Feeder Fish

chibi · Jul 14, 2007

I rescue feeder fish from tanks when I can. I've rescued a tetra, a little baby swordtail and a guppy. I just don't like the thought of something innocent being gobbled up. Some fish don't need feeders. There's a full-grown oscar at my LFS that was raised on flake and pellet food. Not only are feeder fish disease-ridden, they just aren't necessary in most cases.

I think it's a guy thing... I went to another LFS and these guys (probably late teens, early 20s) were like "Dude, watch this!" and stuck a baby mouse into a black belt chiclid tank. *rolls eyes* Men... :lol:

chibi · Jul 14, 2007

This isn't fish, but my golden retriever was a puppy-mill breeder. She was raised to have babies. Eventually, she was set free and had to catch her own food to survive. We rescued her, but she's still always on the prawl for anything that moves. She caught and killed a baby bunny on a walk once. It was upsetting, but it's nature. I think it's a taught human quality to think it's cruel. Surely, it's not. Wild dogs don't eat pellet dog food. Wild fish don't eat flake food. I'm okay with feeders when the fish will only eat them and nothing else. I'm sure 90% of all people who buy feeders for their fish have fish that are fully capable of being sustained on flakes or pellets, though. I'm on the fence...

poopsydrew · Jul 15, 2007

chibi said:
I rescue feeder fish from tanks when I can. I've rescued a tetra, a little baby swordtail and a guppy. I just don't like the thought of something innocent being gobbled up. Some fish don't need feeders. There's a full-grown oscar at my LFS that was raised on flake and pellet food. Not only are feeder fish disease-ridden, they just aren't necessary in most cases.

I think it's a guy thing... I went to another LFS and these guys (probably late teens, early 20s) were like "Dude, watch this!" and stuck a baby mouse into a black belt chiclid tank. *rolls eyes* Men...

I understand what you mean, but you do understand "rescuing" feeder fish is merely supporting the process of them and putting money in the pockets of the breeders and lfs who sells them? Surely if you are against using fish as feeders you dont want to support the continual breeding of them for that purpose? Unless you are not paying for them :shifty:

Drew

Meds081603 · Jul 15, 2007

Well the first page and a half of this thread were nice...

Smokescreen · Sep 22, 2008

I was always against using feeders... Until I got my African clawed frog. She won't eat the ReptoMin sticks, and by the time she finds the shrimp pellets, they're moldy. And it is way too hard to fish out mold from a fish tank. And so, I went to the LFS and picked up some feeder guppies and ghost shrimp. I'm not gonna lie, it's kinda funny to watch her try to snag them only to have them get away. She's learning to hunt, and as a result, I see more of her because she's more active now.

Now, that's not to say that every fish/amphibian needs to be fed live, and not to say that I'm always going to strictly feed live. It's just, at the moment, to sustain my ACF, I need to feed live, because she won't venture out to get the floating or sinking food and I'm currently in a college dorm room and thus have no place to store frozen food. Maybe someday she'll be able to eat, or will be willing to eat, frozen or dried. We'll see.

andywg · Sep 23, 2008

What is with all the necroposting?

kewskills · Sep 23, 2008

Oh yeah, word of the day andy :good:

gonna try and find a use for it in the office today

andywg said:
necroposting

jourdy288 · Sep 23, 2008

This is old, lol. I'm going to try to feed my leaf fish, Xylon, feeders, but healthy ones! I think that, no matter what fate a fish is going to end up with, should be kept in good condition.I would take care of feeder guppies the same as $50 dollar show guppies! I also consider what happened to the fish in fish food, it can't be too bad...