to feed feeders or not

daveedka said:
I fully agree that almost any fish can be weaned off of live food, Tiger woods could be weaned off of golf clubs but he wouldn't be as happy. I resent the fact that feeders are always assumed to be goldfish as well, but that is really irrellevant since my predators have never seen a goldfish in their lives and won't. The whole cruelty idea is laughable IMO. The shock value idea is as well, /If I want shock value I'll stick cockroaches in the microwave (I don't do that either BTW). I feed live foods because I own fish that like to hunt. I make sure my fish have a varied diet, and get good nutrition. This diet includes many live foods and many prepared foods, also shrimp that someone else killed so my fish don't have to. nothing goes in my tank that isn't either raised by me or quarantined . It is ridiculous IMO to own an animal that is genetically programmed to hunt and then completely deprive them of that activity. It is also ridiculoous to feed them goldfish from an LFS tank when there are so many risks involved. And BTW I am a redneck, I am not a jarhead, And I have a lot of trouble telling one type of close minded person from another, but Trolls are usually easy to spot.
Dave
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Well Said!!
 
you dont have to be a redneck jarhead to know that your fish will be happier eating the live foods they find in their natural habitat, and that doesnt always mean goldfish. Preditors are meant to hunt, and im not gonna deprive them of what they're meant to do because i feel bad for the feeder. If you cant handle feeding your fish what they're meant to eat, then dont get that type of fish. If you're gonna own animals its your obligation to keep them healthy and happy.
 
Hey I eat fish (not feeders of course). Isn't that saying that Im bad and I should be eating Tofu or something? Fish eating fish is part of "the circle of life". Feeding live food is also good for a varied diet. I feed mine bugs, fish pelets, flakes, whatever and they look soooo pretttyyy. Wouldnt you get sick if you had to eat the same stuff everyday too?


My 2 cents
-Dan
 
I think it depends on the fish. and who knows... if my mollies reproduse as often as I think they will, I may raise some of the fry to give to the catfish as a treat. I'm not against live foods at all, just the ones that get sold as such. I think we can all agree that anything is better than petco feeder goldfish... :D
 
geoffgarcia asked why I labeled the protein/veggie dichotomy false - I did so because feeders are commonly pathetic nutritionally as well as bacteriologic/parasitic/any other infectious agent agent avalable nightmares; also that not all prepared foods are entirely plant based (which has already been pointed out since I posted earlier). My whole issue with commercial feeders - which I tried to point out - is their biohazards coupled with being nutritionally poor.
 
I dont own a pred. fish, nor have i ever. But as far as Im concerned wouldnt you want to try the option of feeding your fish non-live foods for the sake of your fish if not the sake of the feeders?

If you claim to not have enough time to train your fish to eat non live foods then maybe instead of driving to the LFS to get feeders you should spend that time training your fish. I find it hard to belive that any fish would rather die than eat non-live food.
 
RTR said:
Nobody seems to be mentioning that there are plenty of foods other than feeders and pellets. Hello? Ever visited the freezer? Ever been to the seafood counter at the grocery? The protein/veggie dichotomy is as false as any of the others being tossed around in this thread.

I keep predators. I never use LFS feeders and likely never will again - not from moral scruples, but to protect the health and life of my fish. My most recent predator acquisition (a Palembang's puffer) took three tries to accept prawn on a thread, for a cumulative total of less than half an hour of my time invested on a wild-caught piscivore. C'mon folks - get real. Posturing is not either an argument or a discussion. Protein needs may well be real, but artificial dichotomies are not. This is not PETA, we do keep captive animals, and we should try to meet their needs. But I have yet to see any real reference suggesting that captive fish have a requirement for starving diseased feeders from the LFS.
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Exactly and thank you. We all keep fish in little glass cages pointing no fingers about the type of fish you keep just HOW you care for it.
I did mention store bought shrimp :) i started this post in the hope somebody listening would try just what you did.

