Feeding Channa Gachua Feeder Fish

[Jamie1986]

Hi!

Thinking about feeding my dwarf snakeheads live fish. They are still babies at the moment and eating bloodworm and prawns. I like the idea of feeder fish as thats the way they would be surviving in the wild. If I start this would they only take live. All comments welcome.

 

[njstockley]

hi jamie...


firstly tank looks great. channa are such interesting fish, wish i could dedicate a tank to them too!

as for feeder fish, what are you planning? its not good practice to be buying "feeder fish" from the lfs, as you cant guarantee they are disease free, and you dont want your channa to catch anything.
if you are planning on breeding your own, then i dont know if your channa would take them just yet (as in i really dont know, im not speculating that they wont). but the question you should ask yourself is that would that be more beneficial than feeding on man-made foods? the benefit of the latter is that they contain various nutirents that the fish cant get from a fish-only diet, and this can enhance growth and colour etc. of course, the odd live treat is going to be readily accepted, but IMO less hassle to just stick with the shop brought foods.

as said above though, there are some much better informed channa keepers here, who will hopefully correct me if im wrong!

nick

 

[Jamie1986]

Cheers nick. I would be happy giving them live fish as a treat but not sure if that would then put them off bloodworm,prawn etc. Added more plant today so will post some pics

 

[gasmask]

Hi!
Forget feeders, they are not worth the risk, expense and effort.
All my Channa (I have kept a lot) were kept on Hikari Marssivore or Carnivore pellets, and occasional treats of market prawn, smelt and sometimes fresh squid.

A pellet diet is best for Channa (apart from the monsters like Micropeltes, Marulius etc)

 

[Jamie1986]

Cheers Gasmask. Think I will stick to prawns etc. They are coming along great with it so why change.