Best Feeder Fish/Invert?

WanderingAlbatross · 2024-10-04T10:05:54-0400

Good morning everyone! As I recently mentioned in a previous thread (Fill These Tanks), I've decided to go all in with this hobby. That includes having live food cultures to increase variety and stimulation for my fish.

The plan is to have a regular Phyto, brine, and mysis culture. In addition, I'd like to have one final culture of some type of feeder fish or crustacean. Something that breeds readily and is simple to care for.

I know some people are for live feeding, some against. Please don't start the ethics rant on my thread, we all have differing opinions. I want to know, from people who use live feeders, what fish do use? I've heard tell of freshwater guppies, saltwater/brackish water acclimated guppies and saltwater raised mollies predominantly. I used to raise guppies and fry for sale so I'm already familiar with the requirements there. If those are possible that would be best.

I've heard tell of guppies and mollies not having the proper nutrients for saltwater fish. If I fed them saltwater-based pellets/flakes, or even live phyto or gut loaded brine fry, would that solve the problem? Of course this will be supplemental, not a staple diet. It's meant to stimulate larger predatory fish on occasion. Would they have to be saltwater raised too or can I raise in fresh and then just drop them in? Will the difference of water type they grew in effect my saltwater fish if they ate it? I remember dosing traces of various chemical/nutrients in my FW guppy tank to manage illness, would those chemicals inadvertently pass over to my main tank? If you have a natural SW fish/invert that you think works better as a live feeder, please let me know.

I look forward to any information you can offer!

I would also love if more of you could respond to my other thread "Fill These Tanks" (Sorry I'm still new enough to this site that I'm unfamiliar with how to add a link)

Blessings all

TX_REEF · 2024-10-04T11:53:04-0400

saltwater mollies are relatively easy to breed in saltwater, so that could be a good solution. and if it's just supplemental, I wouldn't worry too much about the nutrition part, but it can't hurt to gut-load them with beneficial saltwater food.

WanderingAlbatross · 2024-10-05T11:37:07-0400

TX_REEF said:
saltwater mollies are relatively easy to breed in saltwater, so that could be a good solution. and if it's just supplemental, I wouldn't worry too much about the nutrition part, but it can't hurt to gut-load them with beneficial saltwater food.

Thank you for the information!

I've heard so much back and forth on the topic, it's tough to get a solid answer sometimes. Do you have any recommendations for invert breeders? Something hard-shelled that I could give to triggers for their teeth? Or would those just be easier to buy frozen for the occasion?

Half of the passion for me is creating and sustaining the ecosystem, and providing stimulation for each fish, even if it's more work. Hence the emphasis on the live cultures. Is there any other easy breeding reef fish you'd suggest, that might have a higher nutritional value? Something that could be fed more often, say as a 60/40 split of 60% pellet style 40% live fish?

TX_REEF · 2024-10-05T15:35:35-0400

WanderingAlbatross said:
Thank you for the information!

I've heard so much back and forth on the topic, it's tough to get a solid answer sometimes. Do you have any recommendations for invert breeders? Something hard-shelled that I could give to triggers for their teeth? Or would those just be easier to buy frozen for the occasion?

Half of the passion for me is creating and sustaining the ecosystem, and providing stimulation for each fish, even if it's more work. Hence the emphasis on the live cultures. Is there any other easy breeding reef fish you'd suggest, that might have a higher nutritional value? Something that could be fed more often, say as a 60/40 split of 60% pellet style 40% live fish?

I don’t know of any reef fish that are “easy” to breed, but clownfish would be closest to easy. They do still require special setup and attention.

For live inverts, trochus snails readily breed in home tanks. As far as shrimp and crabs, I haven’t seen any evidence of sustainable home breeding (aside from brine shrimp and other tiny shrimp), so if you want to feed live inverts, peppermint shrimp and emerald crabs are probably cheapest.

WanderingAlbatross · 2024-10-05T16:37:01-0400

TX_REEF said:
I don’t know of any reef fish that are “easy” to breed, but clownfish would be closest to easy. They do still require special setup and attention.

For live inverts, trochus snails readily breed in home tanks. As far as shrimp and crabs, I haven’t seen any evidence of sustainable home breeding (aside from brine shrimp and other tiny shrimp), so if you want to feed live inverts, peppermint shrimp and emerald crabs are probably cheapest.

Thanks for the feedback

The inverts are more of a "if one is stupid easy to breed I'll breed it too" kind of thing. If there isn't one larger than the already planned mysis or brine, that's fine. I was just wondering if one was a standout for its ease.

Blessings

littlefoxx · 2024-10-05T16:55:25-0400

WanderingAlbatross said:
Good morning everyone! As I recently mentioned in a previous thread (Fill These Tanks), I've decided to go all in with this hobby. That includes having live food cultures to increase variety and stimulation for my fish.

The plan is to have a regular Phyto, brine, and mysis culture. In addition, I'd like to have one final culture of some type of feeder fish or crustacean. Something that breeds readily and is simple to care for.

I know some people are for live feeding, some against. Please don't start the ethics rant on my thread, we all have differing opinions. I want to know, from people who use live feeders, what fish do use? I've heard tell of freshwater guppies, saltwater/brackish water acclimated guppies and saltwater raised mollies predominantly. I used to raise guppies and fry for sale so I'm already familiar with the requirements there. If those are possible that would be best.

I've heard tell of guppies and mollies not having the proper nutrients for saltwater fish. If I fed them saltwater-based pellets/flakes, or even live phyto or gut loaded brine fry, would that solve the problem? Of course this will be supplemental, not a staple diet. It's meant to stimulate larger predatory fish on occasion. Would they have to be saltwater raised too or can I raise in fresh and then just drop them in? Will the difference of water type they grew in effect my saltwater fish if they ate it? I remember dosing traces of various chemical/nutrients in my FW guppy tank to manage illness, would those chemicals inadvertently pass over to my main tank? If you have a natural SW fish/invert that you think works better as a live feeder, please let me know.

I look forward to any information you can offer!

I would also love if more of you could respond to my other thread "Fill These Tanks" (Sorry I'm still new enough to this site that I'm unfamiliar with how to add a link)

Blessings all

What kinds of fish are you looking to feed?