Monday, February 14, 2011

Feeder Fish

A lot of people wonder about the use of feeder fish for their larger carnivorous friends.  Opinions on their use is mixed, but I feel that the occasional feeder guppy provides a chance for your fish to exhibit natural hunting behavior and relieves him of boredom.  However, some people argue that the use of feeders is cruel since the guppies or goldfish do not have a chance to escape as they would in the wild.  Additionally, continued use of cheap feeders like goldfish are actually bad for your fish since they are low in nutrition and high in fat.

On the other side of the argument is that feeders are cheap and easily replaced.  Additionally, people all have some sense of excitement and satisfaction watching animals hunt.

Below is a video I filmed of my friend's fish tank being fed feeder goldfish.

38 comments:

  1. Watching my fish hunt sounds really exciting. I might try that one day.

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  2. Does look exciting to watch, but I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with it. Like you said they don't have a chance to escape, sitting ducks, if you will.

    Good post though, keep it up!

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  3. Followed. Its just nature taking its course, I wouldnt be worried.

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  4. Depends on the size of the tank as well. You make hiding places for the smaller fish.

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  5. haha always fun to feed goldfish to bigger predators

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  6. You have to let your fish act out its instincts it's only natural even if it is under unnatural circumstances. Maybe someday they'll invent fish food that reacts to the water in a way that makes it look like a swimming fish and then everybody would be happy!

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  7. Wow, this is kind of cruel but fuck they're only fish, I should grab some of these for some fun sometime lol.

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  8. I think I agree that it is somewhat inhumane. Let the fish live in the wild or as someone else's pet.

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  9. That fish can sure move! Keep these posts coming - I see you left a comment on my blog regarding DSLR's - for starting out I'd get one of the cheaper models. The Canon 550d would be an excellent choice!

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  10. i never considered using feeder fish, i might try it when i get my tank running again. Btw i am loving the fish app at the top of your blog, i must have just sat there for like 5 minutes lol

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  11. It's definitely primally intriguing. Like playing god over own personal ecosystem.

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  12. I used to feed pirhanas . I saw a video one time . Somebody was feeding their pirhanas with rat .

    I did similar thing I gave them a little bit meat that I was eating at the moment .

    And they went crazy . This video reminded me that .

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  13. I bred my own mollies to feed to my Oscar. If they survived for 3 days they got to live out the rest of their lives breeding.

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  14. We bought a bunch of feeder fish for our tank, and the other fish refused to eat the, so the feeders grew up and became just.. fish.. lol

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  15. ohh i feel bad for those little guys ;(

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  16. i used to have alot of fish back a few years ago, but i never replaced them as they died off :/

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  17. I have to admit, even though I don't care for fish as pets very much, the prospect of watching goldfish get dominated is very, very appealing.

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  18. I think it's just like feeding mice to cats and crickets to spiders. Nothing that needs arguing over.

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  19. Fish hunting each other sounds awesome, but yeah I wouldn't do it to my own fish, it'd be heartbreaking.

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  20. that was great! I don't have any qualms about feeding a fish with a 6 second time span to another fish. This makes me want to get a fish tank!

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  21. Fish food is made out of dead fish so I guess that they were killed to make the fish food. Same as feeding fish live fish?
    I bet fish food companys are far more brutal.

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  22. That big white fish was much faster than I expected! It was brutal too.

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  23. I used to have a few fish lol, but i forgot to feed them one day... and well u know the rest

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  24. I don't know what it is, but that vid makes me sad.

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  25. Aww thats kind of sad, but hey circle of life, no complaining allowed lol!

    Witte

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