anybody "rescue" feeder fish before?

[zoggin eck]

Hi guys, another silly question from me!

I'm just wondering, lately I've seen all sorts of funny young fish sold as 'feeders', rather than just dull coloured guppies or barbs. I was wondering if anybody has felt sorry enough for some to buy them and raise them, or just tried some to see how they'd be when fully grown?

One of my first fish purchases was a group of barbs, which I now know were sold as feeders, but to me back then they just looked like cheap fish ($1 each). They ended up being rosey barbs, which I later sold when they got too big. It was great fun in hindsight, and I got to keep a species that I otherwise wouldn't have had, even if it was just for a while, and they may have ended up having a better life rather than being fed to a bigger fish

Is it crazy? I saw some cichlids today, but have no idea what they were for 95 cents each....

[Conway]

I haven't done this, but a friend bought a few feeder prawns because his kids wanted them as pets! They thought they were great too!

[JeremyH]

The feeder fish at my lfs looked like small plain gudgeons to me, i didnt think it could be true though, so i ignored it.
I might check next time i am in there.

[Conway]

Yep, Firetail Gudgeons are commonly sold as Feeders.

I have even seen Crimson Rainbows being sold as feeders in one Aquarium shop!

[coralnerd]

Yep, Firetail Gudgeons are commonly sold as Feeders.

I have even seen Crimson Rainbows being sold as feeders in one Aquarium shop!

I wonder where those gudgeons are coming from? Surely it can't be legal to sell wild caught gudgeons in a LFS like that? Even in Queensland.

Cheers,

Scott

[abellm]

One of the shops in Sydney apparently was sourcing the firetails from an aquaculture grower. The firetails were present as "contaminants" in the aquaculture ponds & the grower was happy to be rid of them.
Having been on enough field trips, most feeders would not be wild caught - unless you have a very good easily accessible source, it is not economical to catch them at the prices on offer. Thus the feeders will tend to be the unwanted byproducts of other aquatic endeavours.

Mark

[rufus]

Most of the Firetails on Bris come from the same company that supplies the feeder shrimp (macrobrachiums) and Feeder Crays. All grown commercially. I don't know if the gudgeons from these folks are a target species or bycatch as abellm mentioned, but they're definitely not wild caught in those quantities.

[coralnerd]

One of the shops in Sydney apparently was sourcing the firetails from an aquaculture grower. The firetails were present as "contaminants" in the aquaculture ponds & the grower was happy to be rid of them.
Having been on enough field trips, most feeders would not be wild caught - unless you have a very good easily accessible source, it is not economical to catch them at the prices on offer. Thus the feeders will tend to be the unwanted byproducts of other aquatic endeavours.

Mark

Hi Mark,

The dams on my family's property are absolutely teeming with Murray-Darling carp gudgeon (Hypseleotris sp). In summer a trap left overnight will easily produce two hundred fish. Similarly, we introduced about a dozen Hypseleotris klunzingerii to a friend's dam that was devoid of fish, and within a few months there were thousands. I've often contemplated trying to find market for them, but I never did investigate the legality of it. Whether you can call them 'wild caught' I don't know. I guess the situation is similar to the aquaculture ponds.

Cheers,

Scott.

[zoggin eck]

sweet guys, thanks I just thought it was weird to see fish that would one day grow quite large sold as feeders, rather than them all being livebearers, barbs etc. poor little things

While on the subject, what does everybody think of using 'feeder' fish? I felt bad giving some of my excess guppy fry to my girlfriends bettas, even though my tank wasn't about to fit 50 adult guppies, but thinking of it maybe I could get a fish like that to 'deal' with some of my fry when I end up with too many? Does anybody else?

[Plantnut]

My ~ 40cm Murray cod "rescues" feeder fish every week... LOL *joke" Don't be offended!


Seriously... Having kept a Murray cod for the past few years, i can assure you that it's necessary to use live feeders for that type of fish and i think that most "serious" predatory/large fish keepers would agree.

Having said that, i mainly feed my MC with frozen whitebait, large crickets and big earthworms - but nothing beats a "gutloaded" medium feeder fish...
In my opinion and murray's!

I'm certainly no scientist or fish keeping expert - but i believe in keeping pets the "right" way and i'll do everything to keep them healthy!
Feeding live fish to a predator is simply one of those things!

It's the same with my frogs... To be honest, i'm not very keen on keeping or feeding crickets and other ugly critters, but i simply do it, if i like it or not.

Cheers

[zoggin eck]

hey I'm not offended I'd never keep a predatory fish though because curiosity would get the better of me and I'd end up keeping one or two here and there to watch them grow up

Besides, I'm well aware that fish food can be made up of ground up fish anyway, so it's *kind of* the same thing anyway :P

[Conway]

I have heard adding feeder fish to your tank is a fantastic way to introduce disease. They are usually kept in the poorest of conditions and are therefore more likely to cary disease.

I was looking at some the other day in a Pet Shop and there were dozens of dead fish in the feeder fish tank, all the other fish were eating them. It was really a sorry sight.

[zoggin eck]

Never seems as bad as that where I go, but I promised never to buy a fish from a 'pet' store again. I'm pretty lucky where I am, I've got six or so good fish only stores around me, but you see some sorry sights at some places. I was thinking of keeping them in a species only tank anyway though

[coralnerd]

I have heard adding feeder fish to your tank is a fantastic way to introduce disease. They are usually kept in the poorest of conditions and are therefore more likely to cary disease.

I was looking at some the other day in a Pet Shop and there were dozens of dead fish in the feeder fish tank, all the other fish were eating them. It was really a sorry sight.

That's why I used to keep a pond full of gambusia to use as feeders when I kept bass and salmon cats. I also used to catch gudgeons and small wild goldfish in the dams at home. Even then I occasionally had a small disease outbreak. Sometimes the bass would develop cloudy eyes after a feed of live fish, but they always cleared up after a day or two. I suspect however, that the infection that suddenly killed both the catfish was brought in with some live food, either fish or shrimp. It was a sad day when those guys died. I'd had them for years, since they were only an inch or so long.

[anthonyrae]

Bizzare Pets at Bronte rd Waverley often has firetail gudgeons and flathead gudgeons? for sale as feeders. I think they are 10 for $7!haha.
A few months ago I bought 20 and put them in a 30cm cube.On the standard diet of bulk live mossie larvae their condition quickly improved...lovely.
I often think how healthy and vital I would be if I ate as well as my fish do!