Feeder Fish?

[BC]

Has any of you ever used feeder fish to feed aquatic, or terrestrial salamanders?

[Sharon]

Yes.

My tiger sal used to go surfing regularly for guppies I bred and put in his pond. Sometimes he'd go months and not touch them, and they'd breed into infinity. Then he'd decided he wanted fresh fish and he go surfing for fish. Very cool to watch.

Sharon

[Pete]

Feeder goldfish aren't the greatest food source and can be aggressive towards caudates or introduce disease. Guppies are okay, but should be isolated for a period to avoid disease transfer. Many people breed their own guppies to get around quarantining to ensure that they're healthy. I don't see why you couldn't hand feed fish to terrestrial salamanders, but it would be much easier and healthier to just use worms.

[Jennewt]

A lot of aquatic newts and sals are too slow to catch live fish. So it's not as simple as just putting small live fish in the tank. I used to keep guppies in some of my newt tanks, but they never got eaten. (Though I did have some larvae that were fast enough to eat the baby fish.) Nutritionally, I've heard that guppies are better than goldfish.

[BC]

Well yesturday I went to petsmart and got eight feeder fish for $0.12 each, and one died on the ride home so thats seven, then today after chool I checked on my salamander an there was only one left with three dead(dont know why?). So that means he eight four fish. By the way they were tiny about one inch. Does anyone know why the fish died? I gave them food, filter, live plants ect. Thanks.

[carol]

Hi 454. I have never had any trouble with my 2 salamanders eating feeder fish that I have put in their tank. I don't give them feeder fish all the time because I vary their diet, but everytime I have released them into their tank, they have been eaten pretty quickly by both salamanders, and I have never had any trouble. Trial and error, what works for some doesn't always work for others. Cheers Carol.

[Spotted Salamander]

feeder fish in many petstores are usually kept in horrid conditions. your fish probably due to stress or disease.

[Kaysie]

Hopefully it wasn't disease. Since you didn't quarantine the fish to watch for illness, they may have passed disease on to your salamander.

[salrushdee]

I got my 2 tigers from a local pet store owner,he gets them when mixed with his feeder goldfish shipment.Since they are illegal to sell in Ohio,he gives them away to teachers and local loyal customers.Is'nt that nice of him He always keeps one on display to show and teach people about them and often visits schools to make kids aware of thier enviroment.What a swell guy so Iam not so sure of dangers of feeder goldfish to sallys or larvae.

[Jan]

Originally Posted by salrushdee

.......so Iam not so sure of dangers of feeder goldfish to sallys or larvae.

There are always dangers - a primary risk being transmission of bacterial or parasitic diseases, thus the need to quarantine.