Live food

[MIKE D]

I have a question on live food for my cichlids. Before I got rid of my Convicts I decided to keep 6 males. At the time they were small and showed no signs of being female and well I was wrong. Out of the six one turned out to be a female and has mated with one of the other 5 males. Insted of removing the eggs I've let them hatch and they are at the wiggler stage. Im waiting for them to become free swimming before I suck em' out and give them to my 55 gallon tank. I know you shouldnt buy feeder fish because they could have some type of "bug" and could make my fish sick or even kill them so my question is this is it ok to give the fry to my other fish?
Thanks for the help
~Mike D

 

[Cathy G]

If you don't mind seeing fry getting eaten, than this is fine. Many who feed live fish raise their own to avoid introducing disease into the tank.

Cathy

 

[Ruben Tolon]

Using your own cichlid fry as feeders is agreat idea, and the best alternative to store-bought feeders.

 

[MIKE D]

Great. Should I worry about H.I.H from feeding my oscars live food?

 

[mostlycichlids]

Great. Should I worry about H.I.H from feeding my oscars live food?

HITH is usually brought on by improper diet, dirty water etc. Feeding You Oscar live food will not give it HITH.

 

[Star_Rider]

There is still quite a bit of discussion revolving around HITH/HLLE
HITH has been associated with Protzoans while HLLE is definitely linked to diet.

there has been discussion to sperate the two via Sx ..agian this is an ongoing discussion.

however, as long as you are supplementing the diets of the fish and not feeding exclusively feeders you should be fine.

 

[Vicious_Fish]

I raise convict feeders for my Cichlids and other predatory fish. I haven't run into any problems except with my Jaguar Cichlid who doesn't seem to enjoy eating them like he once did. On the other hand my oscar goes nuts for them.

 

[MIKE D]

I feed them cichlid gold, tetracichlid chrisps and freeze dried plankton. The fry will be only when my cons lay eggs. So I say by next week I should have more fry.

 

[mostlycichlids]

Oscars also need some veggie matter in their diet.

 

[AquariumFish]

I can speak about this from what I do ...

I actually breed convicts for feeders for my bigger cichlids.
I have a 56 gallon column grow out tank for baby convicts
(this will change tomorrow morning when I get the monster Midas)

It helps to have a little fresh food for them ...