Hi friends, I am new and novice. I am a strict vegetarian and have been looking for fishes which eat only veg. food. I have come across the name of ‘Silver Dollar’. Is it a completely herbivorous fish? Would it never need live feed? Those who have experience in keeping ‘Silver Dollar’ are requested to please give some tips on keeping them since I am new. Also can anyone please suggest any other herbivorous fish? Bye
Is Silver Dollar A Herbivorous Fish?
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OohFeeshy
It's only forever; not long at all...
You'd have a hard time finding any fish like that. Almost all prepared foods contain fish or other meat products, and no fish can gain proper nutrition exclusively on vegetable matter.
The-Wolf
Ex-LFS manager/ keeper of over 30 danio species
any fish will devour a dead fish that it comes accross, this is natures way of tidying up. having said that yes silver dollers are primarily herbivours and will decimate any plant that you put in the tank.
there are comercially available foods based primarily on algea and other veg matter but they will all have some kind of animal by-product in them for protine and vitamin content
there are comercially available foods based primarily on algea and other veg matter but they will all have some kind of animal by-product in them for protine and vitamin content
Hi The-Wolf, Thanks for very kindly posting a message. Can Silver Dollar live healthily on a diet of plants, parboiled peas, lettuce, spinach etc? Or cucumbers etc? If yes, then I can provide it home food. What else can it eat? Would it never need live feed?
Hi OohFeeshy, Thanks for very kindly posting a message. I am not worried about the animal protein in the market veg foods as I can provide it home feed. The issue is, you say no fish can gain proper nutrition from just eating veg. food? Is this true even for the herbivorous Silver Dollar?
Hi OohFeeshy, Thanks for very kindly posting a message. I am not worried about the animal protein in the market veg foods as I can provide it home feed. The issue is, you say no fish can gain proper nutrition from just eating veg. food? Is this true even for the herbivorous Silver Dollar?
OohFeeshy
It's only forever; not long at all...
Weeelll....
Thereoretically you could come up with some concoction (things like this are often blended up and mixed with gelatine, or in this case, whichever alternative is available) using non-meat sources of protein, like pulses, soya products and the like, mixed with assorted vegetables, but you'd really have to look into the exact nutritional requirements of any fish.
Bear in mind also silver dollars get very large and are very skittish, so an alternative would be a good idea. You're looking for unfussy omnivores, most likely captive bred (as they are most likely to eat things) who are near on fully grown when you buy them (sort of reduces energy requirements).
Thereoretically you could come up with some concoction (things like this are often blended up and mixed with gelatine, or in this case, whichever alternative is available) using non-meat sources of protein, like pulses, soya products and the like, mixed with assorted vegetables, but you'd really have to look into the exact nutritional requirements of any fish.
Bear in mind also silver dollars get very large and are very skittish, so an alternative would be a good idea. You're looking for unfussy omnivores, most likely captive bred (as they are most likely to eat things) who are near on fully grown when you buy them (sort of reduces energy requirements).
tetras4me
Fish Fanatic
fish just like people need some source of protein, you dont have to feed it live food but you should at least give you fish a squirt/cube/pinch of brine shrip every week
vancouver
- l l a m a s -
I'm just trying to understand this correctly.. you don't want to feed your fish normal fish food? You want them to live 100% on plants/vegetables?
Hi Vancouver, Thanks for your message. My issue is that most veg. feed sold in the market have fishmeal as an ingredient. Since I am a strict vegetarian, I would not wish to feed the fishes any food which has non-veg in it. Yes, if there is any fish feed which is 100% veg., then I would certainly be too happy to feed them but I understand there is none like this. Hence, the only option I have is to feed them plants and veg. foods like parboiled peas, spinach etc.. And Cucumber etc. The important question here is whether in its natural habitat, does Silver Dollar only consume veg. food like plants etc? Or does Silver Dollar need an occasional live feed to stay healthy? Thanks to all for posting replies.
krishanu
Fish Fanatic
if you do keep silver dollars you can say goodbye to your aquarium plants, bar maybe the amazon sword!
Hello,
Silver dollars do not eat only vegetation in the wild, they do occasionally eat meaty or high protein foods such as worms or insect larvae. Your silver dollars will not be healthy on a diet of vegetable matter alone, but it should make up a large portion of their diet, around 60-75% if you can. I don't know if you're against feeding insects, worms, ect. but these will be needed to provide a healthy balanced diet. But one thing you should know, you won't need live foods for your silver dollars. You can feed frozen foods, these are just as healthy as live. There are frozen foods such as bloodworms, these are just the larvae of a bug called a midge, no meat by products here.
Thanks AMS on the information of bloodworms. Let me think over this? Like bloodworms are larvae, are there any other frozen feeds like this? Also with bloodworm feed would I be able to keep just any and every fish like Betta etc.? Bye
§tudz
A True Oddball
ALL fish require protines which are gained from 'meaty' sources. unlike humans, fish cant eat vitamin tablets to keep a balance, they are not as versitile as humans. Therefore they 'need' you to feed them these. You will not see your fish at its best or in a great light if you neglects its nutritional needs.
