Feeding Large Predators, Please Read

[elvn]

DrChristianTroy: Can a colony of glass shrimps(as feeders) cause problems in the future???
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EdKruzel: Problems? More than likely... No.
The positive factor is that they are great scavengers and will help to keep detritus and other waste to a minimum.

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I have a population of 40+ saltwater feeder shrimp from liveaquaria in a 20g L.

I'm still wondering if anyone has thoughts on whether introducing the feeder shrimp into my 100g rubbermaid fuge would decimate the pod population? I also have concerns for the feeder shrimp regarding the two serpent stars.

It would be alot easier to keep the feeder shrimp in the fuge if it wasn't detrimental, and perhaps they could even breed in there.

The fuge has alot of pods and mysid shrimp crawling around. There are also plenty of bristleworms, a handful of large type nassarius snails, a handful of mexican turbos, and two serpent stars. It has a huge mass of chaeto and alot of LR, and a DSB.

[EdKruzel]

Those shrimp are just fine to add to the fuge and would probably be more of a meal to the serpents rather than hurting the pod population.

They will breed but I wouldn't expect any to survive to mature sizes; they do make great planktonic food for corals and other inverts.

Ed

[elvn]

Cool thanks

[momome888]

I have a question then for saltwater acclimated mollies gut loaded with algae,would it be ok to use these as feed Yes or No.uz there is alot of debate but no real answer

[EdKruzel]

As the stable diet, NO .
Reason being is that mollies are not a saltwater fish and although can tolerate brackish and lower levels of saltwater for a considerable length of time, their body composition is mostly saturated fatty acids.

Saltwater species have trouble digesting saturated fats and require diets of mainly HUFA (highly unsaturated fatty acids).

A diet of saturated fats will lead to obesity and liver damage in saltwater predators.

Ed

[CHAOSTACTICS]

one heckuva good read

[doggiestlist]

Originally posted by EdKruzel
As the stable diet, NO .
Reason being is that mollies are not a saltwater fish and although can tolerate brackish and lower levels of saltwater for a considerable length of time, their body composition is mostly saturated fatty acids.

Saltwater species have trouble digesting saturated fats and require diets of mainly HUFA (highly unsaturated fatty acids).

A diet of saturated fats will lead to obesity and liver damage in saltwater predators.

Ed

accually sailfin mollies are brackish as juveniles then move to full marine as adults thus being the reason that sailfin mollies can easily adapted to full marine only the sailfin of the mollies is this way other mollies are fw, brackish and or hybreds..but as above posted stated not a stable diet.. no one species can be the only source of food for any species of fish, as each species that these fish consume has a varied diet the combination of eating a variety of species ensures the balenced nutrients are being consumed.. also as the above poster meantioned feeding fw diet to marine fish on a regular basis can result in fatty liver disease which will result in a short lifespan for you fish..this also goes for marine fish such as tuna and salmon these if fed to your fish must be used in great moderation.

[Doni]

Great article and subsequent posts. Thanks.

[snapper1]

very well done thanx for the link

[snapper1]

Good Article Thanx Guys

[triggerman41]

thanks for the article. that was great

[mr. clown man]

great atricle , helped alot

[bmRboY]

Great read.... Learned a lot.... Thanks everyone...

[RazorBlade]

Originally posted by EdKruzel
There are a few of us on here that continuously repeat ourselves on the danger of feeding FW (goldfish, guppies, mollies) to marine livestock.

It is a very important issue towards the long term well being to the animals you keep.
This link is a very good article on the subject written by Ph.D. Rob Toonen.

Section 2 covers live feeders.

The only portion I disagree with is where he mentions hand feeding. Use a feeding stick or other artificial feeding apparatus.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...003/invert.htm

Enjoy,
Ed

Do u mean large predators such as Lions, Eels, Snappers, and Groupers

[billsreef]

Yes, Ed is referring to such things as Moray Eels, Groupers, Lions etc.

