any luck with feeder fish?

[FuandSobe]

I was wondering if anyone has had lany luck with their CWD eating feeder fish. I know several have said that their dragon will eat them if they are flopping around on land in front of them, but what about the dragons independantly hunting them?

So far on a couple occasions I have had limited luck, it seems they liked guppies more than rosies, maybe they are easier to catch or tastier? However, when they ate the guppies it was in a small water bowl without any cover for the fish, the rosies have plenty of hiding spots and much deeper water.

The reason I ask is that I'm building a new Viv (5' tall x 5' long x 2.5' deep), and I want to dedicate half the ground area to water. That should give me around 30" x 30" of water environment. The plan is to have water ranging from 3" to 9" deep with a few land areas sticking out and lots of water plants and a guppy colony. I hope to get them to breed, and let the dragons worry about population control. I was thinking that guppies might be a bit more hardy than rosies, better suited for warmer water and easier to breed?

Any comments or suggestions would be welcome, particlarly regarding how to set up the environment to best facilitate the fish breeding and the dragons' ability to catch a meal or two. I originally thought maybe goldfish, but i understand they are prone to some wierd diseases and am hesitant to potentially introduce that to the Viv?

thanks,

T

[dragosmom]

The only draw back I can think of is that, even with a pump and filter, I still use a net to remove debris from my pool (8 gal.) twice daily and sanitize the thing once a month. (Completely drain pool, wipe surface with bleach and change out the pump and filter pads) I'm not sure how complicated that would be with a school of guppies living in the pool. BTW, my fish died of old age-the dragons wouldn't hunt them.

[FuandSobe]

Yup, you nailed it, its already a pain to try and remove the "floaters" and various debris, I do it daily but with the equipment and perches in there all on the bottom of a tall tank which i can only access from the top it is less than ideal. I am hoping that with the new Viv and doors on the front cleaning should be easier since the water will be less crowded.

Another thing im unsure of is with the water cycle taking a few weeks to set up proper biologically, whether I should still empty the whole thing monthly, I had planned to get an aquarium vaccum and do partial changes every month with total water changes less frequently?

[dragosmom]

The filter set-up that I use recommends that you rinse the biological filter in the same water contained in the filter housing so that you don't wash away all of the beneficial bacteria that has accumulated. That is what i do, but I replace the top filter pad-which is not a biological filter with a fresh one. I then drain the pool, clean it with bleach, rinse it good and refill it with water that has been treated with Reptisafe and Jurassi Safe. I also use a Chemi-pure bag in with my filters and I highly recommend them. Since I began using it my water quality is superb. I put about 2 quarts of water in the viv daily due to the fogger and with Chemi-pure you never have to do water changes (even in an aquarium) if you replace the pack every 6 months. Since I moved the guys into their new viv in Sept. I have had much less work to keep them clean and happy and they grew tremendously after the move.

[FuandSobe]

Wow, that sounds great, thanks for the info, it sounds like an ideal set-up, I think I'll see if I can find a way to do something similar.

T

[DaremoAlpha]

I myself am against using so many chemicals, the key to declorinating water fast is lots of air bubbles ( work for me for 30 years of fish tanks LOL)

Charcoal is one of the best cleaning agents you can use for filters and comes in so many forms now there is always a good one out there.

Guppie breeding is easy but the babies need lots of vegitation to hide in or the adults will eat them before your dragons can.

Goldfish prefer cold water and can tend to get diseases mainly from people keeping them in warmer waters. Goldfish and Chiclids can be cured of most disease with a small amount of rocksalt dropped right in their tank, brackish waters is good , to much salt and you get dead fish hehehe

[FuandSobe]

Hmmm, yesterday I added a few fancy guppies into the aquarium. Yehy are mature and bigger than the tiny rosies, not to mention more "flashy".

Apparently they atleast look tastier?! Within a minutes both dragons were watching them intently, a couple hours later Fu climbed into position and hung out over the top of the water. He got so excited his whole body shook and he dove in after the guppies! Of course he timed it wrong and missed but he sure seemed more than interested. I think the guppies tend to hide less than the roisies, and with the male and female interaction they may be more prone to being in parts of the water that lends itself to the dragons hunting.

Anyways, it sure was fun to watch. In an idea world I would prefer if the guppies stuck around long enough to breed before they became dragon food, but something tells me Fu and Sobe are going to get a hold of them soon. BTW, Fu was hunting the fish after he chowed on a few crickets I had added. This is going to be a riot!

T

[dragosmom]

It's going to be fun at your house! I'm trying to imagine how funny Fu must look! The more I read, the more concerned I get about introducing water born parasites to my dragons digestive systems from the fish. Evidently they are sometimes infected with protozoan and amoebic parasites which don't affect them, but will/can have an adverse affect on your dragons. I did read about treating your feder fish with a medication before introducing them to your reptiles, but that is way to much work for me. I can irradicate most normal parasites with dog wormer, but protozoans and amoebas require Flagyl, which is prescription only.

[FuandSobe]

sounds like i should read up on that, thanks

[DaremoAlpha]

Where ever you buy your feeder fish stock from, make sure the tanks are somewhat clean and there are not any dead fish in there when you are going to by stuff.

Most pets stores treat their tanks when they recieve new shipments.

Another thing to watch for especially with goldfish!!! If the tank temps are kept warm then you are looking for trouble. Goldfish are a cold water fish and get disease very easy in warmer waters.

[Pooka]

Great Tips DaremoAlpha. Be a judge of the pet shops character, if its dirty and under kept the fish lily may be too. If its clean the fish likly are also.

[FuandSobe]

I know what you mean about possible infection. Concern about infection is why i want to breed the guppies myself. Atleast then I can control the conditions better and know that I am limiting the potential types of infections in the tank. I figure it has to be better to eliminate introducing new fish from new tanks (and all the associated potential problems), on a regular basis. I also am looking to the fish somewhat as an indicator of water quality.

Someone please let me know if all this sounds crazy but i have to think that moving water that has sufficient filtering has to be better than stagnant unfiltered water, even if it is changed every day?

BTW, both Fu and Sobe are still more than interested in the guppies, I have seen Fu try for them on a daily basis. There has been several times I thought the fish were goners. Fu seems to have it out for the only male guppy in there. I dont think hes going to be around very long because he seems to not recogize the threat. Either that or hes taunting Fu?!? Sobe still prefers to watch them through the glass and try and bit at them that way, lol. She does go in after them on occasion but not as much as Fu.

[DaremoAlpha]

Well the moving water helps to keep it oxygen enriched yea thats a fact.

Breeding most of these smaller fish types would be better done in a separate tank as most like to hide and breed in a lot of vegitation, so you may want to pick up a small 10-20 gallon tank just for trying to set up your breeder colony.

Male guppies will also eat the young if they have nothing to hide in. Unless you get breeder boxes in which you place your adults in and when the young come out they fall through the openings away from the adults.