Anyone breed feeder fish?

[Jungle Girl]

I have two baby oscars and they've been happy on pellets, bloodworms, earthworms, and crickets so far.
Someday they'll probably want little fish to eat, but I'm VERY NERVOUS about buying them feeder fish from the pet store...
So I guess I have two questions:

1) Is it silly to worry about disease transmission from feeder fish?

2) Do any of you breed live food for your big carnivores? If so, what species works best?

P.S. I have to admit that every now and then it feels a little strange to talk about feeder animals for my pets, considering that I've been vegetarian for almost two decades!:wideeyed:

[KnaveTO]

Well first off at least you are not trying to make your fish vegetarian as well... I know one or two that tried that with their dogs and cats... lets just say they don't have animals anymore

Yes you should worry about diseases from feeder fish that you buy from the pet store. As for breeding them I do not know about that however someone else on here may.

[CACAdmin]

I don't know if anyone around you breeds feeder fish specifically but breeders may be happy to sell you culls as feeders.

[James B.]

Never buy feeders from a store it's just asking for trouble, As far as growing your own it all depends on what size tank you have to do it in. I personally have a pair of Convict cichlids that I breed for feeders for my fish and they are quite good at their job and start to breed at a very small size but they should have a 30 gallon tank, you can get away with a pair in a 20 long but with fry it fills up pretty quick and you really have to stay on top of the water. If you are looking for a smaller sized tank you can go with things like guppies etc.
Hope that helps some.


James

[Katalyst]

I have bred comets/commons and sarassa's before but as pets not breeder fish. I don't think you are going to find too many people who specialize breeding them privately, but I've been wrong before. They require large amounts of space and are usually sold for minimum amouts.

[James]

Oscars are great, but as everyone says, never buy feeders unless you can keep them for a month or so. If you do that watch close for any problems and feed them well.

You really don't need to feed them feeders, for one thing it will add alot of waste to your tank as they only consume a part of the feeder fish.

The very best food for Oscars is Hikari Cichlid Bio-Gold Plus and then use worms and such as treats. Its really hard not to over feed them, Oscars are the biggest beggers in the world.

Long time ago I had one called Alice, she would go to the bottom and lay on her side tell you lifted the lid to feed her, then you had to watch she didn't jump out of the tank to get at the food.

Not sure how much you know about them, but there is a growing opinion that using carbon in your filters with Oscars can possibly lead to HITH in them, not proven but something to watch for.

[Melody]

Has anyone ever figured out which classic feeder fish is the most nutritious?

[Melody]

Not sure how much you know about them, but there is a growing opinion that using carbon in your filters with Oscars can possibly lead to HITH in them, not proven but something to watch for.

I think that's because it takes something out of the water... maybe minerals. That's pure guesswork, but since they're also sensitive to vitamin/mineral deficiency related ailments in regards to diet, its a possibility. To my knowledge there is nothing related to carbon that would cause it directly, but my knowledge is more than a little limited when it comes to Oscars.:GEEK:

[_Aaron_]

There are so many other things to feed them that are far better for them than feeders from a local store.

Mine do have a varying picky appetite & I vary mine on things like what you are feeding, hikari pellets, shrimp, prawn(love it), & occasionally beef heart.

[ChrissyFishy]

Oscars are one of my favorite fish!!!! I didn't feed mine live food but they liked a lot of frozen food and I got the kind that has vitamins added but I can't remember the brand. They also loved aquarian and ocean nutrition cichlid food. I didn't have danichi then but I would have fed that to. He didn't like that spectrum one. I don't know if I tried hikari or not but other people say that their food is good to. There are recipes for cichlids on cichlid forum http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/food_recipes.php