David R Posted November 26, 2007 Report Share Posted November 26, 2007 I'm thinking about buying a heap of feeder goldfish to dump into my tank so my big ornate and dat have something to eat while I'm away (around 7-10 days) over xmas. Last year they were fine for two weeks without food, but this time around I'm worried that when they get hungry enough they'll start looking at the loaches as dinner. I'll get the feeders a few weeks in advance so I can make sure they're healthy and feed them up on some decent food. I'm also thinking of doing the same in my 3' tank with my small dats and ornates, so if anyone has a heap of WCMM they want to get rid of.... Normally I don't give my fish feeders, but its a bit hard to use an automatic feeder when all they eat is frozen shrimp and beef heart! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted November 26, 2007 Report Share Posted November 26, 2007 Better for them to eat the feeders than the loaches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wok Posted November 26, 2007 Report Share Posted November 26, 2007 guppys would breed faster than wcmm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted November 26, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2007 I'm not planning on breeding them myself, just want a bulk lot of something cheap I can dump in there. Someone is selling big lots of WCMM on trademe, so I'll probably go for those. Does anyone know a goldfish breeder who would sell a decent quantity of smallish plain old bronze/gold commits? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaNs Posted November 26, 2007 Report Share Posted November 26, 2007 How many fish we talking? IMO its a good idea Interesting to see the water quality at the end of it Maybe find another fish keeper to feed them for you? Do the same thing if they go away? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted November 26, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2007 The 4' tank has a dat thats around 9-10", and an ornate thats around 14". The loaches are probably small enough for the ornate to take [only just] if he really wanted to, but he's usually too well-fed to bother them. The 3' tank has 3 dats 2-3", and two ornates ~4". Last year the water was fine after two weeks without a water change, I guess less food means less waste. I don't think 7-10 days without a water change will be long enough to cause a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snookie Posted November 26, 2007 Report Share Posted November 26, 2007 The Dat ,will probably scoff him self stupid , Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted November 27, 2007 Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 When are you going away? If they don't have to be fed every day I could probably come do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted November 27, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 It'll be over xmas/new year. I'm not really that worried about them, I've left fish for longer, I just don't want the big bichir to start getting starving and have a go at the other smaller fish. Thanks for the offer tho! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snookie Posted November 27, 2007 Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 i would be more worried about leaving the sump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted November 27, 2007 Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 Yep, all the fish will be gone in a few days. The Dat will definitely scoff itself stupid, not sure about the ornate... I used to have a couple of Dat's and they would eat everything you added to the tank until they looked like Thunderbird 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidb Posted November 27, 2007 Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 where in Auckland are you David... I'm home the whole of Christmas/New Years because I have to look after the museum.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted November 27, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 Yep, all the fish will be gone in a few days. The Dat will definitely scoff itself stupid, not sure about the ornate... I used to have a couple of Dat's and they would eat everything you added to the tank until they looked like Thunderbird 2. I'm not really worried if that does happen, at least it will keep them full enough to stop them eyeing up the loaches. My dat doesn't seem to be such a guts, I added some tetras from a friends planted tank after he had been fed one morning and he ignored them for about 24 hours. The ornate will eat til his stomach bulges, but thats just normal bichir behavior... And thanks for the offer David, I'm sure you're a great, trustworthy person who has nothing but good intentions and I really appreciate the offer, but I don't know you from adam, and therefor feel slightly reluctant to give you the keys to our house. I hope you understand where I'm coming from, and don't take any offense to this, but essentially you are a complete stranger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DutchKiwiCowboy2 Posted November 27, 2007 Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 but I don't know you from adam, and therefor feel slightly reluctant to give you the keys to our house. I hope you understand where I'm coming from, and don't take any offense to this, but essentially you are a complete stranger A former neighbor bought me my tank 1 week before we went to europe for 5 weeks. Thought we could trust her cos no1 better was around, Got home and all the booby traps were tripped and cheque book gone. NEVER AGAIN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted January 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Just thought I'd let you all know the results of this... In the week leading up to the holiday I could only find lots of 3-400 goldfish fry around 1-2cm, too small for what I wanted. I went to Jansens when they were doing their 'buy two get one free' thing and picked up 30 neons and 30 lemon tetras (they were the best value for money in terms of size, thier small goldfish were around $6 each! The guy gave me a bit of a discount too). On friday night I did water changes on both tanks, and gave the fish a big feed. Saturday morning I dumped the 30 neons in the 3' tank with the small ornates and dats, and the 30 lemon tetras in the 4' with the big dat and big ornate. The big dat got about 4 in one mouthful as soon as they hit the water, then looked content and ignored them, as did the ornate who had a bulging stomach full of beef heart from the night before. The two small ornates were also fat and well-fed, but still went crazy chasing the neons around. My sisters BF came around the next morning, and phoned me to say the two ornates looked MASSIVE and all the neons were gone!! There were still a few lemon tetras left, but most of them had gone too. I returned today to find the smallest clown loach in the 4' tank missing, and two others with scrapes on their heads, most likely from the big ornate. Conclusion: Fail. Needed more and larger feeders for the big fish (someone really needs to start mass-breeding cheap plain goldfish!!) and the smaller fish could probably have done with larger feeders too. I'll post a pic of the bloated ornates later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony law Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 david r make your self a pond that you can have goldfish in and breed your kown feeders then you got all the food you want to have...all year around.... :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
je_suis_ketan Posted January 14, 2008 Report Share Posted January 14, 2008 Hey David, Did you ever get round to taking pics of the fish after they ate all the pies? :lol: Just curious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paekakboyz Posted January 14, 2008 Report Share Posted January 14, 2008 they're probably on their New Years diet by now and slimmed down! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted January 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2008 Yeah they've slimmed back down again, until I get a bit carried away with the shrimp... Taken by my sister while I was away, 2 ornates + 30 neons =..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.