Who uses feeder goldfish and why?

[fish_breeder_05]

feeders

feeders are nessesary for fish that will only hunt their meals like pike cichlids. mine ate 25 feeder guppies in 15 min.! It is very intertaining to watch

 

[fish_breeder_05]

feeder snails/shrimp are nessisary in all puffers diets to keep their teeth from over growing

 

[zazz]

Dogs and cats are naturally predators, and i doubt that the majority of dog and cat owners feed them live rodents or something.

:OT:
Well, I was thinking about this too. dogs and cats(if well kept) at least get to PLAY at hunting. lots of cats stalk at least bugs and if given the opportunity, rodents and birds.
I had a cat "catch" me a bunch of earthworms once.
she just brought them in one by one and lay them at my feet with a unique little growl. I fed them to my GF
I dont encourage pack hunting behavior in my dogs. doesnt go over well in the city. But I do feed them fresh foods along with the prepared stuff.
Mycurrent fish are small. They get live brineshrimp.

 

[sublime1184]

she just brought them in one by one and lay them at my feet with a unique little growl. I fed them to my GF

Dam, you're lucky...I used to have to buy my GF dinner at a restraunt...man did I spoil her

 

[Raskolnikov]

feeders are nessesary for fish that will only hunt their meals like pike cichlids.

My Crenicichla did smashingly on a diet of market shrimp and fish flesh as well as smelt. They spawned quite regularly before I traded them in.

 

[zazz]

Dam, you're lucky...I used to have to buy my GF dinner at a restraunt...man did I spoil her

yeah well, don't feel bad.
I lost my Gf cause my tank was too small.
if its not one thing its another

 

[carplady]

Goldfish for food

I have purchased feeder goldfish that I deliberately picked out for markings or pretty tails. I live in Kansas and when the electricity kept going out in the winter storms, I would lose my temperamental tropical fish. So...just out of desperation to have an aquarium at all, I went to the carps and Kois (hence my handle "carplady"). I progressed to the better looking un-feeder fish at times, but you might be surprized to see what some of those feeder fish turn out to be, some are exquisite. They don't need heat, in fact they are better off in cool waters. They will eat snails (yes, snails are bacterial and virus carriers) but, mostly they are vegetarians, so my daughter and I collect pond greens from a local area, and will also feed them with several kinds of pond fish food, giving them a diverse food supply.

I agree with the person in this thread who implied that viruses are rampant, even to us, from anywhere. Some of your fish are bound to get sick and die, after all, humans do, it's ok, we'll have a stronger strain of fish, or you can look at it like this, you're forced to "go shopping", maybe you'll take that opportunity to try a different specie.

 

[puppylover794]

I used to use feeder goldfish..but now I stopped.

They are actually bad for fish. Most of the feeder goldfish found @ pet stores are unhealthy and some carry diseases which they can pass on to your fish. I do NOT recommend using feeder fish!...you can always go with shrimp, tubifex worms, pellets, frozen food, or even flake food!

 

[travelinman1969]

Well looks like this post has re-risen from the dead. Feeder fish are exactly that. I'm sorry for anyone who feels offended by baby guppies or others being fed, but it is part of the hobby we deal with. I no longer have fish of that type but understand the means to feed those type of fish. I hope to have my old set up again some day and will not hesitate to use some of the feeders from my current tank, but mainly pellets, and frozen foods should be used first, but to keep a hunter a hunter he needs a huntee. You need to keep an animal at his best and active. Whoever came up with the dog and cat thing is nuts. I have 6 cats and they are fine without mice and others, however my new baby is a great spider hunter. :sim: We're talkin a whole different thing here. Fish for the most part are predetors that need to keep that for health, other animals do not.

But the whole question. and the root of it is, Goldfish are bad. The end.

 

[anthonylam]

i feed my fish feeder goldfish all the time. since i've started the hobby many years ago i've been doing it and it's not a problem for my fish. even though i know they are definitely not spent any money on in treatment but i still do it. all my fish are used to it... it makes them more hardy i guess. of course i don't stick to only feeder goldfish. i give them a varied diet of super worms and sometimes pellets as well... no problem. healthy as ever. not overfed, no problems... plus, it's so much fun to watch them get live food for themselves... carnivorous fish do that in the wild. i don't see why we should take that part of their 'predator' genes away from them. imagine if everybody don't allow their carnivors to hunt as they usually do in the wild, what would happen to these breeds in aquarium hobby in a few years time? you'll have oscars and other large cichlids which no longer know how to hunt live food! that's no longer natural! in my opinion, allow them to be as natural as possible. if u don't use feeder goldfish, make efforts to get some other live feeders that might be safer if you're afraid of disease. don't strip predators of their right to be predators! just throwing earthworms or freeze dried foods or other 'easy to get' foods won't allow them to be themselves!