Questions about my Texas....

feed them feeder every now and then but treat them first or give him some beef heart.

if you keep your water clean and do changes at least once a week
he will have better coloring:D
 
Using feeder fish under any circuncircumstance...even occasionally is one of the dumbest things you could ever do. Why would you want to take a chance on potentially infecting your fish?
 
arrrrr that annoys me so much what are the chances of your fish being infected by paracites if they have been properly quarrentined or bred your self close to 0 ive been feeding my jags,oscars,livingstoniis,polysitgmas feeder fish for years and never had a death because of them its happened a few times as far as ive read on here but its never happend to me the the 20 years that ive been fish keeping
 
Quarantined properly...meaning medicated to remove parasites and seperated for several weeks...shouldn't pose a problem. But most read "feeder fish" and hear OK to grab them out of the local LFS fish bucket and drop them into the tank. If you can honestly say you have never done it then fine. The minute you take a chance...well, you are taking a chance. The way these feeder fish are housed and shipped are, in a word...disgusting. Like Calcutta for fish.

So Tia, I have a couple questions: How long do you keep them in Q-Tank? What meds do you treat them with? And since we ar ultimately talking about feeding the fish...what are the nutritional benefits that can't be received from other safe food sources?
 
im not here to start and argument
but if my breeders(mollys,platys,guppys,convicts) have been slow in their breeding and i need a sourse of feeders i get goldfish etc althought rare i do buy them i then quarrentine them for 2 weeks at least i also keep an other tank if i want to get extras so i have a constant supply of feeder goldfish if i need them and if i dont they stay in the Q tank for an extra week or so i know that people who dont quarrentine them but they usually feed feeders for their freinds to watch not thinking of the health of their fish

mojo i know you keep awsome large americans so i assume you feed your jags etc feeders ??? correct me if im wrong

but ive also noticed that most people buy oscars just to watch them eat goldfish i know cause when i was little i did it my self.

and i bet that most people on this site along dont quarrentine their feeders

i also have a less riskly solution to feeders but more expensive

buy non feeders to use as feeders such as neons,white clouds,mollys, danios, even convicts etc
 
No argument...just the "feeder fish" discussion. If you are quaranting them without medicating them...you are still risking a potential problem. At a minimum you should treat them with a med that clears them of parasites. The people you know that just toss them in the tanks are, simply put...uneducated morons. Feeding them for the sake of watching the bigh fish eat the little fish is just a juvenile thrill that I "understand"...but really think is dumb.

Many years ago I used to quarantine feeders for the larger fish. It just got to be a pain. They didn't need it...I didn't need the extra headache. End of story. I haven't fed them in years. The problem with people Q-Tanking them is that they still treat them like feeders...overstocking thier Q-Tank...not providing proper filtration, water changes, etc...and no meds. They don't spontaneously heal themselves and especially NOT in that container.

You are much better off saving your money, buying good frozen food and using that. Personally I don't care if people feed their fish eraser tips and cigarette butts. They aren't my fish and I'm not PITA. I'm offering my opinion based on many years experience...and if you asked some of the other more knolwedgable aquarists they would say the same.

20 years, huh. For some reason I thought you told me something different a while back. Good luck with your fish.
 
Guess you could breed your own feeders...then again it will take a while before a batch would be large enough to constitue a meal :)

Just get some meal worms, superworms or earthworms if you want some "live" foods. My fish flip out for worms...and fresh shrimp.
 
the first time I saw my texas color come out is when she was hunting live food. I put in about 80 convict fry and as soon as I did my texas got dark grey stripes like a convict, while still keeping the blue freckles on its face. the pattern matched a con to a T.
 
Couldn't find any beef heart at my grocer, so I bought some diced beef instead. Is this ok???? Also, is their anything I need to do to the meat before adding to tank?? Thanks!!
 
most times you will find frozen beef heart at pet stores not the grocery. I would not use ground beef for the same reason you would not eat it raw, echoli....sp?
 
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