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Hello all, this is my first post so I guess I should introduce myself a little before I ask my question. I am a college student who got into fish keeping about a year ago when my g/f begged me to get a 29gal tank so she could have some painted glass tetras. After a few weeks she hated the water changes and said they were "boring". I, however, was hooked. After some reading when the color faded I was appaled at how they were painted and vowed never to buy them again. Needless to say they died within less than a month. I wound up getting a 75gal that now houses a beautiful 8" male GT. A female Gold Severum, a female Blood Parrot, and a rather large plecostamous. Now, on to the question...

I am really interrested in growing live food for my fish. I think my g/f would be very grossed out at the idea of wingless flies or larva of any kind. So, I was wondering if there were any fish or maybe ghost shrimp I could raise in a 5-8gal tank to feed my big guys. I suppose I could get my hands on a 10gal probably, but because of the weight a 5-8gal eclipse or something would do much better on my desk. My fish have never had live food before so I'm a little concerned as to whether or not they will eat it, or if it will become their new friend. I know that sounds silly to you but my GT will try to attack anyone through the glass, the second you take a step at him he runs and hides then peeks out of a pot like he's saying "I'm sorry". I actually grew him out a bit in the 29gal tank to about 5" with a few tetras in there and he swam around in their school, I was so ashamed. Anyways, any suggestions would be a good idea. Thanks in advance!

Many people raise guppies for feeders. And they usually end up stopping it. Because the fish will eat more faster, than they can raise them. The problem with feeding live foods, is that most of the time, once they start eating live foods, and get the taste of them, they may stop eating non-live foods. Use caution with bought live foods that are fish. As the feeders can/could be carrying any kind of disease when you purchase them. And thus could cause an illness in the tank of your prize fish. If you might be looking into something along the red worm/night crawler thing, there are several web sites you can check into that whole sale these to the public. Several of them sell breeder set ups to raise the worms as well. This is a good source of foods for your fish, as you can gut load the worms with vitamins and/or anything else you might want your fish to have.

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There is always a bigger fish...

Yeah, I saw your guys FAQ on raising food for my fish. I'll have to do some poking around to see what might wind up being ok. All of them say to store in a cool dark place (i.e. the fridge) and I think that may get a smackdown from my g/f. I have to say as well, larvae and wingless flies kinda gross me out as well, however if that's how it has to be then I guess that's how I'll go. Everyone says how much more it brings their colors out etc so we'll see. The reason I haven't fed them live food before is I definately do not want them to get sick from the fish at the store. Any idea how much breeding a couple mollies would do in a 5gal? They would probably need a 10gal. Anyways thanks for the reply. I think I am going to have to think a bit more on this, like everything else, before I do it. Any other suggestions/ personal experiences are very welcomed.

Since the live food is more expensive, and I happen to be in college I definately don't want them to stop eating the dry. I just don't know if my fish are big enough to eat the worms. Hehe, this is why cichlids are so much fun.

The best thing is to feed them different types of food. Give them a variaty every day & not always the same type of food.


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If it is color you are looking for, live food does not bring it out any more than dry foods. In fact, dry foods are formulated with additives to bring out color in fish. For reds, the best thing you can feed them is krill or plankton. Both of these will bring out red colors. If you want to really go over the edge, try injecting some rosanthia (sp?) powder into the foods you feed them. This powdered red sea algae will definitely increase the reds.

Not knowing what your tank looks like, I will tell you this;
Darker colored fish will be darker in color and all around appearance with darker backgrounds and darker substrate. In other words, the fish will try to blend into their environment better. For a blue or green coloring on fish, a blue back ground will cause them to darken more bluely. If you have a white sand substrate, your fish will be faded looking. Not only because they are trying to blend in, but because the bright reflective light off the sand will fade their colors. Also, depending on how bright your lighting is, this can have an affect on the coloring. Too much light can "wash out" colorations of some fish. Giving them a much lighter color.

HTH....

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There is always a bigger fish...

It seems like I should really post some pics of what I have going. What I have is a 7-8" male Green Terror, a 6" Gold Severum, and a 5-6" Blood Parrot in my 75gal tank. I have red gravel which I am not very fond of now that it's in but what can you do. I use mostly clay pots but I found a fish store that owns a pottery shop and they use fish-safe colors, so there's some blue and white in there as well.

I'm not nessecarily looking to bring out any specific color, and it's not that their color is bad as it is. I have just read and heard from friends how much live food brought out fish colors and made them grow like they were on steroids. It could have been all talk I guess. I'll try to post some pics in the next couple of days as I have time with midterms. Thanks for the replies.

As to feeding them different stuff every day, I think that is a little more along the lines of where I was going as well. I know I couldn't realistically feed them guppies every day. I would have to house 100 adults in a 55gal and hope they timed their releases just right. As it is I feed them one of 2 pellet foods as the urge hits me to change.I'm feeding them Tetra Cichlid Sticks. I tried Hikari Cichlid Gold for a while but they didn't seem to really care for it. Anyways, thanks for the replies.

I recommend if you're going to breed feeders, to breed platys instead of guppys. Don't feed regularly, just as a weekly treat. As Jasonpisani said supplement with variety of foods.

The Amazon Nut...