like feeding you celery all the time. It takes more energy to eat us for them than it is worth. Great whites eats seals/ sea lions much of the time and they have a much higher fat content which the sharks need to keep active and warm.

[ercnan]

LoJack hit it. Food Chain.
My wife has three snakes, the longest at almost 9 feet.
If I happened to be a rodent guy(mice/rats/hamsters/gerbils),which I'm not, but just for giggles, say a snake got loose as well as a rodent, and the snake ate the rodent. Should I eat the snake? Some people do. Rodents are a snake's natural prey.
You think because I have snakes in my house in captivity they are supposed to forget they are snakes and eat puppy chow???
Newborn puppies maybe. Puppy chow? Not.
To make a comment about someone being cruel to a convict by using it as a feeder is ludicrous.
That's the same thing thing as someone telling me I'm being cruel to my fish by keeping them in a glass box for my viewing pleasure.
Fish eat fish. Fish eat bugs. Fish eat worms. Some fish eat meat (people included)
Poor fish, poor bugs, poor worms, and poor people.
Call it food chain, call it survival of the fittest, call it the wrong place at the wrong time, call it whatever makes it pleasing to you to hear, but the simple fact is one word . LIFE

[jennigypsy]

:pop:


...and smilies eat popcorn :)

...poor popcorn...

HAHAHA sorry...couldn't resist...:sygypsy:

[blakrain]

Originally posted by ercnan
LoJack hit it. Food Chain.
My wife has three snakes, the longest at almost 9 feet.
If I happened to be a rodent guy(mice/rats/hamsters/gerbils),which I'm not, but just for giggles, say a snake got loose as well as a rodent, and the snake ate the rodent. Should I eat the snake? Some people do. Rodents are a snake's natural prey.
You think because I have snakes in my house in captivity they are supposed to forget they are snakes and eat puppy chow???
Newborn puppies maybe. Puppy chow? Not.
To make a comment about someone being cruel to a convict by using it as a feeder is ludicrous.
That's the same thing thing as someone telling me I'm being cruel to my fish by keeping them in a glass box for my viewing pleasure.
Fish eat fish. Fish eat bugs. Fish eat worms. Some fish eat meat (people included)
Poor fish, poor bugs, poor worms, and poor people.
Call it food chain, call it survival of the fittest, call it the wrong place at the wrong time, call it whatever makes it pleasing to you to hear, but the simple fact is one word . LIFE


AMEN from a fellow herper!

[bluerusty]

well put ercnan, i couldnt have put it better myself

[ercnan]

Thanks all, I didn't mean to get up on a soapbox, but felt I had to reply.
And actually have more to say on the matter, unfortunately for some.

convicts910, I realize you like your fish as much as anyone likes the one's they keep, but in the natural scheme of things (of which aquariums are not, as much as we try to make them), the simple fact is that bigger fish eat smaller/weaker fish as a food source just as we as humans eat lesser (not necessarily smaller or weaker, animals ) as a food source because we are at the top of the food chain right? (go ask a 30 ft. great white or a sundarban tiger their opinion on that matter) Watch out though, they can be pretty testy at times (when they are hungry especially). They might bite your head off (literally).
Are we being cruel to the millions of chickens, hogs, turkeys, cows, etc. being slaughtered every day by using them as feeders for us? PETA an vegatarians need not answer that, I'm simply trying to make a point.
Good hard working people make their living by doing these jobs to provide a food source for us. Do you consider them cruel?
Do you feel like the McD's person taking your order that is essentially feeding you a piece of cow (which by the way is a sacred animal in some cultures) or chicken is a cruel person?
It's fine to have your thoughts and opinions on a subject, but to call out someone as being cruel because they use a fish, that you happen to like, as a feeder is wrong.
You mentioned "Why dont you use platies or mollies? Why dont we feed your children to the sharks?"
Don't you think that's a bit hypocritcal? I mean, what about the platy and molly people's feelings on that remark. Is a convict a more "important" fish than those? Maybe to you.
I won't even comment on the "feeding kids to the sharks" part
That's just simply too stupid of a remark to deserve any.
Think about what you are reading, and also about what you post in reply.
It could save you of bunch of scathing replies from people that think you are in the wrong.

K people, I think I'm done on this. Sorry for the book, but you know.

[blakrain]

well said. Actually, are Platies or Mollies all that nutritious for piscovores (sp)?

[LoJack]

Originally posted by blakrain
well said. Actually, are Platies or Mollies all that nutritious for piscovores (sp)?

are any live fish ... ?

