# live alternatives to feeder fish?



## 37tall (Jun 22, 2011)

after last weeks problem, with my oscar being ripped apart, i went out and got substrate, and filters, and... a new oscar to be put in an old 10 gallon tank my neighbor was throwing out. so iscrubbed it clean and set it up, my baby oscar is looking happy and is doing swimmingly, pun intended. anyways, i like feeding my fish live foods but im afraid they will catch something from feeders, i like seeing my fish chase the prey all around the tank and catch them, so which kinds of live foods would be a good choice? i wont be feeding them to my oscar yet, just my jack dempsey who is in my 60 gallon. i like my fish being aggresive and territorial, i have set up quite a few natural barriers in my tank so i think they wont get into any fights once the oscar has caught up in size, once my oscar is about to grow out of the 10 gallon, i will wait 2 more weeks after that to ensure he is large enough to not die. dont worry he wont spend his whole life in a 10 gallon tank. anyways, any live foods that move about the same speed as feeders, i feed them frozen krill and bloodworms as well as medium cichlid pellets and carnivore pellets. any suggestions are greatly appreciated!! oh yeah, i dont want the live foods to drain all of my money either. ghost shrimp are 50 cents each where i live.. and after a while it racks up. *c/p*


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Get yourself another tank and some live bearers and raise your own. That way you will know they are healthy enough. We always gave ours earthworms, grasshoppers and such, but never feeders from a store.


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## 37tall (Jun 22, 2011)

that would work in my 10 gallon? i figured since its so small not many things would be able to breed in there


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## 37tall (Jun 22, 2011)

i was looking into guppies. in a 10g tank, i was thinking 2 males and 6 females? or is that too over stocked for breeding? i have zero experience with breeding and i dont have a breeding tank or box. im not sure if breeding is for me because the guppies might ust be cannibalistic and eat the fry because the tank is so small.


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## straydog (May 14, 2011)

Any live bearer would work, guppies mollies. You could add a partition in the tank breeders on one side babies on the other. Moms giving birth could be suspended at the top of tank in a dip net with larger holes for babies to escape. I used to feed my oscar crickets from the bait shop .


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## pjones (Jun 5, 2011)

37tall said:


> ghost shrimp are 50 cents each where i live.. and after a while it racks up. *c/p*



Wow, I pay $1.00 for 20


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Actually its best to keep them on pellet food with them and just feed live as a treat. You can give live every other day but give them pellet food also.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

What tank is the oscar going to go into? I don't think a 60 gallon is big enough for a jack dempsey and an oscar.


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## NeonShark666 (Dec 13, 2010)

Some Fish Shops selll young Clouds or Zebras as feeders (10/$1.00). Flightlees Fruit Flies are an alterbative for small fish. A good natural free food in many places is Mosquito Wrigglers. If you have room try raising Brine Shrimp.


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