a thought on live food...

michelle

michelle

Reefing newb
I had a thought yesterday while taking my niece to get her first tropical fish, she wants to be able to watch them have babies and so I got her 2 female and one male molly.
Anyway, Since mollies acclimate well to saltwater, and breed prolifically, what do you think of keeping a pair so the babies could be...well, "treats" for other fish...sounds cruel, hey? just a thought...wondered what you all thought.
 
michelle said:
I had a thought yesterday while taking my niece to get her first tropical fish, she wants to be able to watch them have babies and so I got her 2 female and one male molly.
Anyway, Since mollies acclimate well to saltwater, and breed prolifically, what do you think of keeping a pair so the babies could be...well, "treats" for other fish...sounds cruel, hey? just a thought...wondered what you all thought.
Click to expand...


guppies could work just as good

some LFS sell baby gupps and ghost shrimp as treats for bigger fish anyways
 
I don't know enough about mollies specifically, but that's what happens to most things that breed in our tanks anyways. I don't think it'd be a bad idea, but it'd make me sad to see in my tank with fish :(.
 
Doc said something about freshwater feeders lacking the proper amino acids to sustain a marine fish in the longterm. Maybe shoot him a PM or if he graces us with his pressance he can fill us in a little more or at least inform us where the info came from.
 
It's true, freshwater fish have different amino acids and fatty acids within them than what saltwater fish require to survive (which is why if you only feed saltwater predators goldfish their entire lives, they'll suffer and eventually die of malnutrition).

But what Michelle seems to be proposing is not have her tank solely rely on live fish as its only food source, but as a treat when the fish happen to breed. I don't see any nutritional problems arising from such infrequent feedings of live fish.
 
freshwater fish do not have the omega-3 fatty acids that our marine fish need to sustain proper liver function. too much of them is just not healthy. It is fun to watch my lionfish attack a live fish from time to time, but I just splurge on a $3 chromis and let him have at it. Just my :twocents:

-Doc
 
RyanG said:
Doc said something about freshwater feeders lacking the proper amino acids to sustain a marine fish in the longterm. Maybe shoot him a PM or if he graces us with his pressance he can fill us in a little more or at least inform us where the info came from.
Click to expand...

lol. "Grace" is just not something I have ever been accused of. More like "lurpy". Sorry I have been gone. Life can get kind of hectic from time to time

-Doc
 
NO worries Doc I was just funning you anyways. Real life has to come before the forums we all know that.
 
Mollies being brackish water fish will readily adapt to living in straight marine water. Just feed the fish food soaked in Selcon. With a belly full of Selcon they are healthy food. It is no different than when they fortify other live organisms before using them as food. Rotifers fed Phtoplankton etc. Besides the Mollies living in and birthed in a reef tank will be different from fresh water fish raised in fresh water, there food (if fed properly) will contain the necessary amino acids, just like the food that you should be feeding to your reef fish already. Even if their bodies do not store it as well their bellies, as I said, their bellies will be full of the Selcon so the marine fish will be getting healthy food. I used to keep many large Molleys in tanks in which I housed ribbon eels (in LFS stores). They did very well. Selcon is a fatty acids food booster that also conatins vitamins. Good stuff.
 
Thanks guys,
sorry for my slow response, my computer is acting up. My mollies are doing great and actually already had one batch of fry. About 15 if I didn't miss a couple. but they naturally didn't last long. anyway I will let you know how they do.
I understand what doc and everyone are saying about freshwater fish, but, I believe mollies actually thrive better in brackish/saltwater. They are almost soley sold as freshwater, but they can and do live in all 3.
Thanks again
 
What live saltwater feeder fish would you reccommned that I feed my squirrel fish?

Bifferwine said:
It's true, freshwater fish have different amino acids and fatty acids within them than what saltwater fish require to survive (which is why if you only feed saltwater predators goldfish their entire lives, they'll suffer and eventually die of malnutrition).

But what Michelle seems to be proposing is not have her tank solely rely on live fish as its only food source, but as a treat when the fish happen to breed. I don't see any nutritional problems arising from such infrequent feedings of live fish.
Click to expand...
 
First off, your suggesting feeding fish that cost $5 or more each, versus fish that cost 25 to 50 cents each (feeder gold fish). Then there is the added chance of feeding diseased marine fish that is very possible when feeding marine fish as food to other marine fish. Plus any marine organism added to the tank is possibly harboring disease and parasite not only on its own body but in the water it is contained in. That is not the case with the introduction of a fresh water food, or the irradiated marine food supplied by quality manafacturers.
Just fortify the cheap gold fish by feeding them food soaked in Selcon or some other brand of fatty acid amino food supplement. Or fill the gold fishes belly with good marine food which is high in all the proper amino acids.
 
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my squirrel fish are about 3 inches in length and ive been feeding them the freshwater rosy red fish. They seem to really like them and they eat about 4 a piece each day. The rosy reds are 12 cents each; I'm not sure I can spend $20 a day on feeding my fish...... I don't spend that much a day on myself. I think I will stick with the rosy reds and feed them marine food and see how that works out. Thanks for the advice folks......much appreciated.
 
IraqVeteran said:
my squirrel fish are about 3 inches in length and ive been feeding them the freshwater rosy red fish. They seem to really like them and they eat about 4 a piece each day. The rosy reds are 12 cents each; I'm not sure I can spend $20 a day on feeding my fish...... I don't spend that much a day on myself. I think I will stick with the rosy reds and feed them marine food and see how that works out. Thanks for the advice folks......much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Soak the feeders food in Selcon for a few minutes and they it will make for great live feeders. Four cents each. They were 8 cents each, here, clear back in the mid 70's.
 
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dustin_P74 said:
you can always use feeder shrimp
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:bounce: But just not as morbidly fun to watch. What good is having a predator if you can not occasionally watch it engulf some live prey. It is sort of like watching a garage open its door, suck in a car, then slam shut. Predators, gotta love um!
:^:
 
Being able to ensure a proper, healthy diet for an animal is just as important as being able to meet its other needs, like providing a large enough tank for tangs and big fish, or providing sufficient lighting for corals and anemones. I stand by my opinion that if you cannot afford to feed your predators anything but feeder goldfish, you should not have bought that fish in the first place.
 
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