# something for everyone to think about?? ( about feeder fish)



## jenn134 (Nov 14, 2014)

Hi there guys

Ok I know everyone says not to feed fish feeders from a pet store but my question is 
if you were to go buy feeder fish put them in a small maybe 1 gallion tank and feed them daily with fish flakes that you already have on hand 
and do this for 1 whole month and none of the fish die or get sick would they then be safe to feed to your other fish/frogs???

I was just wondering

Thanks in advance

Jenn


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## james1983 (Dec 23, 2007)

My understanding, which I may be wrong, is that most feeder fish have very little nutritional value compare to a quality fish food. If you raised the feeders, yes you could probably eliminate the possibility of disease but its still not a healthy option for most African cichlids.


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## jenn134 (Nov 14, 2014)

I was saying as a snack not as the daily meal 
only feeding the feeeders every other week or once a month


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

And we are not talking about Africans...jenn134 you said frogs and other fish like Oscars, right? Fish don't really need snacks. I understand some fish keepers occasionally wanting to observe a true piscivore hunt/capture a live feeder, but other than that, not a necessity. I know some experienced fish keepers raise their own cherry shrimp for feeders.


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## jenn134 (Nov 14, 2014)

I own afircan clawed frogs ( who are spose to eat feeders My step daughter has one that eats everything put in the tank but for some reason mine won't eat anything but frog food ) and I have African Cichlids and I was told ( tell me if I'm wrong ) that they can have feeders once in awhile


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## The Cichlid Guy (Oct 18, 2014)

The cichlids that you have are mostly herbivores, and it would probably wreak havoc on their digestive systems if they tried to eat a whole fish. They are also much too small to eat something so big. I'm guessing your feeders are minnows, which are typically about the same size as the juvenile cichlids sold in stores. I would be surprised if your 15 feeders lasted a whole month in a 1 gallon tank.

The issue with feeder fish (aside from disease, etc) is that your fish really don't need them, and they are likely to do more harm than good. Imagine if your diet consisted of nothing but salad and bread, and one day someone gave you a giant steak and expected you to eat it. This is an extreme scenario, but you see the difference.


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## jenn134 (Nov 14, 2014)

Yes I see what you are saying and I won't give them to my Cichlids but when I get my Oscar can it have feeder fish??


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## Hapguy63 (Feb 8, 2014)

I don't know about frogs but I have owned and kept various African cichlids for over 20 years and other than fry that I could not catch before the mother spit them, I have never feed them live food. There is no need to. They have little nutritional value and may cause health problems. For the most part these are tank raised fish and are not used to eating live foods. In my opinion its not worth the potential health risks.


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## jenn134 (Nov 14, 2014)

I bought them with the wrong information so I made a mistake 
I will either keep them as a *pet* or give them to my step daughter who has a African Clawed frog who eats fish 
I thank you all for this very helpful info and I am happy I didn't try to feed my Cichlids these because the last thing I want is to cause any of my fish harm or cause any of them to die or get sick

Again

Thank you very much I am still new at this and learn something new every day and I will never listen to a Pet store employ again since they don't know what they are talking about if I have any questions I will come here and ask before doing anything 
I have had these Cichlids for now a week and so far I been feeding them fish flakes and next month I will be buying them Cichlid food

Thank you
Jenn


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## rennsport2011 (Oct 21, 2013)

If you want to feed your Oscars home bred and raised feeder fish, as an occasional treat, there is nothing wrong with that.


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