Live Fish

[Your Honor]

Hey, hope you're well. I have a 60g tank, heavely planted, with 6 peacock cichlids, 1 blue acara, 3 pictus catfish and a red tail shark.
I have only recently added the cichlids and they seem to be fine and the levels of aggression aren't that high for now. But, I just wanted to ask a question; I have this river near me with lots of small crustaceans and small fish, and I was wondering if could catch them and feed then to my cichlids? Would they eat it and also, is it okay for them to eat it?

 

[Guyb93]

Hey, hope you're well. I have a 60g tank, heavely planted, with 6 peacock cichlids, 1 blue acara, 3 pictus catfish and a red tail shark.
I have only recently added the cichlids and they seem to be fine and the levels of aggression aren't that high for now. But, I just wanted to ask a question; I have this river near me with lots of small crustaceans and small fish, and I was wondering if could catch them and feed then to my cichlids? Would they eat it and also, is it okay for them to eat it?

They would eat them , you risk introducing parasites and infection into your tank though ,you could freeze them first for a day to kill anything bad

 

[itiwhetu]

I never like feeding Aquarium fish anything from the wild, it is just to risky.

 

[Le Fishê]

Hey, hope you're well. I have a 60g tank, heavely planted, with 6 peacock cichlids, 1 blue acara, 3 pictus catfish and a red tail shark.
I have only recently added the cichlids and they seem to be fine and the levels of aggression aren't that high for now. But, I just wanted to ask a question; I have this river near me with lots of small crustaceans and small fish, and I was wondering if could catch them and feed then to my cichlids? Would they eat it and also, is it okay for them to eat it?

I agree with @Guyb93, you can freeze then for a day

 

[Your Honor]

They would eat them , you risk introducing parasites and infection into your tank though ,you could freeze them first for a day to kill anything bad

I never like feeding Aquarium fish anything from the wild, it is just to risky.

I see, its just that I have watched so many youtube videos of people going fishing either in the sea or in a river/lake then feeding live fish to their either freshwater or saltwater tmpredstor fish. And I was genuinely curious to know if it is possible to do so without harming the fish.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Yes, I agree, anything from the wild is too risky.

Most wild caught fish carry parasites with them.
You will have unending problems of external or internal parasites in future...

 

[Colin_T]

In my experience, wild caught fish have fewer health issues and fewer diseases that commercially bred fish have.

If the fish/ crustaceans are in a small pond or lake that is frequented by water birds, then they could have intestinal worms and other diseases, which get spread by the birds poop and on their feet and feathers. However, if the fish/ crustaceans come from a river or creek that is free of chemicals, they should be fine.

If possible, put the organisms in a quarantine tank for a month and see how they look.

Shrimp and other small crustaceans can be cultured in ponds/ plastic storage containers. Let them breed and move the young into a clean container to breed. Then move some of their young into a new container and let them breed. Use the ones from the third container to feed the fish.

Depending on the fish, most can be kept in ponds or storage containers too and bred there.

As long as the fish/ crustaceans are not endangered or threatened with extinction, they are fine to feed the fish and most of your fish will eat them. However, if they are native species, it is preferable not to use them as food because most endemic species are threatened.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Man-made pollution is another thing to consider...