Goldfish feeders

[LoganVivisected]

dont be thrown off by the title, this has to do with feeders for my giant water bug (Lethocerus americanus ). i have been feeding it goldfish that i get from my local pet store (it has no problem eating goldfish between 3 and 4 inches), at the price of 12 for $2.69, and it eats 4-5 a day! i put them all in his tank at once, and he ignors them until he feels like eating, then he'll take em all on at once and eat his fill, then wait about 16-18 hours before chow time again.

i was thinking of starting a colony of sorts of goldfish or maybe some other type of cheap and hardy (not looking for things that need a lot of care) aquatic vertabrate or invertabrate roughly the same size, at least 3 inches but but not much bigger than 4, he wont eat anything smaller or larger. so any ideas on another feeder would be nice, otherwise could someone give me some info on raising goldfish?

man these guys are neat though, if you can get one do it! lately i have been trying to find more but to no avail, ah well, that was a lucky smoke break that night i caught him haha.

 

[sick4x4]

do u have

do you have any pics??? or maybe vids we could see...2-3" goldfish wow it must be big..i have heard where they are feed guppy's but guppys arnt goldfish lol!!

 

[Wade]

Goldfish are not difficult to breed, but the space required may not be worth it. Breeder-sized goldfish are 8-10" long and require a very big tank or prefrably an outdoor pond. The like live plants to spawn in. The number of years it would take for the investment to pay off would far exceed the lifespan of the bug!

However, it doesn't need 4-5 fish a day, and would do fine on that many a WEEK (or even a MONTH!), and even that would be a lot of food. I doubt it's even eating most of the fish. It's probably killing each one, eating a little, and then dropping the carcass. The heavy feeding may even shorten the bug's lifespan.

It would be far more economical would be to set up a small aquarium for feeders and feed them of singly every few days.

Wade

 

[jarrell]

would it be worth breeding gold fish for my turtle? seeing how It may outlive me.:razz:

 

[ta2edpop]

Try breeding mollies or swordtails. Much easier, less space and they have live babies. Some of the big mollies get around 4" or so.

 

[Arietans]

this has to do with feeders for my giant water bug (Lethocerus americanus ).

I'd love to see pics of that bug eating a goldfish

 

[dtknow]

Gambusia would probably be a good choice. Breed like crazy and very hardy compared to mollies or swordtails. If you have use for grain of rice sized fish a pair of convict cichlid will crank out a few hundred every 2 weeks or so.

Unless you have several ponds forget about raising lots of goldfish.