Live Food

[jurme]

hi , i was wondering what live foods would be appropriate to feed my fish, oscars, convicts and what not, all american.

 

[bitteraspects]

none IMEO.
live foods are more harm than good, and should be avoided if possible.

 

[minxfishy]

If you mean live as in feeder fish, then agree with above, feeder fish (from LFS) are often poorly treated and can contain disease, home grown feeder fish, guppies etc can be fed but occassionally.

Other live foods like meal worms are ok, garden worms (providing no fertilizers/chemicals are used on garden) are fine, just give them a wash prior to adding, or bloodworms, shrimp etc are also fine in moderation.

Other good foods are frozen bloodworm/shrimp or fresh prawn is also fine.

Generally the best food is a good quality staple cichlid pellet, hikari, tetra as they contain the vitamins and minerals for a healthy balanced diet with the occassional frozen/fresh food listed above. Alot of cichlids also like vegetables, cucumber and peas being the most readily taken Ive found.

 

[bitteraspects]

besides the disease aspect of live foods, there is the issue of nutrition.
even home bred feeders (although easier to watch for disease) offer very little in the way of nutrition. feeder fish are basically just skin and bones. the only way that they can offer any real nutrition, is to "gut load" them first. "gut loading" is the act of feeding the feeders a vitamin enriched flake or pellet food, before feeding them to your fish. but why add the extra step? you can just as easily feed the dry foods directly to your fish, and give them the nutrition they need.

there are TONS of fresh/freeze dried/frozen/dry foods available, many of which are specially formulated with your fishes dietary needs in mind. some are even further enriched with other vitamins/minerals/additives for things like growth promotion, color enhancement, enforcing breeding behaviors, etc. with all these advancements in consumer level and readily available foods, there is absolutely no reason to use live feeders, even to supplement your fishes diet.

as mentioned above, worms (super red, black, meal, nightcrawlers, etc) can offer a sore stable and protein rich "live food", and unlike feeder fish, are less likely to contain parasites or disease, but again, most of these things are available readily in dry or freeze dried form.

 

[jurme]

So what do these fish eat in the wild?

I've been wondering the same thing

 

[SBL]

Well, if you want to feed your fish what they eat in the wild, you may go through thousand of species of fish and insects plus the various fruits fish will eat. Gotta think, you can't provide everything the fish eats in the wild unless you have permits, money, food that the animals you are feeding eat in the wild, money, and time. Did I mention money? Also, most fish in the wild are full of parasites that could easily shorten lifespan. Only reason you get the ocassional monster is mainly because that fish has good genes and knows when food comes out and where. Best just to stick to a staple that's enriched with frozen, dried, and occasionally live (worms and BrineShrimp that is). Why go through all the trouble?

 

[Tolak]

none IMEO.
live foods are more harm than good, and should be avoided if possible.

I agree with this only if it refers to feeder fish. The ones you get from a shop are one of the best ways to introduce diseases into your tank. Ones you breed yourself don't have this problem, but any feeder fish on its own is a poor nutrition source. For the few species that absolutely require this, and there are very few, it is best to gut load the feeders to increase the nutritional value.

Most any small to medium NW cichlids will eat live blackworms, shrimp, or bloodworms. Larger ones will eat a variety of insects. Any shop that deals with herps will have things such as crickets, mealworms, and so on. You can also go with earthworms, so long as they are from a source where they haven't been exposed to fertilizers or other toxins.