Anyone Keeping Feeder Fish As Pets?

[Butch]

I was wondering about how many people who keeping feeder fish as pets? I kept group of feeder guppies and they are fun. Sometimes I found some swordtail juvies mixed in feeder guppies tank and I raised the juvies to their adulthood. The swordtails turn out great looking adults. I used to have a group of red rosies in past as they are easy to take care of. Sometimes I wondered if feeder fish are not meant to be pet.

 

[Gazoo]

I've never kept feeder fish for pets but I've kept feeder ghost shrimp. They're fun to watch when eating and best of all they're dirt cheap.

 

[Syphoniera]

I was wondering about how many people who keeping feeder fish as pets? I kept group of feeder guppies and they are fun. Sometimes I found some swordtail juvies mixed in feeder guppies tank and I raised the juvies to their adulthood. The swordtails turn out great looking adults. I used to have a group of red rosies in past as they are easy to take care of. Sometimes I wondered if feeder fish are not meant to be pet.

Cool idea for a post, Butch, I'll bet lots of people have 'feeders'.

As beautiful as Fancy guppies are, they're not what I want in a guppy.
So I've got some very pretty 'feeder' guppies with a lot of Endler evident - only the males'll typically harass not only females but each other into a decline if kept together.
Thought going into a community tank would fix it, but not.
Beautiful little things, but more guts and persistance than brains in that line...
Of course, feeders tend to be culls and often raised in bad conditions, so there have been deformities and weaknesses, etc. to worry about; I bought mine out of the communal feeder shrimp/guppy bin at an LFS.
Mine are pets: I wouldn't trade them for anything...


And, like Gazoo, had 'feeder' ghost shrimp but they sometimes (like the guppies they were kept in with) arrive with nasties tricky to treat under the circs. and don't always make it very long.
Well, the one lot did, but the rapidly growing biggest ate the others over time, and sat in the 'trees' snatching passing baby guppies, causing me to wonder about adults then (RIP) escaped into dry air when temporarily relocated into a smaller container - yup, prawn.
Another lot which rapidly died one by one in quarantine had what looked like a very tiny fish louse crawling on the body of one of the last, although I doubt that was what killed them...
Last lot - Murphy's law striking again, healthy and lively - were evidently prawns, which died as they'd try to aggressively face down a Betta rather than scoot out of the way, and actually stalked their tails as the fish hunted the bottom, so their loss wasn't as upsetting as it might have been, since I had a guppy in the one tank to worry about and was starting to wonder a little about the safety of the Bettas.
And now, darn it, at least one of those fish knows live shrimp are tasty and was cautiously hunting the last few...
But I couldn't agree more with Gazoo that they are really are great, if you manage to actually get Ghosties.

 

[Corleone]

I have some rosey minnows in a small tank. Set the tank up for a girlfriend who eventually decided water changes were too much work, so this weekend I brought them back home, moved them from a 5 to a 10 gallon, and added a couple more. They're 10 for $1, but fairly interesting little fish. Considering giving the tank to my neice, who misses the big tank I bought from her parents.

 

[oakes]

Sometimes I wondered if feeder fish are not meant to be pet.

No reason why you can't keep them as pets.
They are no different to any other fish, just that someone has slapped a 'feeder fish' label on the tank for a batch of young fish that are of little value.
Typically they are cheap and prolific fish such as livebearers, but they can be anything, for eg. my LFS sells baby rosy barbs as feeders. Probably sources them from someones backyard pond.

 

[madmom]

I don't keep feeders but my son does. He took over my extra tank and has feeder guppies in it. He keeps the best looking ones and gives the rest away. Some are really pretty. He says they are easy to care for and after he got a good batch says they are very hardy. ( After losing I don't know how many when he first started.)