Do These Fish Enjoy Eating Live Food?

[supaman900s]

I have a 30g long tank with two young cichlids. i have a Convict and a Jewel, now i know you are not supposed to mix these particular fish but wanted to try it out because i have heard of success stories of this working out. now my question is when do these fish start eating live food? i recently bought 20 guppies from my LFS and put them in the tank, slowly each night the numbers have been dwindling down to the 12 that remain. i just have not seen any being consumed. oh yea and my fish are about 1 1/2" each, 2" at the biggest. oh and i have a pleco.

oh yea almost forgot, i new to the forum and would like to say hello to each and everyone of the members, i look forward to sharing fish stories!

 

[thegnu]

hi ya,
I'm sorry but i don't think we should be feeding our fish, fish as live food especially cichlids as small as yours. arowanas and such, possibly but fish as small as yours no, not when you can feed them live bloodworms and such, sorry just my opinion

 

[Castellop123]

Live bloodworm, whiteworm, brinesrimp ( artemia nauplii ) are all enjoyed... frozen foods are also relished...

 

[crazie.eddie]

I'm not familiar with cichlids, but if the tank is not maintained properly, then the guppies could have been dying becuase of the poor water quality. Most fish, especially plecos, will eat at dead fish.

 

[supaman900s]

I know that the fish were not dying, but vanishing, i have since seen my cichlids chasing after the guppies trying to eat them, i have always feed my cichlids live food. i had a jack dempsy, sverum and green monster...

 

[LisaLQ]

It's not necessary, and it's not nutritionally complete. Worms, shrimp etc yes, but not live fish. It's inhumane and it's only purpose is for the "fun" of the owner. Considering you've said you feed all your cichlids live food, that says more about you than you'd think.

Get them some decent cichlid pellets, give them some frozen treats or fresh shrimp/prawn, worms and the like - but leave the baby guppies for those who want to watch them live, not die.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

I suggest that you read the pinned topic on feeder fish from the top of the Oddballs' forum.

basically, by feeding your cichlids feeder fish, you greatly increase their chances of being infected by disease while simultaneously decreasing the nutritional value of their diet.

the best thing that you can feed your fish? just a name-brand cichlid pellet. (hikari is generally a good choice.) store-bought fish food has a known nutritional content specifically designed for certain kinds of fish. thus you buy algae wafers for plecos, live-bearer flakes for guppies, and cichlid pellets for cichlids. this is much more reliable than feeding a staple diet of live/frozen foods (unless you use a very wide variety) because most live foods are nutritionally deficient in one area or another. this is especially true of store-bought feeder fish.

 

[supaman900s]

I think everyone is kind of getting the wrong idea from me. Dont get me wrong i do also feed my fish other foods like the (cant think of the name) but the cubes that you stick to the side of the tank, cichlid pellets and cichlid flakes. I was just under the impression that feeding your fish live food such as guppies or feeder fish would make the cichlids feel more like they are in nature naturaly stalking prey. I am not a cruel person who just enjoys watching fish consum each other, dont think i was just doing it for my benifit, i had the fishes best intrest at hand the whole time. But i am a little confused as to why LFS's even have feeder fish if it is SO wrong to feed them to your fish? I understand that you would probably not be able to properly raise a pirahna or something similar just on flakes and other dry food. But i simply dont feel like it is such a wrong thing to do, it occures naturaly in nature, maybe not cichlids that are so young but non-the-less it does happen... sorry if i have offended some, that was neither my purpose or intent either and am truly sorry if i have. i will also take in to consideration everyones advise.

 

[mr williams]

Live food is a touchy subject for some people but i think it's clear you are not doing it for the wrong reasons. There are some convincing arguments against it though,,,,,

 

[PoPoV]

Dont worry Superman, Some people Just dont agree with feeding Feeder fish to larger fish. You should check out the pinned topics. They give alot of good info on the pro's and cons's of "feeder fish".

 

[supaman900s]

Okay i will look at the stickies as soon as i get a second, thanks....

 

[supaman900s]

Could you point me in the direction of the sticky that relates to the pro's and con's of live food?

Edit- I looked at the top of this topic and found the link.

 

[annka5]

Ok, just to interfere some more!
I don't feel comfortable with the idea generally.
HOWEVER, if you are going to go down that road, IMO it is much kinder to add the feeder fish in "meal sized" numbers. That way they aren't bein g kept in a relatively small area with a predator too long. I would also reckon that your fish are too small as yet, at least to be efficient at catching /killing/eating the guppies: this is likely to be causing more suffering to the feeder fish than a full sized predator would.