I am afraid what your looking for will probably be hard to find, and if not impossible, its implausable.
IMO I cant see why you have to push your beliefs upon an animal? I'm not flaming here just asking. Surely you can understand this. but then this could spark an argument so maybe I should just leave off.
You could try a rabbit, but I'm not sure they mix well with water
(joke)Hi Studz, Thanks for your message. I respect your viewpoint on imposing my views on fishes. (I don't count this is flaming. I regard this as genuine concern) The reason I am here is so that I don't impose my views on them. So that I only keep them if they can healthily live on veg. feed. And from the inputs I have got, I have realised that this is not possible, unless I am willing to feed them bloodworms. Thanks & Bye
jayjay
The BE-Team Fighting For Betta Extermination
Well what are your views on prepared foods like flake etc. they do contain everything the fish needs and are designed for the fishes needs. Though they contain animal content, it's not like feeding livefood.
nmonks
A stroke of the brush does not guarantee art from
Good heavens, there's a fair amount of misinformation on this thread!
In the wild, it is true the majority of fish families are more or less predatory, eating either other fish or various invertebrates, typically insects in the case of freshwater fish. However, several families of fish are more or less exclusively herbivorous. This isn't to say they won't eat meat if offered it, but that in the wild it forms a minor part of their diet and doesn't supply most of their calorific intake. Marine examples include damselfish (which farm algae), sea chub (which eat brown algae), and parrot fish (which eat coraline algae). Freshwater herbivores include tilapia (general plant debris), pacus (fruits and seeds), mollies (green algae), cyprinodont killifish (algae), and some loricariid catfish (algae). The desert pupfish is perhaps the best-known "extreme" veggie, in that it lives in water so hot pretty much nothing else lives there except brown and green algae, which these fish eat. In fact, without algae, it is difficult to maintain in aquaria.
Few of these never eat animals. But then, cows and sheep eat small animals while foraging, and that doesn't stop them being herbivores, while pigs will even catch rats and mice. But tilapia are routinely raised on plant protein on fish farms (this is done to avoid problems with mercury from fish meal) and Panaque spp. are probably harmed by given animal foods and are best kept on a strictly vegetarian diet of wood and vegetables. Panaque have symbiotic bacteria that -- uniquely among fish -- allow them to digest wood.
As a general point, it is probably unwise to try to impose choices we can make (as omnivores) onto aquarium fish that are predominantly carnivores. But if you selected the right species, and made the committment to create the lots of algae in the tank and provided alternative protein sources such as frozen peas, there's probably no reason why you couldn't keep algae-specialists like mollies, Panaque, twig catfish, Florida flagfish, and so on with success. The tricky thing is that you would need to produce a lot of algae to produce the same amount of protein as, say, a portion of daphnia or bloodworms. This would demand strong lighting and periodic fertilisation of the water with minerals. After all, the fish will only be as healthy as the algae they eat. You'd also have to accept that the tiny animals in the algae (rotifers, nematodes, tardigrades, and the like) would be part of their "meals" as well.
Basically, this isn't something I'd recommend, but it would be possible.
Cheers,
Neale
In the wild, it is true the majority of fish families are more or less predatory, eating either other fish or various invertebrates, typically insects in the case of freshwater fish. However, several families of fish are more or less exclusively herbivorous. This isn't to say they won't eat meat if offered it, but that in the wild it forms a minor part of their diet and doesn't supply most of their calorific intake. Marine examples include damselfish (which farm algae), sea chub (which eat brown algae), and parrot fish (which eat coraline algae). Freshwater herbivores include tilapia (general plant debris), pacus (fruits and seeds), mollies (green algae), cyprinodont killifish (algae), and some loricariid catfish (algae). The desert pupfish is perhaps the best-known "extreme" veggie, in that it lives in water so hot pretty much nothing else lives there except brown and green algae, which these fish eat. In fact, without algae, it is difficult to maintain in aquaria.
Few of these never eat animals. But then, cows and sheep eat small animals while foraging, and that doesn't stop them being herbivores, while pigs will even catch rats and mice. But tilapia are routinely raised on plant protein on fish farms (this is done to avoid problems with mercury from fish meal) and Panaque spp. are probably harmed by given animal foods and are best kept on a strictly vegetarian diet of wood and vegetables. Panaque have symbiotic bacteria that -- uniquely among fish -- allow them to digest wood.
As a general point, it is probably unwise to try to impose choices we can make (as omnivores) onto aquarium fish that are predominantly carnivores. But if you selected the right species, and made the committment to create the lots of algae in the tank and provided alternative protein sources such as frozen peas, there's probably no reason why you couldn't keep algae-specialists like mollies, Panaque, twig catfish, Florida flagfish, and so on with success. The tricky thing is that you would need to produce a lot of algae to produce the same amount of protein as, say, a portion of daphnia or bloodworms. This would demand strong lighting and periodic fertilisation of the water with minerals. After all, the fish will only be as healthy as the algae they eat. You'd also have to accept that the tiny animals in the algae (rotifers, nematodes, tardigrades, and the like) would be part of their "meals" as well.
Basically, this isn't something I'd recommend, but it would be possible.
Cheers,
Neale
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