Quote:
|
I was under the impression that if it's not of marine origin, then it wasn't the best food source.
|
Dentoid, this is correct in almost all cases except for worms. Worms have Omega 3 oils, I don't know why and I am not sure how much blackworms have but I know earthworms have it. I have spoken to Lee a few times and I do know he is a very knowlegable guy and I agree with everything on that link you provided excpet for the thing about blackworms.
I know very well that if you feed your fish blackworms and all other factors equal, they will start to spawn. I have spawned blue devils, clowns, bangai cardinals and dominoes many times just by feeding these worms. The pair of Bangai's I have now continousely spawn. I know they are a frersh water animal but as I said worms are an anomely.
I agree with Lee about adult brine shrimp and all other fresh water foods. Thats why I inject Cod Liver OIL into feeder fish if I don't have salt water fish to feed. This is not to be done on a regular basis.
Kathy, it is a good Idea to add fish oil to their food but if you just soak frozen food with oil I think all of it will wash off in the water, thats why I said to soak flake and pellets in oil. It absorbs it and at least some of it goes into the fish. I can't really say if they need extra vitamins. It depends on what you are feeding and what type of fish it is.
Dr Hank. The oldest fish I kept was a brutlyd or cusk eel. It was in my tank for 18 years and I killed it by accident along with a bunch of old fish. I never directly fed it in all those years. My oldest fish now is a fire clown which is maybe 13 or 15
Reef Goddess it is important to feed a variety but the variety should be what that particular fish eats in nature. Many fish have very specialized diets and we should try to imitate that as much as possable. Mandarins eat pods, they eat just about only pods. If you have to suppliment their diet with something else, you won't have that mandarin long. They also must eat all day long. They don't do that just to be hard to feed, their dijestive tract is designed to utilize pods on a continual basis and they don't have the capacity to store much food. Seahorses are another specialized feeder, they will eat most moving prey (except worms) but they too must eat often. They don't really have a stomach, just a short tube and are unable to store any food. Seahorses need a constant food source.
I once patented a feeder for seahorses but it used live brine shrimp which now are replaced with mysis.
Small fish would be better
JoM Article: A New Feeding Strategy for Hippocampus sp., and other fishes, by Paul Baldassano
Terry soaking silversides in Selcon I think would just put an oil slick in your tank. It would be better to inject the feeder fish with the oils or whatever vitamins you want to get into your fish.
Live foods are always better if the live foods are healthy and well nourished. I keep a large supply of blackworms and even they are in breeding condition. I feed them and give them vitamins, Selcon and calcium. Your fish are what they eat.
Kathy you should not put vitamins or any other aditives in a tank with the objective of getting it inside your fish. It will just turn to nitrate or detritus.
I sometimes use flakes because I can soak them in cod liver oil or Selcon. I don't use flakes as a staple diet although they are much better now than they used to be. Fish will live on it but I doubt any fish will get into breeding condition on them. Someone called me last week and told me that her LFS said to feed all of her fish just romaine lettuce. I guess that LFS wants her to keep buying fish. Of course many fish will eat it, I eat it myself but herbifore fish need seaweed, not lettuce. Nori which is sold in any Asian market is almost the same price as lettuce. $2.00 worth of nori will feed a tang for a year.
Anyway, Have a great day and keep posting.
Paul