JakeTeque

How big should Oscars get before I can start feeding them feeder guppies? Mine are about 2 1/2 inches... Thanks everyone!

Chief_waterchanger

When he looks like he is big enough to get one in his mouth that should do. I would be very careful of the feeders you buy and would house them seperately for atleast a week or two to make sure no diseases are apparent. You can do this in a plastic tote (the big ones you can buy that are like 20-30 gallons.)

We've recently been hitting some fishstores that have reputations as the best in our area, only to find lymphocystis floating in their systems. Theoretically most US stores buy from the same farms in Florida, so just telling you this to be sure it isn't something present in the farms. (It more than likely was present in the store's system before introducing those feeders, so the farms are probably not affected, but just incase.)

sirdarksol

Going to throw in my standard suggestion that, if you can do it, you raise your own feeders. At the very least, house them, as CWC suggested, for a couple of weeks, keep their water clean and feed them well.

The reason for this is that the fish sold as feeders at the fish store are kept in horrible conditions (usually. I'm sure there's a fish store out there somewhere that sells feeders that have been raised well), which strips most of the nutrients from their bodies. Thus, they are the equivalent of fast food to fish. Your fish will live on them (barring disease), but will be so much brighter and more active if you feed them healthy feeders.

RandomKayos

I agree with this completely. Raising feeders is so easy and very inexpensive. I keep my feeders in about a 30 gallon tote. I have a cheap filter, a cheap Spot lamp, the kind that clamps onto anything and a large amount of plants, Put a grow light in the lamp, put your cuttings in the water and once you get the cycle going you just add feeders and feed them. The plants will keep the nitrites down and the bacteria in the filter will convert the amonia and complete the cycle.

I even keep a few mesh bags with gravel in them so the gravel can pick up the cycling bacteria. If I need an emergency hospital tank or want to set up a new tank in a hurry I can grab some gravel, change the filter and put the used one in the new tank, grab plants and set up a new tank with fresh water in an hour or less. 15 minutes for a hospital tank in another plastic tub.

Meanwhile, that feeder tank is busy producing feeders, babies hide in the plants and you scoop and feed the feeders at will. And I keep this in a convienent out of the way corner on the floor.

RK

Chief_waterchanger

RK, I love your methods.

Another tip when using feeder guppies and raising your own...

Only feed the male feeder guppies to the fish. Your females store sperm for upwards of 6 months and can continue producing fry without males around, so save the females to produce yourself some more feeders.

RandomKayos

Thanks, I agree with this advice as well and another advantage to breeding your own is you can pull the size you need. Once your brood tank is at full production, you will have everything from guppy fry to adults. Pick the size you need for your hungry fish.

I would also like to add a caution here. Feeder guppy males can develope some very nice colors. Beware the temptation to set up a another tank to keep the best looking ones.....MTS is always lurking out there somewhere.

sirdarksol

Look at it the other way around: It's a guppy breeding program and the culls go to the good purpose of feeding other fish.

Darlene

Ok, I know this post is a little old, but I have a question. We want to have some type of feeder fish for when our Jacks and Oscar (when we get him) get big enough. Anyway are feeder guppies, different than the ones you get at the store? The ones I see the most are the ones with the pretty tails.

Shawnie

I wouldnt use feeders from stores unless you raise them yourself....hole in the head disease is rampid on oscars when fed bad feeders

but you can raise them in a 10 or 20 gal tank on your own and then you will know they are healthy feeders

and yes fancy guppies are not feeders and most feeders are the cramed gold/brown fish that have hundreds to a 20 gal or so..or they keep them in the back room

Darlene

Thanks Shawnie, I knew from reading on here not to used feeders from the store, I guess I should have put that in my post with the question. Hubby and I were thinking of just using our 20 gallon tank to house feeder fish, I just wasn't sure what ones to get to breed our own.

I don't really want to use goldfish for the feeders, which are the ones I see in the store all the time. I will have to look around for the feeder guppies.

sirdarksol

Feeder guppies are generally the culled guppies from fancy-tail breeding. Nutritionally, there's no difference between the two, and it's likely that if you get feeders and breed them, they'll periodically produce what appears to be a fancy-tail.

Darlene

Thanks, I was thinking of getting male guppies for my tank anyway, so maybe I will get a both male and female and just use our Jacks and Oscar as a way to keep the population of guppies down It may seem mean to some I guess, but I really like some of the live bearers, but after having so many mollie fry when we had them I just don't know what to do with all the fry...and our other fish will like live food.