Would My Angelfish...

[DiscusKeeper403]

Hello,

Just wanted to mix the diet of my angels up alittle and was wondering if they'll eat feeder fish. I think the small kind at the pet store are baby guppies or kilifish of some sort but they have them in for their fire eels. So would they eat them?

Thanks,

DL

 

[WILDER]

I wouldn't fish carry desease not worth it to be honest.

 

[Tolak]

Sure they will eat them, but the nutrition is less than a good flake food. The disease issue has already been mentioned, many folks with fish that need live food will breed their own feeders. Adult angels don't need live food.

 

[DazedNCoNfUsEd]

I can almost guarantee that if you bought a couple of small neons that they would gobble them up. But the cheapest I've ever seen those is 99 cents a piece. Would be a treat though every now and then, plus thats their diet in the wild.

 

[vancouver]

There's really no point in doing it unless you enjoy killing things.

 

[DazedNCoNfUsEd]

So you're saying that everyone that feeds their fish feeder fish are doing it because "they love killing things"???

You gotta be kiddin me!

 

[Tolak]

Unless you need to do population control, or dispose of culls, angels really don't need feeders. One way to get angels to parent raise spawns is to make sure they don't get a taste for small swimming fish. If you want to keep a population explosion from happening in a tank with livebearers, keep a single angel in there, any fry won't last long.

I have an oscar that gets angel culls. Sadly, not all angel fry end up perfect, it's a quick, relatively painless way to dispose of them. It also feeds the oscar cheaply now & then. I wouldn't think of putting a store bought feeder anywhere near an angel tank.

 

[vancouver]

''So you're saying that everyone that feeds their fish feeder fish are doing it because "they love killing things"???''

I didn't say that.

Theres no point in feeding an angelfish store bought feeders... if you can think of a good reason I'm all ears!

 

[insanityseeker]

good point vancouver!

 

[LisaLQ]

There's no guarantee they'd eat them either. We have 7 angels in my (hubby's) 6ft community tank, living happily alongside neons, blue tetras, silver tips, platies, penguin tetras, all sorts of small fish. We even have guppy and platy fry in there. Not interested

I dont see the need for feeder fish. There's plenty of different types of food, treats and supplements you can get for fish nowadays, what's the point? Unless it is for fun, which is what I suspect in most cases. Feeder fish introduce disease and also risk injuring the fish eating them. As for being a good method of culling, I wouldn't know as I dont breed, but if I had to cull I'd probably do so humanely....

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yup, the modern good quality flake, pellet etc that we get really contains pretty much everything your fish need. i give them a variety to aid with constipation and just to make sure that they get everything they need.

we just give live food like bloodworms as a treat cos they really enjoy them, the nutritional value is not brilliant compared to the complete foods we get.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Yeap, I got queit a variaty here. Only thing is, my moms allergic to bloodworms

 

[nmonks]

I think vancouver has a point, however unpleasant it might sound. Spend any time on You Tube and the likes, and you'll see lots of movies of people feeding live animals (mostly goldfish but even things like mice and rats) to predatory fish. Often, the predatory fish in question are things like oscars and piranhas that can easily and safely be fed alternative foods. Even more damning, is when these movies are made, they record themselves cheering and then add a dramatic soundtrack for good measure. Whatever else, such behaviour is exactly and precisely the same pleasure people had watching gladiators fighting to the death in the Roman Arena: sheer sadism. Some people simply enjoy watching the suffering of others.

It is one thing if you are disposing of unwanted or sick fry. If you have a newly imported predatory fish, then live feeders may be essential to begin with. And, in a minority of species, live fish are all they will ever eat. Sometimes ignorance may even be at work, with the fishkeeper simply not knowing why or how they should train their fish to take alternatives. But in the vast majority of cases people use feeder fish because they want to, not because they have to. Draw from that whatever conclusion you wish.

As Miss Wiggle said, modern flake/pellet foods are an excellent and healthy diet. As far as treats go, there are lots of frozen foods such as bloodworms that angelfish adore, and you can catch lots of wild mosquito larvae in spring and summer as well. Angels feed primarily on mosquito larvae in the wild, and they adore them as a treat to their usual flake.

Cheers,

Neale

There's really no point in doing it unless you enjoy killing things.

 

[jayjay]

I don't have a problem with feeders as long as there's a reason and it is carried out correctly. Using feeders for fish that need them at first e.g. Chaca chaca's, frogfish (at first) etc. is fine I feel. Also I do feed fry from fish that breed in tanks I'm not expecting to other fish.

 

[qwikimpss]

If you're interested in your angels having some live food then you could always get some adult swordtails or possibly even platies. As you know they will spit out some broods on a regular basis. In my 55 gallon I always have one female that has a clearly visible gravid spot, so I know my angels get some treats from time to time.

This may sound mean, cruel, inhumane, etc but they are just doing as nature intended. I've has several paties make it and grow large enough to no be eaten by my angels.

(And watching an angel take some fry is kinda cool to watch, and, yes, I regularly feed a varied diet of flakes, freeze dried and frozen foods)