Hi Aquariagirl -
This has happened to me in joining new forums too. Ignore it ! "Newbie" in my opinion is a silly name that you get dubbed with when you join a forum.
You are rated by the number of posts you make, and your rank will climb, not necessarly your intelligence but, your rank. I'm listed as a "newbie" here too, even though I'm a 49 year old female that has been keeping fish for some 30 years. Some of the young (atleast in the mind) members get into a "click" and find it amusing to rag on new commers. If they find that necessary or fun, it should be done by "Private Message" I find it more distracting, and dissapointing than anything else. There are TONS of forums out there to join. If you join and keep up with several starting out, you will settle on a few that you like to revisit. Everybody likes to talk about their fish, so do I. All questions are good questions. You get a collection of experience, and then use your best judgment. Don't let those kind of people get the best of you, or discourage you from posting on this forum or any other. If you've done someting wrong, you will hear from the moderators ! Once you've been on a forum for awhile, you will see yourself, that many questions get ask over and over again. The "trolling" thing I've never heard of (but then there is alot I've never heard of !) The people that give responses like the one you recieved, obviously have nothing better to do.
As far as your fish question -
I keep Angelfish only now, however in the past I've kept, Oscars, Pacu, Arawanas, Clown Knifes, African Cichlids and many other live eaters. Angelfish will eat live guppies babies, Swordtail babies, etc... BUT !!!! There is a risk of internal parasites with this type of feeding. Be sure to purchase the healthiest fish you can from a reputable place. And look into some variety in your fishes feeding. Start him out young, after a steady diet of live feeding, it can be difficult to get them to like anything else later on. With your fish, live food will probably be it's first choice. There are many foods out there to offer to "live feeders".
Plus if the fish is use to a variety, it will make it easier on you in the long run, sometimes the live feeders you want aren't available, or you go on vacation and someone else needs to feed the fish, etc ...
I always kept a thirty gal. fully set up and maintained with feeder goldfish, to have a constant supply, and you can maintain the "feeders" health yourself, instead of relying on the pet shop to do it (which they usually don't) The constant tank cleaning, keeping feeders, and space required for the large cichlids, is the reasons I don't keep them anymore but, they are wonderful fish with great personality. I hope you enjoy yours !
B Wood
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