Live Foods.

[Dany]

what is your view on using live foods. we dont want no agression or arguments between users, just your oppinion..
Dan

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Do you mean "live foods" as in things like mosquito larvae and bloodworms;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=180788

Or Feeder Fish?

 

[Dany]

il be more precise, feeder fish and other larger "live foods" sich as river shrimp etc...

 

[fishboy619]

personally i cant bring myself to feed live food, i hate to see feeder fish being fed to larger fish. i know it happens, but i would never do it myself. its not too bad with brine shrimp or bloodworms, i prefer to feed frozen but drop live food in for breeding fish.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

il be more precise, feeder fish and other larger "live foods" sich as river shrimp etc...

I personally don't have a problem with people feeding their predatory fish feeder fish as long as;
a. The feeder fish is small enough to be devoured/swallowed by the predator fish quickly.
b. The type of feeder fish is chosen with care- the feeder fish should be healthy and suited to the predatory fishes dietry needs.
c. The owner has a reason for feeding their fish live fish rather than just doing it for the fun of it. A lot of predatory fish can be moved onto dead foods without much difficultly, so i think if you can do this with your fish, you should at least give it a go.

The type of feeding of live fish to predatory fish i strongly disagree with is when someone buys a 6inch goldfish which is far too large to be killed and eaten quickly by the predatory fish in question, so has to suffer a long and slow death being slowly bitten and torn to bits over a long period of time before it eventually dies. Its not just the suffering in this scenario that is wrong- most predatory fish would not eat such big fish given a choice in the wild unless they were capable of killing the fish very quickly.
Same goes for any other type of live food like shrimp.

Personally, i don't see much difference between a guppy and an arrowana, or a convict cichlid and a krib, or a goldfish and an angelfish etc when it comes to priorities in fishkeeping. I think they should deserve the same amount of care and respect- so i think if you have to kill a fish, for whatever reason, you should at least do it humanely. If the feeder fish you are feeding is too big/quick or tough to be killed quickly and humanely by the predatory fish in question, then you should opt for a smaller and easier to kill feeder fish for the predatory fish to eat.

edit: sp

 

[Jamesham]

imo it is cruel. if you can't bring yourself to sacrifice neon tetras during the cycling period then why should you give a big fish a healthy fish, just to be eaten. either teach it to eat dead food, like brine shrimp (which would probably be cheaper) or give it something else.

ive seen video clips of snakeheads being given loaches that they can barely fit in their mouths. the fish has to go through a long and painful death. and i agree that 6 inch goldfish should not be fed to big fish. even when it has just its head it will try to swim away. i (without trying to hurt any1s feelings) think it is disgusting the feeding of 'feeder' fish.

 

[luque]

i (without trying to hurt any1s feelings) think it is disgusting the feeding of 'feeder' fish.
[/quote]
i do agree with that but in the wild it would prefer live fish so if you are going to keep one in a tank i think the best way to go is to feed it what it wants or don't keep one

 

[timmystood]

I believe feeder fish are ok providing, like Tokis-Phoenix says, they can be eaten straight away. However, there is the better option of buying small, feeder fish in frozen blister packs. Much better than watching a fish die in my view.

 

[Dany]

Personally i think it is rather narrow minded for people to purchas predatory fishes and who refuse to feed live foods to them, its their nature to hunt and catch fishes,shrimps etc. If a fish is purchased, its natural habits should be able to expressed in captivity.
DAn

 

[three-fingers]

I personally don't have a problem with people feeding their predatory fish feeder fish as long as;
a. The feeder fish is small enough to be devoured/swallowed by the predator fish quickly.
b. The type of feeder fish is chosen with care- the feeder fish should be healthy and suited to the predatory fishes dietry needs.
c. The owner has a reason for feeding their fish live fish rather than just doing it for the fun of it. A lot of predatory fish can be moved onto dead foods without much difficultly, so i think if you can do this with your fish, you should at least give it a go.

Same here.
I prefer not to feed even live blood worms and the like to my fish anyway because frozen food is cheaper, safer and much easier to feed.
However I do feed them live food every now and then as a treat, my fish eat the food so fast I don't even know if they notice a difference...

 

[WILDER]

Never fed anything live to my fish.
Carry to much desease and not worth the risk, this is just my opion.

 

[fry_lover]

i really do think 97% of peeps who use feeder fish do it to get their own cheap thrills then cry "well its NATURE" LOL

 

[Dany]

but in reality, it is nature.

 

[WILDER]

Watched a programme once of dolphins throwing baby seals to one another, it was awful.
Dolphins are mean hunters, and there so cute wouldn't believe it.

 

[Invader Xan]

Watched a programme once of dolphins throwing baby seals to one another, it was awful.
Dolphins are mean hunters, and there so cute wouldn't believe it.

Yeah, killer whales do that too. It's pretty brutal.

As live foods go, I have no trouble feeding things like daphnia or copepods. Hell, they're practically plankton (and they help maintain the water quality until they're eaten). Actual fish or shrimp though? Shrimp are far too cute to feed to anything! And I think it might be illegal in the UK to sell live fish as food...