General Care Discussion :: feeder fish

[camb]

i recently gave percy her first few feeder fish. AND SHE WENT CRAZY FOR THEM!! i want to feed her more but i dont get to the pet store that often and it is about 20 minutes away and i cant drive because im 14. do many people set up like a separate tank for feeder fish.

[Selera]

I don't know about setting up a second tank for feeders but what I do know is most people don't give their turts that many feeder fish. Often it's only a once a month treat to get a few.

[1981camaroz28]

I have a 55 gallon I use for feeders. I keep rosy fish and goldfish. You don't need a 55 but it was a tank i was not using. Here are some tricks to a feeder tank. I sound like a broken record with this but always double the amount of filtration I have a 55 with 2 filters good for a 55. Feeders are generally high maintenance like goldfish so in my tank I have live plants about 25 snails and 2 pleco algae eaters. I started with 4 snails they keep having more but the fish eat most of the little ones. Get a filter that you can rinse out the cartridges I do it every week. I had fluval filters before and I hate them way to much work to clean them. I only use Emperor 400 or 350 with the bio wheels I think they are the best.

[camb]

thanx, but how often do you feed feeder fish. and is a ten gallon tank too small or rather how many feeders can i have in that size tank at a time? i dont need to many as i only have one turtle but i might get one more in the future.

[1981camaroz28]

A 10 gallon is fine just get a filter for a 30 gallon tank. Remember with tanks the larger they are easier they are to care for. I would still get 4 snails and a algae eater. I would not get goldfish in a tank that small get Rosie's. What size is your turtle? There is really no set rule to how often to feed them. In the wild they eat when they want but I can tell you for the past 7 years now I give them feeders once a week. I never saw it on this board before but I give my turtles bananas every week also and they love them. If you use the 10 gal buy 20 Rosie's and keep the temp about 78-82 degrees and they will start having babies and they will hide in the live plants. I have not had to buy feeders in over 2 years now when they have babies I have this small net just for that and keep them in there until they get big enough.

[camb]

thanx so much for the info i defiantly will do that, but often will they have babies and will it take them til have babies? and do i need a uv light for the live plants?

[danny123]

i have guppies in a ten gallon. they always give birth and i feed them frozen brine shrimp and crushed up goldfish. they are very very messy. i had three pregnant one in a five gallon and i fed them 3 times a day and two days later.... the bottom of the tank was filled with fish pooop. but thats because i didn't have a filter.

[momoandappa]

i want to feed my turtles feeder fish but they guy at the store said that i shouldn't feed the turtles any live fish until they were of 6 months of age, however i bought my turtles and i don't know how old they are. Right now they are 1.5 inches, how big will they be at 6 months so that i know i can feed them feeder fish?

[Doc_Moore_J]

Guppies are extremely easy to breed and maintain cause they are smaller than goldfish and stuff. They are live bearers so the fry (babies) are born right out of the mom, no worrying about eggs being eaten or destroyed. I used to breed guppies for my oscars. They can have birth like every 21 days and each set can have 20-100 fry if given the right conditions and stuff. I had thought about doing it for my turtles, I just havent got around to setting a tank up for them yet. If you cant make it to the pet store often, I really suggest guppy breeding. plus its kind of fun trying to mix and match and get new kinds of offspring. I had a few certain colors and tail shapes that I always kept and fed the rest to Oscar Moscar.

[1981camaroz28]

If the tank gets any sun than you don't need a UV light standard lights are fine.

thanx so much for the info i defiantly will do that, but often will they have babies and will it take them til have babies? and do i need a uv light for the live plants?

[camb]

so should i do rosies or guppies

[camb]

and are the live plants needed.