I hope that I don't get yelled at me for this but can I use gambusia, heterandria formosa, limia periguae and orangetailed goodieds as feeder fish? They are easy to breed and produce lots of fry. Im stuck with orangetailed goodieds because no one wants them probably due to fin nipping and a species tank are must. I know the goodieds are not often used as feeder fish but they are very common and not rare anymore.

Yes, you can use them as feeder fish. In terms of nutrition and safety, home-bred livebearers are the ideal. Gut-load them first, and obviously keep the feeders free of diseases such as whitespot and fungus.

But if you're asking "is using feeder fish a good idea", well that's a little more complex. On the whole, there's rarely any advantage to using feeder fish unless you're keeping very specific sorts of fish that won't accept anything else. Most predatory fish will receive a healthier, more diverse diet if given dried, invertebrate, and frozen foods.

The fish that should never be used as feeders are minnows/carps including goldfish and rosy-reds; they're too fatty for most fish when used regularly, plus they are rich in thiaminase. Even without these factors, the majority of commercial feeder goldfish and minnows are raised in abominable conditions. Likewise, even things like neons should be avoided because of the risk of NTD, which can infect a diversity of different fish, not just neons.

Cheers, Neale

My personal view is not to but thats just me, it's just coz i love these fish so much.

Like Neale says you can and i'm sure many people do.

Some of these fish are so rare, take Ameca splendens these fish are almost gone in the wild, last visit resulted in just a few fish and the where the last few years nothing was found. Yet in the UK these fish sell for a £1 each!!!!
The same with mot of these fish and the idea if people feeding these to cichlids and stuff annoys me but I'm not one to flame or anything, I'll just explain how i see it (well try to with out the usual rambeling).

Helter

Helter, don't worry about it. Its just I have too many orangetailed goodieds and limias. I tried give the fry and young adults away but I ended have more fishes and taking over the tanks and ponds. No one wants orangetailed goodieds probably due to its fin nipping and the species tank only are a must...they are not really attractive looking. Many people now focus on rarer goodeids, and starting to forget five common goodieds species: Ameca splendens, Xenotoca eiseni, Ilyodon furcidens, Characodon lateralis and Zoogonetious tequila. They are common species in United States aquarium trade (only in online sale)...

My predatory fish are redfin pickerel, a smaller cousin of northern pike. They rarely take frozen foods and pellets so the live foods are a must.

yes we have most goodieds in the UK and if you goto www.livebearers.org your find people all over with fish with collection data, these are worth much more than aquarium strain fish.