Plain Potatoes Okay For Fish?

[Zagggon]

Will plain potatoes be okay for my catfish? the plecos i mean

 

[Phoenixfish]

Will plain potatoes be okay for my catfish? the plecos i mean

well *gets book*

"infusoria are ideal first food for tiny fry and you can cltivate your own supply. Many organisms live in water feed from rotting plant matter.simply fill a glass with aquarium water, drop a small piece of lightly boiled potato and place the jar on window....(and for those of you interesting in infusoria) the water will go cloudy whcih is ready to add to the aquaruim, start a new culture daily as you will need enough for a week or so."

so its definatly not toxic but i think it would jsut disnitergrate but you cna try it

 

[cooky]

i think he meant potatoes as a food not as a source to get food from

 

[Phoenixfish]

yeh i know, i was just refering to the fact that it cant be toxic/harmful but i would have thought that seeing as potato have a high water content they would go mushy

 

[kribensis12]

My uncle told me that if you peel potatos, musch them untill all the water is in the bucket, take the water and put it in the tank, it will have its own colorny of infursia( spelled wrong). Is this true?

 

[cooky]

Googled

Fry food
Infusorians

Infusorians is a suitable food for very small fish fry. You can easily grow your own Infusoria cultures at home. This way you will always have cheap and nutritious food ready for your fry. Infusorians are minuscule single cell organisms that live in water. To cultivate your own Infusoria you will only need tap water, some bruised vegetables and a few clean containers such as jars or similar.

Boil the tap water and let it cool down to room temperature. Fill the jars with the water and add some bruised vegetables to each jar. Bruised lettuce leaves or banana skins are recommended, since they are known to produce a lot of Infusoria. One banana skin or 3-4 lettuce leaves is a good amount for each jar. Do not put any lids on the jars. Place your jars in a warm place where they will receive moderate light.

The water in the jars will soon turn cloudy and begin to smell a bit. As the Infusorians develop, the smell will become increasingly sweet and the water will clear up. It will usually take 3-4 days for Infusoria to develop. When the water looks clear, you can start feeding your fry with the Infusoria. Use a siphon or a spoon to remove the Infusoria from the top of the jar and place it in your fry aquarium. Make sure not to bring any plant material from the Infusoria jars over to the fry rearing tank, since this can pollute the water. Start developing new Infusoria culture every 3-4 day to make sure you always have enough food for your fry until they are big enough to eat larger food.

 

[n3ont3tra]

That's neat, I never knew that before, good post, cooky.

 

[Bignose]

Back to the OP. It really couldn't hurt to try with a chunk of uncooked potato. Cooked potato seems like it would be way to easy to get muchy and pollute the tank. Fish have very sesitive chemical receptors and are very unlikely to poison themselves with any natural food. Fish eat fruit/veggies that fall or get washing into their bodies of water all the time in the wild. The fish may ignore it, however, so do be ready to pull it out before it messes the tank. I do this will all the fresh veggies I buy, I give the fish a small slice and see if they take to it. No small peice of food will seriously foul the tank.

One final thing, however, the eyes of the potato do have some toxins in them -- there are reports of very young children becoming sick from mashed potatoes without the eyes cut off -- so, I wouldn't use a piece of the potato with an eye on it.

 

[LisaLQ]

Yes, many people feed raw potato to their plecs.

 

[GordonTGopher]

My BN used to love potato, a slice in a lettuce clip would be reduced to a ring of potato skin in no time. My sisters BN won't look at it and much prefers cucumber


Gordon