Live foods

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IceH2O

Bazinga
Nov 26, 2005
1,681
60
51
Rock Hill,South Carolina
Real Name
Ice
I have a pond at the end of my road and there are literally hundreds of thousands of those little frogs. I usually use them for bait while fishing.

I was wondering if it would be a good idea to grab a few and drop them in the tank for the birchirs to eat, when they are big enough of course.

Incase some are worried about parasites,etc..is there a way to check for these or disinfect them without killing them or the birchirs?
 

Flowerhorn916

AC Members
Dec 27, 2005
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Sacramento, Ca
I think you would have to quarintine teh forgs for mabey a month or freeze them also you would have to injure them for the birchirs to catch them as they are not very fast
 

reptileguy2727

Not enough tanks, space, or time
Jan 15, 2006
1,799
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Northern Virginia
i wouldnt use any live food wild caught or from a store due to the risk of parasites and diseases. there are more than enough foods on the market to provide a complete and balanced diet without risking exposing them to parasites and diseases.
 

jadefoodog

AC Members
Dec 15, 2005
357
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ill be the flame taget here and say id use whatever live food they might encounter in real life (aka in nature) if live foods were nearly as dangerous as everyone thinks there would be no fish in the wild. and most aquarium fish arent tank bred hell some you cant tank breed so its not like they are real far off from being wild anyhow.

when my cichlids get to a good size they are getting anything that they will take. feeder minnows, crawdads, crickets, shrimp, snails, earthworms. most of this stuff will come from the bait shop.

i kinda feel while you can supplement them with all kinds of junk off the shelf it would be like if someone mashed up a bunch of vitamins and protine in oatmeal and fed it to you every day for the rest fo your life. great way to live huh.
 

IceH2O

Bazinga
Nov 26, 2005
1,681
60
51
Rock Hill,South Carolina
Real Name
Ice
I planned on going the natural way also. The frogs were asked about because they are more likely than anything else to carry a parasite,etc.

I wasn't worried about crickets,worms,etc from my backyard.

Freezing the frogs never entered my mind. I might try that, I think if I quarantied them for a month they'd get to big and my wife would kill me.
 

rainstorm

AC Members
Jan 21, 2006
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I would research to see if/what illnesses a frog could get/transmit to your fish. I think a quarantine of 4 days at 75* F (the temp will speed up any dieseases so you could see them) would be good then just examine the frog for abnormalities.
 

reptileguy2727

Not enough tanks, space, or time
Jan 15, 2006
1,799
0
0
Northern Virginia
with the high quality foods these days i would rather use those and be very safe then use live food and possibly end up sorry. the only way i would feed live food was if i bred it myself.
 

reptileguy2727

Not enough tanks, space, or time
Jan 15, 2006
1,799
0
0
Northern Virginia
the other thing is that amphibians are one of the first types of organisms in an ecosystem to be affected by toxins. and even if they arent enough to take down the forg or even be observable in the frog, a little bit of toxin in each frog could build up in the bichir and eventually take him down.
 

jadefoodog

AC Members
Dec 15, 2005
357
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i think frogs seem like they would be a pain in the but to catch and quarentine and catch again for feeding

you wouldnt be able to simpy stick them in an aquarium you would have to make a whole biotope for them. unless they re african dwarf fromgs they need some kinda land to get up on.

its much easier to quarentien minnows and crawdads

and i wouldnt bother with earthworms and crickets
 

jadefoodog

AC Members
Dec 15, 2005
357
0
0
i think your fish will be much happier with the live foods. it will give him a chance to exersize his predatory insticts
 
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