You cant just toss pellets in and think they will eat them it takes you being smarter than your fish and finding creative ways to trick him in to trying it.

Second I never give the same speach to anyone twice and even if I did they WILL be back. I work the biggest fish shop with in a THOUSAND miles of here.
And we sell nice feeders cheapest around by far 100 for $10 or 500 for $25

Also sorry about the redneck/jarhead coment but thats the vibe I get off most of them.

About the muskies. I bet they tried to get tanks full of them to take pellets.
problem #1 a whole tankfull of preditors is very hard to begin with as you cant hold the food back long enough to get them hungry enough to accept pellets with out them turning on each other.

Also I heard someone mention minnows I tell people who "cant" break the feeder habit to use fishing bait minnows.
They dont like the warm water and dont last long in the tank. But they probialy were netted out of a healthy river/stream and have never been medicated.

i'm not against preditor fish someday my dream fish is a big RTC and I WILL 100% for sure feed sunfish I catch out of a lake its not about the type of fish you chose thing its about the reason you bought it and how you care for them.
And I'm stateing you must completely hold back live to get them to accept pellets/non live now that they accept those we can use clean and healthy live foods as treats and such but we eliminated the whole I have to have 20 goldfish a week even if they look like crap thing.

I'M just saying I'm sick of the 20 something guys wearing wrestling,beer or nascar shirts comming in with there buddies reeking of booze wanting some feeders to but on a macho show for thier friends when they get home.And it is that type that never will try anything other than goldfish because they bought the pirahna strickly for SHOCK value!!!!
Non of the people who would post here are the ones I'm talking about :)
The fact your even here chating about your fish with us sets you miles ahead of the stereotype I'm protraying here ;)
I'm not attacking anyone here!
 
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legbamel said:
I understand that buying feeder goldfish from Petco is a really bad idea - I've seen their tanks and we don't buy ANY fish there - but if you've got a reputable source
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i work the most reputable soure for fish in the midwest and trust me ALL stores GF are nasty its not the stores fault all the probs come from the farms and over crouded shipping bags.
The ONLY!!! way you could posiblaly get clean feeders is to get from a friends pond or QT for YEARS.
I have a goldfish tank that poped gill flukes a year and a half ago treated them away. Nothing new AT ALL went into the tank! no new fish or decorations rock ANYTHING other than dried flake food the tank even has its own shiphon hose and bucket.With no signs of flukes for over a year.
Two weeks ago i had a huge outbreak because I let the nitrates get a bit high but some paracites live inside fish and go dorment they are opertunistic waiting for a stessed fish to pop their ugly heads again.
even though they swam in three coarses of paradox and a round with dyicide and two months of mixing profesional grade paracide D into there food.
Feeder goldfish are just plane nasty and should be avoided at all costs no matter where or who you get them from IMHO
 
Seaman said:
Ok I'm going to have to disagree with the majority, how is feeding feeders cruel...its called the natural life cycle....big fish catch and eat little fish. I dont do it for "shock" value....I have 2 nandus and 2 butis who were widld caught and WILL NOT TOUCH anything but live foods, they are ambush predators and are scared eaisly by feeding sticks and even me being in the room, thus the only option is live. I raise my own guppy feeders and gut load them with foods so that they are very nutritious for the predators. I agree it may not be as complete nutrition as would be if i had my choice in what they eat......but thats what they would eat in the wild is live fish....so I dont think its a bad thing.

now rosy reds and comet gold fish i dont like those at all....they are way higher fat content vs protien content compared to guppies.

so to the people who say ALL fish will accept non-live foods....I'm calling BS.
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Its not cruel to the feeders its cruel to the fish eating them.
ALL species of fish can learn to eat non live foods if taught early.
95% of fish eating feeders can be converted to non live if the owners wanted to do this and sometimes it takes nearly staving them to death but they will take them.
Question for you how long did you hold back feeders? I'm sure your well fed fish would go OVER a month with out any food and be just fine or did you try for a few days maybe a week.
 
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