Alternate fish food... *reflections*

[Cirith Ungol]

So, there I was hunting for a reptile to eat my roaches while another possibility struck me. And since it isn't about reptiles but relatively close relatives I thought I rather put it in its own thread. Yes, you've "guessed" it... its fish.

I was thinking - if I get myself a few perches, set them up in a nice aquarium... could I feed them with roaches, roach bits, maggots, worms and other insects all their lives, possibly other clean animal remains or pieces of lets say minced meat? Or would keeping the perches force me to also shower them with regular fish food every now and then?

The perches would be wild caught and who knows, if they get juicy enough I might even eat them myself..

Only kidding... I'd be too attached to those fellas. Actually, I might get so attached I might have trouble fishing afterwards

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[Texas Blonde]

I dont know anything about perch but it sounds really cool. I have always wanted Oscars, and they would probably get a few roach shaped snacks if I ever got them.

If you go ahead with this setup, keep us informed, Id love to know how it works out for possible future reference.

 

[IrishLad17]

I'm sure that you'd be able to feed them insects their entire lives since it would be more like their natural diet. You'd need a really big tank though since perch can get pretty big, the European perch can grow to about 50 cm (20 inches) and around 5 kg (10 pounds), but on the other hand, there are a couple of other perch species that are smaller in size, one is the yellow perch and the other is the shiner perch, but I dont know how well they'd adapt to life in captivity.

 

[Cirith Ungol]

I'm sure that you'd be able to feed them insects their entire lives since it would be more like their natural diet. You'd need a really big tank though since perch can get pretty big, the European perch can grow to about 50 cm (20 inches) and around 5 kg (10 pounds), but on the other hand, there are a couple of other perch species that are smaller in size, one is the yellow perch and the other is the shiner perch, but I dont know how well they'd adapt to life in captivity.

One of my cousins is really big into aquariums... lets say as much as I'm into T's She told me that perches will adapt well to life in a tank, even when using regular tap water as long as the transition isn't too fast. But since she hadn't kept any of them herself she didn't know if the diet idea was good or not.

I suspect that the perches I'd get are the yellow variety (reddish-yellow belly).
I'm not too concerned about how much they grow, since I'm pretty sure they grow very slowly... granted: that means up here in the north + in the wild. The wild variety is supposed to grow to about 5in in 3 years... that's at least what the old folks say. I guess if presented with a fat roach diet they might crash my tank after 6 moths... who knows, but it would be interesting to find out .

The coolest thing is that I'd first try to mimic everything from the lake they're comming from, meaning I'd take the water (for a start), the sediment, logs, rocks... but not plants. My cousin said they'd do very well in room temperature meaning that if I keep them without special lighting and without extra heat I might avoid getting too much algae. So taking plants would be meaningless.

So I might go with a 1/4 cubic metre tank...what ever that would be gallon wise I don't know (1m x 0.5m x 0.5m).

Hm... already kinda looking forward to this... I hope it will be practical and doable.

 

[Thoth]

The theory is that plants in aquariums help inhibit algae growth by using up nutrients that the algae would otherwise use (competitive inhibition). It worked well for me until a few weeks ago when I had a sudden nitrate spike. (Snails also work wonders on algae, though they reproduce like crazy)

Its a cool idea but I don't think they'd eat as much a pair of tokays. Also I'd think the uneaten roaches would quickly foul the water, though I'm not sure.

 

[Cirith Ungol]

The theory is that plants in aquariums help inhibit algae growth by using up nutrients that the algae would otherwise use (competitive inhibition). It worked well for me until a few weeks ago when I had a sudden nitrate spike. (Snails also work wonders on algae, though they reproduce like crazy)

Its a cool idea but I don't think they'd eat as much a pair of tokays. Also I'd think the uneaten roaches would quickly foul the water, though I'm not sure.

(first paragraph)
Good to know! I'll research that further!

(second)
Yeah, I'd have to be careful not overfeeding them. Then I also got the suggestion by my cousin to buy a rather large cleaner fish... large, so that he doesn't get eaten. If getting one I'd first introduce him when the aquarium had already been adapted to tap water.. otherwise the poor fish would have to go through two transitions.

I bet you're right on the tokays though. It would sure be nice to have such but I'll have to prioritize unless I do a radical re-think on how I wanna furnish my flat, it's gonna be absolutely full to the brim with tanks so the only space choice I see at the moment is either a new set of reptiles or fish...

I like fish very much, at least the wild native variety since I'm out fishing a lot in summer (have a kind of primitive respect for them ) but then as you say, they'd probs not eat as much. Well well... one thing is certain, I'll not get either unless I'm 95% sure.

 

[iturnrocks]

I keep native fish in a 120 gal tank. I am sure that any surface feeding fish would welcome any insects you provide them. I have kept various species of sunfish- longear, orangethroat, bluegill, and largemouth bass. All of these have taken a cricket at one time or another. I eventually got all of them to feed off cichlid pellets as I didnt have an unlimited supply of crickets or minnows. I reccomend the longear sunfish, they are beautiful native fish and quite personable, although I have noticed a hierarchy which may stress multiple males kept together. Having the largemouth in the same tank did sort of keep the alpha male longear in check, but if you keep a bass too long, he will eventually eat everything else in the tank.

Longear Sunfish

Orangespotted Sunfish

Bluegill

Largemouth Bass finishing off some of the other tank residents
-A fish half his size

-A crayfish

Here is the bass when I first caught him

And finally, here is the day he went back to live in the pond:

 

[Cirith Ungol]

Thanks for sharing that info and pics!

I don't have such a chioce as you when it comes to variety, I only get a select few varieties of fish locally, Perch being one, Pike the other, and I can't keep Pike unless I keep it alone and in a 2-3m long and 1m wide tank that's at least half filled with long grass.

 

[OldHag]

iturnrocks--AHAHAHAHAHAHAAA I love how your holding the wee bass like its a big one!!! I thought I was the only one with that warped sense of humor
Ive had some large mouth bass as pets. Theyre PIGS!! MESSY MESSY evil tear up the tank and rearrange everything you do monsters! They would knock down the powerheads and when Id go to fix it they would attack me!
I would imagine perch would be the same

 

[Cirith Ungol]

I would imagine perch would be the same

Hehe... I doubt it. If anything I guess they're skittish... unless they are as smart as snakes and in the same way get used to the people outside AND (and that's the important part) they learn the frase "Oh it moves! FOOD! FOOD! FOOD! FOOD! FOOD!"

Perches are said to be extreme eaters too, so there they're similar. I only need a tank now.... well and a pump... and... fish. But I have water I'm really willing to try this now... just to see what happens and how it goes.