The Puffer Forum

Is there any harm in raising freshwater fish (specifically convict cichlids) to feed to brackish puffers (specifically f8)? I thought I read somewhere that doing this could cause issues, but now that I'm looking for it I can't find it. The feeders would be raised in a seperate freshwater tank and fed only as a supplement to the usual snail-based diet (probably shrimp in the diet as well).

depends on the fish, but F8s are not piscavores and don't eat other fish. There is an article in the library regarding feeder fish:
library/feeding/feeders/

Because they would be home bred feeders there wouldn't be much of a risk of transmitting parasites and/or disease if your stock is healthy. However, F8s aren't piscivores so I personally would avoid feeders and stick to the other frozen or live foods. We breed cherry shrimp for ours. They have plenty of hiding areas and they keep her busy and hunting for a while after adding them.

Repeat after me, (and J-P): F-8s are not piscivores, they are primarily mollusk and crustacean eaters.

So the answer to your question is that there is no point in feeding baby fish to a fish which is not by nature a piscivore, and which needs routine and frequent mollusks in the diet to control the incisor plate's growth.

I have never kept an F8, but I can tell you that my Ceylon loves eting baby cons. He will only get one every few weeks. The reason I feed him these every once in a while is for the thrill of the "chase". He loves to chase them until he catches them....

Thanks for the replies. I had read that library article; good read. The main reason I was wondering is because I have kept cons ever since I got into fish and love watching their breeding behavior, but it's hard to find homes for all the fry. I thought I had read somewhere that brackish fish have issues digesting freshwater fish, which didn't make a lot of sense.

Since f8s aren't piscivores I'll find a different outlet for my cons.

Just for the sake of expanding my knowledge, is their any issue with brackish or saltwater fish eating freshwater fish (other than the issue of dorsal spines and assuming the predator has a hankering for other fish)?