# Feeder fish?



## Rhetoric (Apr 6, 2011)

I bought a couple goldfish yesterday. I know they aren't great feeder fish, I was going to get a few dempsy/dempsies (sp?) but they were $4 each and if my tegu didn't like fish I would be out $12 lol. 
Anyway, now that I know he enjoys "fishing" I was wondering what other kinds of fish I can feed him. He likes tuna and talapia but I think it'd be fun to let him "fish" in the bath tub every now and then... I know theres a member on here who breeds Jack dempsies (sp?) but what others are good? Thanks in advance for the answers.

Oooo! And on http://www.tegutalk.com/showthread.php?tid=6452#axzz1ImKZbxrX
it says they can eat feeder frogs and lizards... Would those be like anoles?


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## Strange_Evil (Apr 6, 2011)

I can't really answer your question,but i saw a post before saying pet store gold fish are not safe to feed to your reptiles. Not sure if its true or anything,i mostly wondering it myself so just thought i would put it out there....


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## Reptile_fever (Apr 6, 2011)

Yes goldfish are not good they carry parasite like other fish,but thimk this is a fish that survives in a bowl breathimg its own amonia...not all the fish will have bacteria ,parasites,etc,etc...example if you where to feed an oscar on only guppie tuffies or goldfish eventually he would end up with hole in the head,if he was feed dry foods flakes pellets there hasnt been a fish diagnosed with hole in the head from eatinh Hikari!!!Seriously i wouldnt!!


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## Rhetoric (Apr 6, 2011)

Ewww gross, I won't be feeding him goldfish again anyway. I'll keep an eye out for parasites and take him to the vet if needed. :s
There are some people on here who have fed theirs different kinds of fish, hopefully they can give some more input.


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## casanoveh (Apr 6, 2011)

I occasionally feed mine Farm raised tadpoles. Not little baby tadpoles, Bullfrog tadpoles! They're huge, about 3-4" long. I'm sure these aren't extremely easy to find, a local pet store around Baton Rouge carries them mainly for teachers and schools. Think they're about 99 cents a piece. You might be able to find them online. And it's cool to watch them fish. Here's a video of my B&W in the tub eating a few.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh4yqYJ0qkI


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## Rhetoric (Apr 6, 2011)

casanoveh said:


> I occasionally feed mine Farm raised tadpoles. Not little baby tadpoles, Bullfrog tadpoles! They're huge, about 3-4" long. I'm sure these aren't extremely easy to find, a local pet store around Baton Rouge carries them mainly for teachers and schools. Think they're about 99 cents a piece. You might be able to find them online. And it's cool to watch them fish. Here's a video of my B&W in the tub eating a few.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh4yqYJ0qkI



thanks! those are pretty big lol i'll have to keep my eye out. how often do you feed yours tadpoles?


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## Toby_H (Apr 6, 2011)

My name is Toby and I am a recovering fish'oholic... very possibly the member you reference below...

I feed my Tegu Dempseys (Rocio Octofasciata) and Geos (Geophagus Steindachneri) fairly regularly. I chose these species simply because I breed them and commonly have medium sized (2"~4") specimen available. 

Dempseys are very easy to breed and offspring grow out fairly quickly. I would suggest them to anyone who wishes to breed/raise fish to feed their Tegu. The adult breeding pair can be kept in a 40~75 gal aquarium and offspring can reach 2" in 3 months or so. 

If there is another species of fish you would rather keep, then using their offspring will likely work just as well as Dempseys or Geos. The only "problem" I foresee is many adult Cichlids/fish have stiff sharp dorsal fins. I ensure all the fish I feed to my Tegu have not yet developed the stiff sharp fins. 





> I can't really answer your question,but i saw a post before saying pet store gold fish are not safe to feed to your reptiles. Not sure if its true or anything,i mostly wondering it myself so just thought i would put it out there....



This is true, yet innaccurate...

Any/Every fish is prone to parasites, not just goldfish. 

Goldfish are very commonly mass bred & distributed as "feeders". Therefore it is common for the breeders & distributors to not really care about the fish and thus house them in very poor conditions. Parasites thrive in these very poor conditions which is why Gold Fish more frequently have parasites (or disease). 

