Anyone else feel a little guilty about feeder fish?

Anyone else feel a little guilty about feeder fish? Just gave my vicious betta freshly born endler fry. Love watching him hunt but feel bad for the little guys. I don't have space for endless fry though and it keeps the betta active and alert and healthy.

Anyone else feel a little conflicted?

 

Bumping this up for you

 

Anyone else feel a little guilty about feeder fish? Just gave my vicious betta freshly born endler fry. Love watching him hunt but feel bad for the little guys. I don't have space for endless fry though and it keeps the betta active and alert and healthy.

Anyone else feel a little conflicted?

I don't think your betta "needs" live food to be healthy. There is a risk to live food.

 

Oh he certainly doesn't need it but he likes it. And it keeps my endler population a little bit under control. Started with 5 2 months ago and now there's 18! Even though he's eaten 2 or 3 dozen babies!

 

Live food is great for any fish! just make sure he doesn't get hooked on it!! here is a page that might help you! https://debunix.net/fish/LiveFoodCultures.html
I suggest vinegar eels, daphnia and baby brine. Good luck!

 

Live food is great for any fish! just make sure he doesn't get hooked on it!! here is a page that might help you! https://debunix.net/fish/LiveFoodCultures.html
I suggest vinegar eels, daphnia and baby brine. Good luck!

Not all live food is great for fish. Feeder fish are a big no no. They carry a lot of diseases

 

Yes they are, but most of the live foods I suggested are safe if purchased from a reputable source and housed in a controlled enviornment (Indoors)

 

Not all live food is great for fish. Feeder fish are a big no no. They carry a lot of diseases

That's not necessarily true, if you breed feeders yourself you can assure they are disease free. Feeders usually aren't recommended because most common aquarium fish aren't piscivorous and don't have digestive systems and dietary needs that are built for live adult fish. If you have a piranha, for example, home-grown guppy feeders are a great supplement.

 

That's not necessarily true, if you breed feeders yourself you can assure they are disease free. Feeders usually aren't recommended because most common aquarium fish aren't piscivorous and don't have digestive systems and dietary needs that are built for live adult fish. If you have a piranha, for example, home-grown guppy feeders are a great supplement.

True, but I was talking about buying them and just giving them to your fish.

 

Yes but I don't really think the OP will be feeding his/her betta feeder fish. The OP already stated that he/she fed the betta endlers fry, and I'm sure that is safe.

 

Yes but I don't really think the OP will be feeding his/her betta feeder fish. The OP already stated that he/she fed the betta endlers fry, and I'm sure that is safe.

Should be pretty safe parent fish did six weeks of qt no issues so should be healthy! My only health concern for the betta would be choking, I don't let him have them if they grow bigger than his regular pellets. Although his rcs disappear occaisionally and they can get pretty big. I only let him have the ones with poor coloration in his tank.

 

You should be fine, you might want to take a one day break from feeding him every once in a while to let his digestive system catch up

 

You should be fine, you might want to take a one day break from feeding him every once in a while to let his digestive system catch up

We skip Monday's. Of course there is a chance that's when he hunts down his shrimp but he gets his betta food or every few weeks a few endler fry other days

 

We skip Monday's. Of course there is a chance that's when he hunts down his shrimp but he gets his betta food or every few weeks a few endler fry other days

You seem to like watching the hunt?

 

You seem to like watching the hunt?

I'd enjoy it, I like trying to recreate natural behaviors with my fish. I hold up thawed bloodworms with tweezers and move them over the tank, sometimes lightly touching the water (trying to simulate a flying insect) the bettas seem to enjoy figuring out where the "fly" will land and striking before it can fly away again.

 

I'd enjoy it, I like trying to recreate natural behaviors with my fish. I hold up thawed bloodworms with tweezers and move them over the tank, sometimes lightly touching the water (trying to simulate a flying insect) the bettas seem to enjoy figuring out where the "fly" will land and striking before it can fly away again.

I wanna see a video of that

 

Hahaha Id love to see that as well, do you have any other questions?

 

You seem to like watching the hunt?

This betta is suuper lazy and just sits in his favorite plant all day unless there is something to chase in his tank. It's really fun to see the difference between bored lazy betta and active intent focused betta. Any "toys" I could put in his tank?

 

I think I've seen people put in ping pong balls for them to play with....