[blakrain]

I know if you buy them from the pet store you have to worry about parasites, also since this thread started with the question of breeding feeders, I was curious. I own some Poison Dart Frogs and many serious breeders feed insects to their frogs and do what is called "gut loading" meaning feed the insects foods that have a LOT of nutrients beneficial to the frog, Then they feed these insects (uslally pinhead crickets) to the frogs within 48 hours of gut loading. So maybe the theory would hold for raising feeder fish.

[MisanthropeKitty]

Originally posted by ercnan
Good hard working people make their living by doing these jobs to provide a food source for us. Do you consider them cruel?
Do you feel like the McD's person taking your order that is essentially feeding you a piece of cow (which by the way is a sacred animal in some cultures) or chicken is a cruel person?


hey hey now lets not start on fast food order takers being cruel people... i am one of those people... and i try not to be cruel (to animals)... cruel to people, yes animals, no. i believe working in fast food makes you bitter... haha

and on the subject of the topic... i breed my own feeder guppies... i bought 2 males and about 12 females and they go to town... every other day i find myself taking everything out of their tank to get the 20 or so fry in there... its not hard and its a hell of a lot cheaper than buying feeders...

[blakrain]

so how do you get them out? the fry are too small for regular nets I imagine. Also, do you feed them differently than if they were just pets?

[MisanthropeKitty]

no i can get them out with a regular net... i feed the babies brine shrimp for a week then start them on very well crumbled flake food... once they get to about 1/2 in i take them out of the fry tank and put them in a different to grow a bit more before i feed them to my cichlids... which btw i only feed my cichlids feeders about twice a week....

[LoJack]

yeah I have a 10 gallon tank full of guppies. I bought 30 like 4 months ago, and I feed to my cichlids once a week or so, just cause I think its entertaining. But there is definitely more than 30 in there now ... probably in the hundreds, and I don't bother with baby brine shrimp ... I mean they are just guppies, they'll survive. I do nothing to that tank, other than water changes, they get flakes once a day, sometimes every two days. Once a week I take a big scoop of them and throw them in with my africans and I still haven't run out yet ... they really can breed fast.

[MisanthropeKitty]

indeed they do... the brine shrimp probably arent necessary but i do it anyways... and i take the fry out of the tank just because i made that one a "breeding tank" and once they get out of the fry tank they go into a different 10g with the other feeders... my feeders dont even have anything in the tank with them... except an airstone... ive found they dont even need a filter with my vaccuuming the bottom and water changes...

[RustyNut]

If you attach that airstone to a sponge filter you'd get better results for only $5-6

[LoJack]

yup, I use a $5 fry size sponge filter in the tank, works wonders and it can't suck up any babies. Thats why I don't pull the babies out, no need to

[MisanthropeKitty]

hmm... i might just try that.

[ocdreamin]

:smoke: I'm still wondering if convict910 pulled a fast one on us. I know there are a lot of people out there who can say something that ridiculous and mean it but could it have been a fececious comment?

[balton777]

Hi guys. I LOVE your guppy feeder plan. I've been contemplating something like that and all I need is 1 small tank? That's great! I really appreciate all you guys knowledge and want to say THANKS!

As for Convicts910, you guys...I think we're probably dealing with a teenager here. Probably no more than 13 or so. Sounds like a comment one of my kids would say not really meaning to me hateful, just a real SMART@$$. You know....a stage that will be outgrown. Still, to say it in the family is one thing, posting on a site to someone you don't know is another.

[Josh84]

Originally posted by LoJack
Last I checked fish get eaten by other fish every day. Its the way things go ... this comment is ridiculous and out of line.

feeding mice to snakes is cruel ... but its the way things are. Feeding animals to other animals is the way things work, they call it a food chain.

exactly well put

[Idealconcepts]

jebusAUST - along with feeders you can use market shrimp. Your regular frozen, none cooked, grocery shrimp. Just remove the heads and tail, and the shell if your fish are large enough. This is a cheap alternative or addition to your feeding rotation, usually anywhere from $2 to $8 a pound for shrimp. Also use pellets instead of flakes.

[parhaam]

ANSWER TO jebusAUST 'S QUESTION:
if you mean a member of mogurnda familly,yes they're breedable,but i suggest gold fishes,their more economic because of their high amount of spawn,they're slow swimmer ,and you know... they're fat enough to be an ideal feeder for large fishes,a few ones per each day!
goodluck.

[Glaive]

Endlers might work for medium size fish as Endlers do not consume their own young.

[Over_Stocked]

breed earthworms at home. That or red worms. Much easier. Get worms. Get dirt. Add corn meal to top of dirt. Sit back. Have more worms than you can handle.