But Gold Fish kept in 'proper' conditions are no more prone to parasite or disease than any other fish... and any other fish kept in very poor conditions are just as suseptible to parasite/disease.




> example if you where to feed an oscar on only guppie tuffies or goldfish eventually he would end up with hole in the head,if he was feed dry foods flakes pellets there hasnt been a fish diagnosed with hole in the head from eatinh Hikari!!!Seriously i wouldnt!!



Hole in the Head disease comes to fish that are kept in very poor conditions. An Oscar kept in dirty conditions and fed only the best quality food will get hole in the head disease... Yet an Oscar kept in pristine conditions and fed only Guppies/GoldFish that were also raised/kept in pristine conditions will not get Hole in the Head Disease...

It's all about water quality...



PS - I think this post qualifies as a relapse in my fish'oholicism...


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## casanoveh (Apr 6, 2011)

I probably feed them tadpoles about once a month. I like to change up their diet as often as possible. I live in Louisiana and it's crawfish season right now, so Crawfish has made it's way into their diet about once a week. Which is awesome because I can buy them all over and they're only about $2.25 a pound for live ones. But their main diet consist of Lg rats, chicks, and ground turkey. 
I actually filmed my female eating crawfish too the other day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ahPBgcmUfM


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## Rhetoric (Apr 6, 2011)

YES! It was you Toby lol, I couldn't remember for sure (even though its in your sig.. :blush I was going to message you and ask but I didn't want to message the wrong person.. You seem to know a lot about everything! I'm glad you're on this site, you and bubblz/bubblez answer most of my questions lol. 

Anyway, when do they generally develop that fin? I read online that the Jacks can be more aggressive, I don't really get how a fish can be aggressive though.. Have you had any issues with them? It would be pretty neat to put one of my spare tanks to use, fish are fun to watch and if I can use them as feeders than thats awesome. I don't know much about fish, I'll keep looking. So far it seems like the cichlids in general are decent feeders. The 75 gallon tank my savy is currently in came with some fish stuff (it was kind of a kit thing they had on sale), I've got in in a box somewhere I'm not completley sure whats in it... But thats what craigslist is for!

I feel bad saying it but again, I knew goldfish weren't close to being top of the line feeders, I wasn't even sure if the tegu would eat the fish. On the off chance he didn't eat them I would only be out like 80 cents. 


Oscars are pretty cool, my grandma had an oscar, she got it when it was really little and at that time the other fish sort of picked on it.. By the time it was full grown it was still a little "scared" (if fish get scared) and never ate the other fish in its tank.. Very weird.. 


I too like to change up the diets. For a while it was mostly eggs, turkey and rats/mice. Then I started experimenting with shrimp, some frozen fish, roaches, livers, now live fish. It's fun to see what these guys like and don't like. I still can't get it to show much interest in fruits and veggies.. So I will sometimes mix some baby food (after making sure there aren't any bad additives) into some of the meats and it pounds it.


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## Toby_H (Apr 6, 2011)

The dorsal fin of Dempseys begins to get "too hard/sharp" at around 4"

And Oh My God yes fish can be aggressive. I raised a Trimac (Amphilophus Trimaculatus) that reached 13" and was fierce! I would commonly offer my macho friends $20 to touch the bottom of his tank. None of them ever did it but a few of them gave up with bloody fingers. He was awesome. I knew the tricks of how to distract him while cleaning his tank, but it was still risky anytime I put my hands in his tank. 

All in all, it's not "worth it" to raise your own fish as feeders. But in my case, I am keeping breeding pairs anyway and it's not worth the time/effort to sell the offspring. So I use them as food. Unless you are "a fish person" I'd suggest just using store bought fillets. But if you are a fish person, then it's a different ball game...


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## Rhetoric (Apr 6, 2011)

I see. Well I'll have to think about it some more. I've always liked fish but I started getting reptiles instead and the fish never happened. My dad knows a lot about fish, not too sure what kinds though... Do you keep all yours in the same tank or do you pull the babies and stick 'em in a smaller one?

Thats funny, I've never really seen aggressive fish in person... Well acting aggressively.


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