Ismart120 Posted November 1, 2010 Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 Hi, Just wondering if anyone knows the ins and outs of feeding live food to tropical fish, ie the legality of feeder fish, what other live animals can and cant be fed and where or where not to get them from? (rivers/lakes or just from other peoples ponds?) Reason I ask is that the bucket of daphina I have growing slowly out back has found more and more inhabitants, like small water beetles etc. What about other insect larvae? Thanks, Isaac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the-obstacle Posted November 1, 2010 Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 I believe if you grew it you can use it. Whether or not it's ethical is another question but then who would care? Unless you're feeding high grade aro's to your pet sharks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diver21 Posted November 1, 2010 Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 feed the insects to the fish. as for fish some people are strongly against feeding live fish to other fish, even to the extent of calling SPCA to have his fish taken from him (or so the guy at a fish shop tells me) personally do what you like, but with some fish once they go to live food they have trouble going back to flake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisP Posted November 1, 2010 Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 From what I understand, you're only concerned about little bugs. Which is totally fine. (Don't think anybody has a problem with that) When it comes to small fish though, thats another story. Only advice I have with live food is - they might be carrying bacteria (or worms depending on size) so keep an eye out for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ismart120 Posted November 1, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 ha, would say I was too concerned about the bugs themselves, more what damage they may do to my fish (parasites etc) Hmmm, guess its a hard one with the fish, as technically, having breeding guppies with larger fish that eat the fry may be considered feeding live fish to bigger fish? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snookie Posted November 1, 2010 Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 some fish are even fed pinky mice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted November 1, 2010 Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 I have always had containers outside in which all sorts of greeblies (that is a technical term for small aquatic insects) grow and breed. I net one and all and feed them to the fish with no problems. I have heard some, like backswimmers or waterboatmen, can eat fish eggs but they would have to beat the other fish to them first!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antwan Posted November 1, 2010 Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 I think you're not allowed to feed vertebrates as its considered cruel (I think there's a law about it?) Personally I just feed anything, baby guppies just have to learn to be quicker survival of the fittest right. And as for larger fish and mice, it's only natural really and the fish will no doubt appreciate it more than some dried flake food Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ismart120 Posted November 1, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 @ antwan Hey, completely off topic but just saw some of your photos, you don't breed dwarf cichlids by any chance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrie Posted November 1, 2010 Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 Hi, Just wondering if anyone knows the ins and outs of feeding live food to tropical fish, Reason I ask is that the bucket of daphina I have growing slowly out back has found more and more inhabitants, like small water beetles etc. What about other insect larvae? Thanks, Isaac DONT FEED THEM bag them up and I will dispose of them for you OK No charge I suppose Im just a nice guys eh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted November 1, 2010 Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 I think you're not allowed to feed vertebrates as its considered cruel (I think there's a law about it?) Personally I just feed anything, baby guppies just have to learn to be quicker survival of the fittest right. And as for larger fish and mice, it's only natural really and the fish will no doubt appreciate it more than some dried flake food are fish and mice not chordates with backbones and spinal columns? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antwan Posted November 1, 2010 Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 @ antwan Hey, completely off topic but just saw some of your photos, you don't breed dwarf cichlids by any chance? Nope, used to have many back in high school, and then a few lately but they didn't do too well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ismart120 Posted November 1, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 Yeah, I'm not sure how well they'd do on a trip all the way up the country, disposal might be the only thing left for them at that point Barrie. Ok, I'm going to assume that no one has lost any fish to water boatmen or back swimmers? Knowing the size of some compared to neons or wcmms, I thought there may have been a few horror stories out there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrie Posted November 1, 2010 Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 Yeah, I'm not sure how well they'd do on a trip all the way up the country, disposal might be the only thing left for them at that point Barrie. Ok, I'm going to assume that no one has lost any fish to water boatmen or back swimmers? Knowing the size of some compared to neons or wcmms, I thought there may have been a few horror stories out there... its great tucker I feed 80% live food Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted November 1, 2010 Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 Ethically speaking I see no difference between breeding worms to feed to the fish (which I do) to breeding any other creature to feed to your creature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted November 1, 2010 Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 Is it not the same as breeding cows and sheep for us to eat? 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antwan Posted November 1, 2010 Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 Is it not the same as breeding cows and sheep for us to eat? 8) To be fair we don't eat the sheep or cows alive. I meant to put live vertebrates in my post earlier but forgot. I'm sure my lab demonstrators last year were saying you weren't allowed to feed live vertebrates, but live invertebrates were perfectly fine (according to the ethics people). Just a note; I don't follow these rules either, fry are great fish food Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted November 1, 2010 Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 To be fair we don't eat the sheep or cows alive. I meant to put live vertebrates in my post earlier but forgot. I'm sure my lab demonstrators last year were saying you weren't allowed to feed live vertebrates, but live invertebrates were perfectly fine (according to the ethics people). Just a note; I don't follow these rules either, fry are great fish food Yeah, I knew that :oops: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ismart120 Posted November 1, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 however, they (the powers that be) have ruled freshwater crayfish as illegal to do many things too, unethical and all that. So in labs at the start of the year at uni we had to state that we weren't going to be cruel to the crayfish that we had, all the insects we had however were fair game So thats one random thing to note, even though they aren't chordates or anything. I know many people aren't concerned about feeding deformed fry to larger fish at least? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdspider Posted November 1, 2010 Report Share Posted November 1, 2010 however, they (the powers that be) have ruled freshwater crayfish as illegal to do many things too, unethical and all that. So in labs at the start of the year at uni we had to state that we weren't going to be cruel to the crayfish that we had, all the insects we had however were fair game Haha, yeah it was perfectly fine - encouraged even - for me to be feeding Mr Damselfly Larvae live mosquito larvae... not to mention the 'killing jars' and locusts that game back to life after being pinned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ismart120 Posted November 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2010 yeah, actually my locust survived for the whole lab so i ended up leaving it, kinda creepy watching it twitch every so often :-? Good ol' double standards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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