Live Food And Lifespan

[bredler]

Has anyone noticed decreased lifespan correlated with feeding live food? Someone brought it up to me today and it got me thinking a little...

I know that if fish are kept in warmer water their metabolism is higher and they don't live as long, but a friend of mine who has kept fish for 30+ years mentioned the same of live food.

My only concern is my D. darios...they ONLY eat live food.

 

[jonnyf84]

Well I could be wrong as I’ve only got under a third of your friends experience but I have never found this, natural lifespan shouldn’t be decreased by regular feeding of live foods. I'm not 100% sure that natural lifespan will suffer but I do know for sure that immunities towards a large plethora of diseases will be increased - this shouldn't affect the natural age of a fish but, needless to say, the less disease the better. If I were you I would continue feeding live foods as I have found they only provide benefits.