What's the fastest growing feeder fish? I have Con's, and they're kinda slow.I also have guppies but decided they're too small to feed the O's.I bought 2 pair of Mollies, and haven't seen anything yet from them or the platies.I know they did the deed though.

I've had good luck with comets for the turtles, but if you buy them somewhere and are for fish to eat you totally have to quarantine them for a while first. Minnows are also good.

Mine like Earthworms and crickets too, and I'm sure you could get other worms as well.

Thank you Saint.Yea I could return to digging in the back yard for worms. Afraid of comets cos they are goldfish, and hear they can cause H.I.T.H. Haven't tried crickets yet,and never crossed my mind to try minnows,good info! Thanks!
If I buy a lot of crickets,can I get them to reproduce????

Yea you can but crickets smell so bad! If you had a shead of some sort I would keep them in it due to there smell. IMO it would take over your house.

Feed your cons Hikari brand food 3X a day and watch how fast they grow.

I wonder if Hikari would let me be there spokesman on the acount of me suggesting there food all the time and only using there food.

Thanks Mike,we'll do!

Anytime!

I've found with crickets stink all depends on setup.

I use a bare small tupperware tote with a screen lid. I have a baby chick waterer that I fitted batting all around and up into the base so the crickets sit on a most sponge, and have used fancy dry dog or cat food in a bowl in the opposite end of the tank with some egg crates. The tub was in an area that was around 70 degrees too.

I'd get a box of 2000 1/4 crickets (usually called medium) and dump them in. They would last about a month and it wasn't until the end of the month they started to smell earthy. Not foul but in the same scent family as a mulch/compost pile. At that point, I'd pull out how ever many live ones that I wanted to be bothered with left and dumped the whole rest of the box outside.

Breeding crickets is really easy too. Throw like 20 or 30 adults into a 10g tank with a squat box of dirt (think chinese food take out container) with some food and a similar water set up. Mist the dirt lightly in the tub once a day. After a week or two you'll see little yellowish whitish things in the dirt (looked kinda like little ants). Pull the dirt container into another box or the small ones will get nomed. I sprinkled dry cat food lightly on the dirt top and kept up with the misting and it seemed to work.

There may even be a better/easier way to do it. I just winged it and that method worked for me. Also, that was a year or two ago, I don't think I'm missing anything important but I may be.

I have a more reliable source for earthworms now, so I stopped with crickets for the most part.

Everyone I take in I try to convert to mostly pellets. I've had really good luck with the Laguna brand of koi pellets for picky fishies. Also I'm not sure how healthy it is long term either, but for biggie Oscars I've had really good luck with some of the fancy organic low fat "senior" dog foods too. I have one here that the ingredients are something like salmon, veggies and vitamins.

As for hole in the head, it seems to me that if the feeders are raised and kept healthy it doesn't matter much what sort of fish they are. So long as they're not from those pit feeder tanks from the petsmart or whatever. That being said, I still wouldn't make feeders be a primary diet.

The crickets I have always gotten had a very foul smell not to mention the tank they came out of wasn't in the greatset of conditions.

I would not use feeders as a primary sorce of food but more as a treat. It's been a wile since I have feed my fish feeders because I cant bring my self to watch a fish get killed. I know I'm such a girl

Oh, sorry forgot to mention that I know better to not solely feed feeders.Their diet is :
1) Hikari Cichlid Gold
2)A mix of Frozen Foods
3)They seem to like an algae wafer here and there
4) worms from my back yard & lizzards<---------But I'm starting to feel bad about the little lizzards, don't think I'll do them anymore.
I bought a big bag of Hikari Cichlid Staple and they wont touch it.In excitement they suck it down, then they spit it right back out! Guess I could crush it for baby con food.
Thanks again guys for the informative replies,much appreciated!!

Don't go with crickets....They will crawl out of the water and be all over the house. Earthworms, frozen, freeze dried, and a good staple pellet will be ok. Feeders really arent needed.

Yea. They're crafty for bugs, if your not careful they'll make a break for it if they can. If you do use em, just watch how many you put in and make sure the fish get them all.

Mike D wrote:

Yea you can but crickets smell so bad! If you had a shead of some sort I would keep them in it due to there smell. IMO it would take over your house.

Ick. I concur. Crickets really stink.

Perhaps they get stinkier as they get older? That senior citizen cricket smell? Unless they got wet the 1/4"ers were never all that bad.

Or perhaps I have no sense of smell.

My Oscars would inhale 3 at a time. man I miss them

Thanks guys!

Keep us posted!