# Suggestions for cheaper feeding



## WarMachine (Apr 25, 2004)

Right now I just stock another tank with 1 to 2inch comets. I buy 50 a week at $10.

They are the cheapest feeder in my town at $0.22 CDN

Has anyone had any luck with fast breeding feeder fish that is more economical than constantly buying feeders?


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## upt1me (Jun 26, 2003)

Get a fishing licence and get small fish such as the gold fish or whatever is in your area.


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## Guest (May 13, 2004)

Catching your own fish is an alternative. There are several people on this board who regularly catch sunfish and throw them in. I have thrown creek chub in with my Spilo.

Considering the cost of tanks, filters, and food, I doubt you could breed your own fish for less than the $0.22 per fish that you're paying now.


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## SLANTED (Dec 7, 2003)

I would start to mix in some non-living foods or worms into their diet to cut back on costs. $10 a week is pretty bad.


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## illnino (Mar 6, 2004)

worms are free if you get them from outside and the piranhas love them. btw i fed some worms to my piranhas and 3 days later i did a gravel vac and i found a live worm, this is really strange cause they usually die in water. sorry to get off topic. but i think the cheapest way would be if you live near a lake or pond set up a bait trap and get minnows.


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## lemmywinks (Jan 25, 2004)

minnows are better than goldfish







just make sure you quarantine them for a few weeks to get rid of all parasites.


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## Atlanta Braves Baby! (Mar 12, 2003)

Is there a reason you only feed live fish?


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## illnino (Mar 6, 2004)

it is a hell lot cheaper to just feed them fish filet pieces and a lot healthier for them.


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## etb (Nov 6, 2003)

Try feeding silver sides or raw shrimp or catfish . It's alot cheeper than feeders and there's less chance of it makeing them sick.


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## Outie (Feb 19, 2003)

Just try such things as salad shrimp (not the large kind too expensive) and cheaper fish fillets cut up such as talipa, catfish, cod etc... Also unless they are very small you don't need to feed them everyday. I feed my fish every 3rd day and don't have any problems, and my fish are always eager to eat. Hope this helps, first thing to do is stop buying feeders, they are just a waste of money.


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## rbp guy (Apr 19, 2004)

wow $10 for 50 1-2" comets? here they cost $1.58 for a dozen at petco. $1.28 if you have the petco card. the 3"+ goldfish are .24 per fish (again, cheaper if you have the card). the rosies (1-2") are priced the same as the small comets. I spend about $9 a week for 84 comets. I also spend about $3 on 2 dozen ghost shrimp at the lfs, and $1.50 for a dozen crayfish (1-3"), and $1.50 for a dozen nightcrawlers at a local bait shop. In sum, i spend about $15 for 7 dozen comets, 2 dozen ghost shrimp, 1 dozen crayfish, and a dozen worms. My p's go through all that food in a week. all the prices i mentioned are tax included. i have been feeding my p's live food ever since i got them (except when they were less than 2". they ate flake food and ghost shrimp). i have 5 rbps, the biggest at 6" and the smallest at 4 1/2".


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## scrapedogg (Apr 28, 2003)

Hey there, you ought to go and buy a couple scoops of minnows at a bait shop. Fathead minnows usually run 2.50 US per scoop, which is usually about 3-4 dozen. Your P's could feed off of 3 scoops of those for a long time. The problem with trying to keep that many live fish is you need a big assed feeder tank, or they'll ammonia spike really bad. I personally use night crawlers. You can see if your lawn is a good night crawler (worm) hot spot by using a hose and running it on one spot for about 10 minutes. When you do this, worms should start poking out of the grass and you can just pull them out. I can usually catch about 150 in 45 minutes or so. This saves a ton of money in the spring summer and fall, but all winter it's just minnows from a bait shop for me.


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## sirasoni (Feb 9, 2004)

are rosy reds and feeder minnows more nutritious than feeder goldfish?


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## Davoo (Jan 30, 2004)

All i can say is smelts. They are pretty cheap if you buy them frozen and pre- bagged from the grocery store. I just added a bag of them to my grocery list. It is like 3.00 for a bag of like 25-30 of 'em.


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## widepud (Apr 28, 2004)

when i had my 2 18" snakeheads,every week i would go to my local pond stocking place.they had all kinds of pond fish and whatever,but they sold minnows for $10 a pound.and a pound of minnows was like 300 to 400 minnows. thats the cheepest live food ive ever come across.


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