Anybody using mosquito fish (Gambusia) as feeders?

[jasonrusso]

I stumbled upon this fish recently. They are cheap, can live in salt water for a while, and survive in colder water (so I can keep them in my basement with minimal heat).

Sounds like a winner unless anyone else has had any bad experiences.

 

[kichimark]

Many years back I used to have a koi pond where I had many mosquito fish. I also had a small wartskin angler that never became accustomed to frozen food so I would just go out and get some large mosquito fish for him which he enjoyed and did well on for a few years until his passing.

 

[jasonrusso]

Many years back I used to have a koi pond where I had many mosquito fish. I also had a small wartskin angler that never became accustomed to frozen food so I would just go out and get some large mosquito fish for him which he enjoyed and did well on for a few years until his passing.

That's what I have, a painted angler, dwarf lion, and eel.

 

[kichimark]

That's what I have, a painted angler, dwarf lion, and eel.

Yeah, you would be good from my experience. But since you are going to raise them in a basement, you might want to gut load the mosquitos with different things of course. I never really did that with mine from the pond since I know my Gambusia ate all kinds of insects and algae. Just a thought.

 

[jasonrusso]

Yeah, you would be good from my experience. But since you are going to raise them in a basement, you might want to gut load the mosquitos with different things of course. I never really did that with mine from the pond since I know my Gambusia ate all kinds of insects and algae. Just a thought.

Pellets, algae, etc. That's what I feed ghost shrimp

 

[kichimark]

Pellets, algae, etc. That's what I feed ghost shrimp

That is exactly what I used at first for my wartskin and got tired of spending money on ghost shrimp every week and came up with the idea on the mosquito fish haha.

 

[jasonrusso]

That is exactly what I used at first for my wartskin and got tired of spending money on ghost shrimp every week and came up with the idea on the mosquito fish haha.

How did the angler do catching the fish? Mine kind of sucks as a hunter. I may have to chill the fish in the freezer to slow it down a bit

 

[kichimark]

How did the angler do catching the fish? Mine kind of sucks as a hunter. I may have to chill the fish in the freezer to slow it down a bit

At first he was in a clear acrylic fish observation container that hung on the side of the tank. This made it much easier for him to catch the live foods while I was also trying to get him accustomed to frozen. It was small enough where he can catch all the guppies on his own. He did come out of that one time and was in the tank for a while and in a 100G he was not going to catch the guppies so I stunned them and used a tong to bring the guppy to wherever he was and he would gulp them down. I did that about 3-4 times a week.

 

[jasonrusso]

Bump

No one else has ever used these fish as feeders?

 

[jasonrusso]

@lion king , ever used these fish? They are like the wild version of guppies.

 

[lion king]

I personally haven't used them, it's not something we have available in my region. I don;t believe they contain thiaminase or at least in high amounts to cause a problem. i know you feed a variety so it should not cause a problem. If I had them available and they were priced right I'd give them a try.

 

[jasonrusso]

I personally haven't used them, it's not something we have available in my region. I don;t believe they contain thiaminase or at least in high amounts to cause a problem. i know you feed a variety so it should not cause a problem. If I had them available and they were priced right I'd give them a try.

x50 Live Gambusia MOSQUITO Aquarium Pond Feeder Guppy Koi Fish Guppies Minnows | eBay

X50 Live Gambusia Mosquito Fish (Koi Pond) Aquarium Feeder Fish. -Specs: These are a mix of both male and females mosquito fish. They breed almost 24/7 and reproduce rapidly! Can withstand temperatures as high as 80 degrees and as low as 30 degrees.

www.ebay.com

 

[lion king]

I get fresh water feeder guppies 10/$1 and breeding has never payed off for me. It takes so much time to grow up to feeding size that it likely cost more and is too time restrictive to meet my needs. 330 guppies would go a long way, so that would be a consideration.

 

[jasonrusso]

I get fresh water feeder guppies 10/$1 and breeding has never payed off for me. It takes so much time to grow up to feeding size that it likely cost more and is too time restrictive to meet my needs. 330 guppies would go a long way, so that would be a consideration.

Where do you get them that cheap? There are a few LFS around here, but mostly SW. There is one that sells FW, but I don't go in there because I don't agree with the health of the fish in there.

Petco and Petsmart around here are more expensive, about $0.39 each for ghost shrimp. The only "feeders" they have are rosies and goldfish. I'm not planning on breeding them, it would never work in a small tank with 50 fish, they eat the fry. I'll try 50 and see how it goes.

 

[lion king]

There's is one large lfs that's mostly a fw dominant store. Many of their customer base have cichlids and feed live, so they have an abundance of live feeders. I get ghosties 5/$1 and guppies 10/$1, I use to get mollies of all sizes there but they raised the prices once they saw me buying them all, they have a 2 for 1 sale on Tuesdays and if priced right I'll still get some mollies. I have another lfs that sells me mollies for $1, most of my guys now will eat pretty large mollies so that's a good price point for me.

 

[LArifleMAN]

I use them, I have large pond in my back yard that has blue gills, catfish, killies, and gambusia.

My green wolf loves them.

For my ghost ribbon eel I usually spear live ones on a toothpick attached to a bunch of coffee straws that I fashioned into a feeding stick.