wild caught feeder fish?

Discussion in 'Fish Food' started by brunoboarder244, Sep 11, 2011.

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  1. brunoboarder244

    brunoboarder244 Torch Coral

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    i have a 20 gallon s/w tank with a Green BTA that I have fed various foods to and from my understanding live foods such as silversides can be benificial to them. I have a 5 gallon tank as well with things from the long island sound including snails, hermit crabs, a quarter sized horshoe crab, whelk snail, and silversides that has been up and running successfully for months with just purely naturally taken things. the silversides are doing great in the tank and i was wondering if i caught silversides and acclimated them to the higher temperature etc if they could be used to feed the anemone and soon other fish that i will be putting into the 55 gallon i am working on. Looking for thoughts and opinions, i understand the whole idea of not introducing fish to a tank immediately as to make sure they are not infected with anything so i would probably be keeping an eye on them for a month or two before even thinking about feeding it to my inhabitants
     
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  3. coylee_17

    coylee_17 Fire Goby

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    In my opinion it would be much easier to buy frozen silversides. If you are going to keep them for any length of time you are going to have to feed them, so instead of buying food for your tank you are buying food for your feeders. I doubt that they would acclimate well to the higher temps but I could be wrong, I have no experience with this. You would have to look into collection laws in your area as well.
     
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  4. Mr. Bill

    Mr. Bill Native Floridian

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    +1 to ^^^

    I can add from experience that tropical temps are extremely stressful for creatures from a more temperate environment, including fish; they really won't last very long.
     
  5. brunoboarder244

    brunoboarder244 Torch Coral

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    silversides can live in various temperatures, they're as far north as new york max temp 75 degree and as far south florida and the carribean that i have seen where temperatures are pushing 88-90 at times the whole idea of live food is what interests me
     
  6. Shackman23

    Shackman23 Teardrop Maxima Clam

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    Id be careful with that, pollution all you need is one badly ill fosh to wipe your tank out.. imo
     
  7. Renee@LionfishLair

    Renee@LionfishLair 3reef Sponsor

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    Indeed this species of fish is found in colder and warmer waters.... but yours is collected from colder, hence it doesn't make a difference how far south they extend. It only matters where yours came from. If you went to Florida to collect them, you would be golden.

    But they would live a decent amount of time in warmer waters and a lot could even make the conversion and live successfully. I would keep them in a separate tank and feed them out from there. Be sure to QT, as you were mentioning. I freshwater dip damsels for 30 minutes. O.O No, that's not an mistaken "0" on there. Most fish are more tolerant of freshwater dips than many think. Anything less than 10 minutes in a waste of time, IMO. Feed them righteous healthy foods so they will be like a vitamin pill for your display fish.

    Where are you collecting them from exactly? Near the shore or out in open water? Be careful of ones near the shore because they process many of the pollutants that are heavier towards the beaches/piers/etc. There's such cool bait fish in the waters around our local piers, but I wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot pool.

    Do you know what species it is? Picture? I love live food.
     
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  9. brunoboarder244

    brunoboarder244 Torch Coral

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    they were collected closer to shore but in an area where the tides are drastic and the water moves fast and fairly often....my low tide on an average day is like 50 yards out and on full moon as far as atleast 120 yards....they dont seem to sit in one place long, some days they're there others they're not so i feel they may not be as much of an issue. im right at the edge of the throggs neck bridge where the east river meets the sound so they are kind of brackish i guess. i dont have any pictures but ill try to get them up...and yea the plan was to QT them for a bit and then test it out
     
  10. Renee@LionfishLair

    Renee@LionfishLair 3reef Sponsor

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    Just avoid the piers and areas that have boat/watercraft thoroughfare. And kind of think to yourself "would I eat fish I caught here?"
     
  11. brunoboarder244

    brunoboarder244 Torch Coral

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    i do it all the time, i have a jetty that is fully submerged during high tide that people fish from and collect mussels etc from. im not much of a fan of bluefish or striped bass but thats the main catch from behind my house but i have had it and been fine....the beach seems to be healthy other than some washed up fiberglass. it is teaming with all sorts of crab(blue claw, green, rock, japanese, fiddler, spider, hermits, etc), theres an abundance of all sorts of snail including and overabundance of whelk snail(conch), many seaweeds, alot of clam(mostly white and mussel), occasionally starfish are found and whelks 8+ inches. there is a little boat traffic but not a whole lot due to the rock formations in the area, the only people who come close in are the ones that know the area like myself and there are a few sunken structures and stuff but theyve been there 30-40+ years. besides you dont think the small amount of pollution contaminant that may be possibly around would have probably worked itself out of their system by time the 2 month qt.
     
  12. Renee@LionfishLair

    Renee@LionfishLair 3reef Sponsor

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    If people eat fish from there, I wouldn't have a problem. Just keep an eye out for area news.

    None of your townfolk have 2 heads, do they?