Feeding NZ frogs to arowanas and fish.

[henward]

Who here has ever fed golden bell frogs and frogs common in NZ to their fish and Arowanas.

more specifically, to their Arowanas.

Preferably - green or asian arowanas.

I want to know if its ok?

i know in asia, frogs are common to be fed to arowanas, but id ont know if nz frogs are ok to feed.

maybe poisonous to other fish ... not sure.

[burrowssj]

why waste a frog for that.... :evil:

[nativelover]

poor frogs :evil:

[henward]

the question ws sparked by a picture of an aro eating a frog, and got me thinking.

why waste a gold fish or.... a cow taking its beef heart?? :-?

frogs are a good source of nutriets and gut loading them would be very good to boost the nuteritional intake of a fish.

just a question though, the effort of raising frogs is a lot..... im too impatient.

but a question i guess..... has anyone really tried it?

[phoenix44]

a cow taking its beef heart?? :-?

please tell me you're joking?

Cows aren't exactly harvested for their hearts.

[Carlos & Siran]

Frogs are becoming rare around the world, using them as fish food would just be a crying shame imho.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/ ... 2009-04-28

[henward]

yes, i guess so, i didnt realise it would create such an outcry...

but i am just wondering, they are quite abundant in general - they are very common in nz. not rare at all....

i guess the question is, are they toxic to fish?

i guess we all have opinions of what we should and shouldnt feed MORALLY, but technically i guess is what im asking.

If an animal is not endangered, i dont really have an issue with it to be honest.

about the beef, yeah im not really joking lol i mean we cultivate cows and eat them, feed themt o our pets.

Frogs are bred to be sold..... no difference realy.

Most frogs purchased from LFS probably die anyways.

lets get real here.

[Ira]

Just make sure if you're out catching frogs to feed to an arowana that you're not catching any of the natives, just the introduced ones. Then, I'd say you're actually doing a good thing.

[si_sphinx]

Well why dont you try it and let us know if its bad for the fish or not :lol:

[livingart]

a henward topic

[henward]

well, i would raise it from LFS tadpoles to adult frogs... so i know where its been and what its been eating.

indeed mark

mark, hav eyou fed them?

[livingart]

no i haven't,

frogs are a good indicator for our environment and have been in decline recently so i preserve them

don't feed tadpoles to turtles

only feed out dead whitebait i have been given

feed native shrimp occasionally though

[myfishybuisness]

well i i think some wild frogs have woms , at least thats what ive heard, also where do you get your aros from im think of getting an 8ft tank and having one in it with some oscars and red head serverns , and maybe a red spot sail fin pleco or two

[doddle69]

Well why dont you try it and let us know if its bad for the fish or not :lol:

+1

[henward]

just heard someone try it, but slime isnt appealing to the fish

[Insect Direct]

well, i would raise it from LFS tadpoles to adult frogs... so i know where its been and what its been eating. LFS tadpoles are wild caught afaik, so you dont know where they come from, far from it

but i am just wondering, they are quite abundant in general - they are very common in nz. not rare at all.... FALSE

i guess the question is, are they toxic to fish? MAYBE

i guess we all have opinions of what we should and shouldnt feed MORALLY, but technically i guess is what im asking. Technically or not, MORALs MATTER

If an animal is not endangered, i dont really have an issue with it to be honest. They aint far off it

Frogs are bred to be sold..... no difference realy. most if not all tadpoles sold in NZ are wild caught afaik

Most frogs purchased from LFS probably die anyways. Bollocks, even if true thats doesnt make it right does it

lets get real here.

"lets get real here". you said it.

frogs are in decline.

breed your own live food or buy from someone who has.

just because some people on tm claim their tadpoles are captive bred, doesnt mean theyre not coming from the local pond either

frogs arnt easy to breed, not worth it for livefood, stick to your pinkies, crickets and locusts....

I have fed a small number of deformed frogs (captive bred) to my dragons, they dont seem to like them unless theyre very small which ='s bugger all benfit to the dragon anyway. I have a feeling the bigger frogs actually secrete something (maybe just no1's) as the dragons spit them out in disgust.

[DennisP]

My theory on feeding live food is:

If it is done occasionally and as long as it does benefit the fish over frozen fish (like if it is a natural born hunter eg piranha, Aro (?) all those fish with teeth that eat animals and not leftovers) I am fine with it. Once it gets excessive it does become a little unnecessary and cruel.

Should be a quick death and not enjoyed too much by the feeder.

[malevolentsparkle]

im pretty sure all of the common frogs are Australian and are pests. best check on species before feeding them to anything though

[Jennifer]

Why not pinkies? There is no danger of mice going extinct and they can be bred very cheaply.

[Joe]

just heard someone try it, but slime isnt appealing to the fish

I don't think frogs actually have slime? I could be wrong. Don't feed the aro too many frogs, since they're supposedly rare etc, maybe just as a treat? And yeah, don't get the native ones. They're those dirty brown muddy-looking ugly ones with no eardrums. Don't mistake them for whistling frogs, which are goldish with a black stripe down their side.

[Joshlikesfish]

Why not pinkies? There is no danger of mice going extinct and they can be bred very cheaply.

I've seen a guy on youtube that breeds his mice for live food. Gives his pinkies to his snakes, ferrets, porcupines, reptiles and marine fish if I remember correctly

[Jennifer]

Yeah, when I was back in the States I bred buckets of pinkies for my reptiles...and my partner used to always steal them for his tanks of big fish. :roll: Nom nom

[Stella]

Interesting question

On a similar thread about feeding native fish juveniles (whitebait) to aquarium fish, I argued that it was inappropriate because they are a native animal and under serious threat.

With the frogs, well they are exotic...

However frogs are in really scary decline worldwide (something like 1/3 of all amphibian species are likely to go extinct in a short time). The bell frogs seem to be in decline in NZ too.

Now, since they are an exotic species I don't really care that they are in decline here, however they are in greater decline in their homeland, Australia. Also they are unlikely to be having much effect on NZ ecosystems (though I do not know this for sure) and they are definitely not having an impact on native frogs.

So given the above, I would disagree with feeding them as live food.

Of course culturing anything as live food changes the story somewhat, as then it has no impact on wild stocks.

[Jason22]

did you know that green and golden bell frogs are endangered in auz, so when ever a breeding colony is found that area of land becomes protected. these frogs are also becoming less and less in nz due to a fungal infection. Frog are not as easy to breed as they look (as i am finding out now). they also grow very slow. and take about 8 weeks of care while tadpole. y dont you just breed mice, any 5 year old kid could do it, all you need is a pair and they will do the rest, they also grow alot faster.

[danval]

A few years ago I used to work for a Goldfish Farm. During the frogs breeding season we would go out and catch in excess of 100 frogs in an hour simply with our hands and a plastic bag. There was also a small breeding population of whistling tree frogs in the same area and it was just magic to hear them calling! ( albeit an introduced species! ).