ZEBRA DANIOS:

[petshop johnny]

my local pet store ran out of feeder fish .which are usually goldfish or rosie red which are a type of goldfish.so i was told that the zebra danios where only 30cents each.so i bought 5.00 dollars worth and threw them in the oscar tank.it took them awhile but they soon ripped into them like a bloody great white shark. :kira:

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Where do you live? Here, they cost 1.00 each, which is pretty expensive for that type of fish...

 

[Cian McLiam]

Feeder fish are a contoversial topic in the forum at the moment. I personally see no problem with duplicating nature in our own aquariums, and I think it is not clear cut as to whether this is cruel. If it is cruel, then we must also remove parasites, snails, water fleas and even algae for their own protection. A sliding scale on the worth of life does not work. Its hard to criticise feeding fish to fish when we herd animals to eat ourselves.

But to my main point, while I dont see this as neccesarily cruel, people who do see it as cruel may be inadvertently offended by how you describe how the fish are 'consumed'. Having a laugh about it may rub salt into the wounds!!

Nature will always do what it does best, the food pyramid is how the system works, even though we can step in and out of it at will, nature pays no heed.

Happy fishkeeping,

Ken

 

[FanOFish]

I really don't see the difference between feeding one type of fish over another to your oscars. The simple 12 cents feeders are every bit as much of a fish as a zebra danio.

Just make sure they aren't the glow in the dark variety...your oscar my begin to get a neon glow to it

 

[CFC]

While i have fed live fish to some of my fish in the past and still do to my frogmouth catfish i only do so because there is no alternative and that is the only way of keeping them alive. Fish like oscars will eat anything you throw into the tank for them so do not need feeder fish in their diet and are actually better off with a diet of cichlid staple pellets and treats of meaty foods like mussels an cockles, feeder fish are not actually that nutritous. When feeder fish are just being used for the viewing pleasure of the keeper it is wrong IMO, i wonder how many people would still feed live fish if like here it was illegal and the feeders have to purchased as pet fish at pet fish prices, that means about $3 for each goldfish!

 

[FrankSlapperinni]

Its not only the fact that they have almost no nutrition, but that they can transport parasites to your fish. If the feeder fish is sick, then is eaten by the Oscar, the Oscar will become sick.
It's also fairly expensive compared to alternatives.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

You could inexpensively maintain a guppy tank. They breed frequently, and once the fry get to adulthood, you could feed them (at least the females so you can keep the population down)... Since they're already sold as "feeder guppies" I don't think that many people would have an aversion to this.

 

[guppymonkey]

Feeder fish are absolutely useless for most fish. Some fish have a basic need for moving food so I guess feeder fish would be necessary for them. For oscars there is cichlid fish pellets that can be bought and eliminate the need to buy feeder fish. The cichlid pellets are made from fish mostly though. Feeder fish from pet stores are just a terrible idea. They are not very nutritious since they are not fed much or given good environments and they are disease carriers for the same reasons.

Getting joy from your fish is obviously the reason most people buy fish. Getting joy from watching your fish eat another fish seems very gross to me. Yes, its natural for the fish to eat but is it natural to get pleasure from watching an animal die?

 

[david27]

Guppymonkey I agree that feeding oscars feeders on a regular basis is a waste of money, as CFC says since oscars will try to eat almost anything( mine tried to eat a plastic pipe clip last night when i dropped it in the tank ) But i wouldn't recomend feeding just dried pellets as this can cause digestive problems.

As for the "gross" nature of watching a fish eat another fish, In a way I see little difference from watching a lion kill a gazelle in a nature program, or morally the slaughtering of cows by the herd to make beefburgers and T bone steaks for us humans. But it's not something I would get any pleasure from.

David

 

[petshop johnny]

Well if you want get technical danios and oscars don't come from the same area so its not possible in nature.goldfish do carry diseases and i lost an albino oscar to hole in head disease.its really incureable .discus are also very subseptible to this disease also.as far as feeders being cruel ,well i disagree ,any fishkeeper can be accused of being cruel by depleting nature .buy and selling animals is cruel in some peoples eyes.taking coral from the coral reef is a big enviromentalist no-no.imagine if someone made you swim in your own toilet for your whole life haha but i have a large tropical tank to and i often throw crickets, moths, flys,grasshoppers,earthworms and ive seen no ill effect although a wasp fell in my tank and took out a gaint silver dollar who was a custom to eating live insects from the surface.it brings them back to the wild side and its essensial for some fish to have insect for color and breeding purposes.but the most amazing thing ive ever seen was i had male african cichlid change sex and have fry ,lampralogus i call him michael jackson :kira:

 

[CFC]

Well if you want get technical danios and oscars do come from the same area so it is possible in nature.

Well if you want to get really technical then danios actually come from india and oscars from south america so i think the likelyhood of oscars eating danios in the wild is a little remote

 

[petshop johnny]

actually they are from east india.look it up.dr.evil

 

[Dorkhedeos]

Do the fish live for a while after they get eaten? ive never liked feeding fish to other fish because i always thought the fish would stay in the other fish's stomach for a while while it slowly gets digested

 

[CFC]

actually they are from east india.look it up.dr.evil

I have, its you who needs to look things up my friend.

 

[petshop johnny]

don't start up with me ya bloke