# Best type of fish to breed for feeders



## Poi (Nov 5, 2008)

Hi,

I have a few oscars and I like to feed them live fish from time to time. What type of fish would you suggest for breeding that will provide a steady supply of feeders for the ocscars?

Thanks!


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

If you've got the room, jaguars. They reproduce like convicts but on a much larger scale! You'd just need a 125 for them


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## Gino Santangelo (Nov 26, 2008)

Got any local wild minnows over there. You can get a minnow trap at the bait and tackel shop.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Don't ya think minnows are just as bad as goldfish for disease?


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## Gino Santangelo (Nov 26, 2008)

The chance for disease is always present with live food. But I feel the chance of disease is less in wild caught because the infectious presure is more spred out. I don't use wild caught per say, but I do give my fish any left over bait when I get in from the nights fishing. But as soon as I get a spare 125gal FishGuy maybe I'll give into raising feeder managuensis because you are right they do produce.


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## Poi (Nov 5, 2008)

No, I don't have an extra 125. All I have is an extra 20. I used to have convicts but for some reason, my ocars don't eat them. I have 5 baby convicts that have been in my oscar tank for weeks and they are starting to get bigger. But I put a few neon tetra's in the tank recently and the ocars went crazy chasing/eating them. So I'm just looking for something I can breed in a 20 gallon. They don't have to breed as frequently as cons. I just want something that is easy to breed. I read about breeding tetra's and it doesn't seem very easy (compared to convicts).


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## djoneser (Mar 20, 2008)

I have considered doing something like this myself. From what I could gather, the best to raise is the guppy, take your pick of species, or whatever the LFS has most inexpensively. Since guppies are live bearers you need to make sure to have the right breeding setup for them, I think it is floating cover, and/or some breeding traps that work best. I think this can be done in a smaller tank also, like 20G or so.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Why do you feel you need to feed live food? Entertainment?


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## Gino Santangelo (Nov 26, 2008)

Yep guppies would be good. Gambusia also good. mollies don't eat thier fry, also good and a 20gal plenty o room.


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## Poi (Nov 5, 2008)

TheFishGuy said:


> Why do you feel you need to feed live food? Entertainment?


I don't know. Maybe a little. But I think what is really behind it is the idea that I like to stay involved with my hobby. And I find that after a while the fish hobby can be a little boring if I'm just feeding them each day and cleaning the tank weekly. I need a little more change than just seeing the fish slowly getting bigger. I really enjoyed having convicts because they went through cycles. I could tell when it was breeding time, then I could take my flashlight and see the eggs in the cave, then the fry, etc... But now things are just sort of static. So knowing that ocars enjoy live fish, I thought I'd set up my 20 gallon to breed feeders...


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## remarkosmoc (Oct 19, 2005)

I've found that the time required for breeding and raising of fry to a size where they are a meal is a long and inefficient process. For entertainment value theirs nothing wrong with it, but there isn't really a practical way to do it on small scale efficiently. For the entertainment of it I'd breed whatever you like the best (as long as you have room).

I haven't actually done this but it has been suggested here a few times that the most efficient way to breed live food is to breed worms. http://www.thekrib.com/Food/worms.html


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

If you tend to get bored with the hobby then join your local cichlid club


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## mxryder215 (Jan 28, 2009)

maybe you should try some fw shrimp. i believe they are somewhat simple to breed. a small "factory" could easily be set up.


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## sirdavidofdiscus (Dec 8, 2006)

I'd say earthworms. Easy to breed and losts of fun to watch fish eat. Looks like sucking in a strand of spaghett.i


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## cevvin (May 2, 2008)

Gino Santangelo said:


> Yep guppies would be good. Gambusia also good. mollies don't eat thier fry, also good and a 20gal plenty o room.


Mollies eat their fry likes its a buffet at IHOP.


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## conoholic (Nov 12, 2005)

cevvin said:


> Gino Santangelo said:
> 
> 
> > Yep guppies would be good. Gambusia also good. mollies don't eat thier fry, also good and a 20gal plenty o room.
> ...


mollys are one of the livebearers that dont eat there babies, as *** had and bred plenty of them . and non have ate there babys.


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## jack lover (Aug 12, 2008)

SWORDTAILS all the way


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## big54bob (May 15, 2007)

Have you ever heard of a marble crayfish? The are only known species species of to be all females  and you only need one to make babies.


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

you can try some red jewel cichlids? i know they breed just like the convicts do and only get about 4 inches max


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## Dave (Feb 9, 2003)

big54bob said:


> Have you ever heard of a marble crayfish? The are only known species species of to be all females  and you only need one to make babies.


This is a bit off topic, but do you mean the only known species of crayfish, or the only known species period? Of course this only pertains to sexually reproducing species.


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