[BRabbitC]

Although I did read the article I assume that this article mainly referres to people feeding a main diet of (just) life feeder fishes of any type. I myself am in agreement with not feeding marines only Live fishes but I am against not feeding them any feeders at all regardless of whether you are using freshwater feeders or not.
I have a pretty set diet for my mairnes which consists of 1 dozen lrge goldfishes per week. But I also feed them 1 dozen frozen minnows per wk, seeweed every morning and freeze dried plangton every day. I feed them frozen brine and bloodworms roughly every other day alternating between the two. I also feed them Live bloodworms once every month or two. I believe whole heartedly in a well balanced diet and live feeders for me are an integral part of their diet. I personally feel that feeders help to add proper oils as well as helping to keep the immune systems nice and strong to help fight against various diseases.

I do believe strongly that if you can find a supplier that believes in keeping the feeders in a very clean environment that any chance of disease is reduced considerably.

This is my personal opinion after hobbying in freshwater and marine for the past 30 yrs.
But I am still very impressed with the article.

[EdKruzel]

Originally posted by BRabbitC
I believe whole heartedly in a well balanced diet and live feeders for me are an integral part of their diet. I personally feel that feeders help to add proper oils as well as helping to keep the immune systems nice and strong to help fight against various diseases.

A well balanced diet is the key to any animal or living entity, but to be balanced it must also be proper. Goldfish are far from proper no matter what your belief's may be as it's a scientific proof. Goldfish carry bacteria and disease that can be crossed from freshwater to marine species; their fatty acid content is saturated and extremely high where as marine species require HUFA (highly UNsaturated fatty acids). Saturated fats cannot be properly digested and are a leading cause of liver disease and premature death in marine ornamentals.

You express quite a bit of concern and dedication, so I'm sure you'd prefer to feed the proper diet and not poison your livestock.

[BRabbitC]

It's absolutly somethng I will look into more thoughly. I never really cruised any aquariest sites or forums. I have allways just done whatever I have found work best over the years.

I'm not big on going to the library or reading through hobby books. I'm one of those old dogs who just doesn't like change.

[billsreef]

Dropping the feeder goldfish from the diet will be good change

Besides the problems Ed mentioned, they are also very high in thiaminase which also can lead to dietary problems in both FW and SW predators. While an occasional meal of junk food won't hurt, it should only be occasional

[BRabbitC]

When I lived out west I used to catch Cray fish for them. That was out of the Pacific but I don't want to buy cray fish here. I'll have to look around and see what I can find. I really, really don't want to feed them only frozen fish. Maybe I can get some frozen uncooked shrimp on sale in the grocery Store or something to insert instead of a dozen a wk.

Think it would be okay to give them a dozen small Goldfish once a month or so?

[billysanborn]

i usually feed him silversides and squid, my zebra prefers fresh live grass shrimp or frozen ones. the zebra also eats frozen and freeze dried krill, clams, shrimp etc... and my snowflake eats anything including fish. i sometimes catch a lot of fresh anchovies at santa cruz and get them home alive and toss a few in and freeze the rest. does it sound like i am doing this properly. i feed them a few goldfish once or twice a month.

[kerem]

Hi people,

I need your urgent help!

I have a blue ribbon eel and a snowflakes eel in my 250 gallons fish only aquarium besides many fish.

The blue ribbon eel is the latest one I added to the tank. Its been 2 days since I added, but I could not manage to make it eat anything.

I would be glad if you could let me know your experiences and knowledge about how to feed the blue ribbon eel.

Thanks in advance.

Kerem

[vito is hooked]

a people what,s up, new guy here. im on south west coast of florida, Ft Myers i got a 75 with a pantha, miniatus, niger trigger and a domino damsel there,s tons of small silver sides i catch with my cast net, can i feed these little guy,s to my groupers? should i dip them first?

[msdadude]

So overall, Mollies are the best way to go for feeding lion fish and groupers live feeders?

[boggs32]

great article

Side note: I've actually fed my lionfish a couple of times by hand. p.s. don't try that at home kids