Rosey red minnows (fatheads)

[SirMinion]

It is illegal to feed live fish in the UK

Once again,
read this:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...ndpost&p=836145

 

[glolite]

OK I've read that but I still feel that if you personally put live fish into a tank where they're going to get eaten that I would feel a murderer. Not so much that the fish get fed but it is actually putting the fish in if you see what I mean.

 

[SirMinion]

Absolutely, I don't like to use feeder fish either, but the point I was making is that it's not actually illegal.

 

[glolite]

Okay I agree, I have a frontosa who I have actually fed live baby guppys to but it makes me feel sick. However, he loves them and I don't like yo deny him live food.

 

[Paul_MTS]

interesting, when my mum really wanted minnows for the pond a couple of years back we hunted high and low for them until we wound up at Swallows in colchester.

they told us the full story which I can't remember at all now. although Swallow's have put the last of their stocks in 1 of their small natural ponds and letting them breed, once they have a big enough stock they will start selling.

 

[SirMinion]

Ha!
I wonder if they know they'll be breaking the law by selling them.

I doubt it.

 

[Paul_MTS]

heh, probable not, there waiting until there stock of tem becames big enough so thats likely to take a few more years still, when the laws probable would of changed again.

 

[Fishy411]

OK I've read that but I still feel that if you personally put live fish into a tank where they're going to get eaten that I would feel a murderer. Not so much that the fish get fed but it is actually putting the fish in if you see what I mean.

i have fed my bichir live fish because every other food source i put in is gone before he gets a chance to eat it. i dont feel too bad because these fish were bred for the specific reason of being fed to other fish. but still i dont really like watching my bichir swim around with half a fish sticking out of its mouth

 

[tenxiong]

Rosey Reds are common in the US. You can get them anywhere. I personaly like feeding my fish live food.

 

[sylvia]

There's also the health issue to consider though. feeding feeder fish can introduce disease etc. Live food doesn't have to be fish and very few species actualy NEED to eat fish to survive in captivity.

Someone earlier said somethign along the lines that it's ok to feed live fish ebcause that's what would happen in the wild. Obviously, there are other things to consider but I do agree that it isn't actualy a terrible thing to feed live fish provided you do so resposibly.

However, that particular post made me think 'so it's ok to feed fish because that's what would happen without laws/in the wild - well then by the same token it's fine to kill other people because if there were no laws and we were all competing 'in the wild' several thousand years ago we wouldn't think twice about it' I know that's extreme but you get my drift.

I think that if you're feeding fish you should kill them first yourself humanely unless the fish you are feeding it to actualy needs live fish. I don't, however, feel the same is applicable to fry which are much less developed and can usualy be eaten in one gulp...

 

[SirMinion]

Rosey Reds are common in the US. You can get them anywhere.

That's because they're native to North America. Not so in Britain, we have our own native minnow species which would suffer with the introduction of an alien species just like our native red squirrels are nearly extinct due to the invasion of your larger American grey squirrels.

 

[Opcn]

I dont think it makes much difference to any of the parties involved that a feeder fish is bred to be eaten, Personally I support feeding live fish to piscavores, I however dont like to watch it happen, sometimes I will and sometimes I wont, just like feeding flakes, SirMinion, have you considered useing native UK minnows as a food source, You could fill a rubbermade stock tank or something like that up and toss in a few leaves and add a few minnows or sticklebacks and viola you have a breeding colony to support your fish weaning needs and noone has to be the wiser.

Edit: you do know that grey squirles are edible right, go out to a home store and get yourself a nice stout piece of bamboo the go to the park and whack a few realy hard and take em home and have a squirle roast, PM me if you want infromation on cleanoing them, incidentally, are the red squirles in the UK the same red squirles that are in other parts of the world (like my attic)

 

[SirMinion]

SirMinion, have you considered using native UK minnows as a food source, You could fill a rubbermade stock tank or something like that up and toss in a few leaves and add a few minnows or sticklebacks and viola you have a breeding colony to support your fish weaning needs and noone has to be the wiser.

Nothing I keep requires live fish as food and the only true piscavore I have is our ornate polypterus who is happy with frozen whitebait, prawns and carnivore pellets.

I certainly wouldn't feed them stickleback anyway, because I like my pet fish to stay alive and not choke to death on a spiney fish caught in their throat!

Eating tree-rats? no thanks! I may have no money but I'm not reduced to that quite yet!

The American Red Squirrel is Tamiasciurus hudsonicus whereas the European Red Squirrel is Sciurus vulgaris, an entirely different genus altogether!

 

[Opcn]

well, Alaskan Fish can eat sticklebacks, Your fish just need to toughen up.

 

[SirMinion]

well, Alaskan Fish can eat sticklebacks, Your fish just need to toughen up.

Ha. yes, and some native British fish can eat them too because they've adapted to be able too, but my Polypterus might not be so well adapted, and there's no way I'm going to risk finding out!