Feeder Tank

[gussy]

To reduce the number of food buying trips to feed my angler and lionfish, I'm going to setup a 24G feeder tank.

What are good inexpensive live food that I can put in here?

[rayman45]

ghost shrimps.....

[gussy]

Yes...but ghost shrimps are freshwater. I can't have them survive for more than a few days in the saltwater tank. I want to reduce my feeding trips to once a month. The molies seem to last only a week or two.

[rayman45]

so set up a small fw tank with bubble filter and some java moss

[ann83]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9125034#post9125034 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gussy
Yes...but ghost shrimps are freshwater. I can't have them survive for more than a few days in the saltwater tank. I want to reduce my feeding trips to once a month. The molies seem to last only a week or two.

Mollies only last a week or two? Mine are fine at full salt. Could there be something else wrong with the system, or are you not bringing them up to full salt slowly?
Ghost shrimp and Mysis shrimp are both cannibalistic I believe, so you would need a grow-out tank in addition to the adult tank. Ghosts are easier, and there are saltwater varieties of ghost shrimp.

[ClamIAm]

I've seen ghost shrimp live for a long time in saltwater. If you're looking for something that comes from full salinity to feed your fish, the only real option is collecting small crabs/shrimp/silversides from the ocean.

[The Fish Finder]

there are saltwater ghost shrimp. Ask your local fish store to order them for u.

[xhaust50]

You might want to look into breeding peppermint shrimps. They seem to be pretty easy, but I have no personal experience. I do breed ghost/glass shrimps in a freshwater tank, and they are NOT cannobalistic. The problem is that many clear shrimp are sold simply under the title of "ghost shrimp" when they indeed are not.

[FMarini]

actually ghost shrimp that many LFS carry are brackish water and the LFS use freshwater for convienence.
That said you can get Sw ghost shrimp (we do in houston frequently) and keep lots of them. just remember to keep the water cool, feed heavily (they are cannbials), and clean the water alot.
Even if you do use FW ghost shrimp, gut load them w/ saltwater based food items

[stykthyn]

cant go wrong with mollies, and since you live in the bay area I would start hitting up the bait shops. a lot of my unused fishing bait go towards my lion and trigger fish. the shrimp kind of hunker down in the sand until they are dug out. they also do a great job of cleaning the tank until they are eaten.

[xhaust50]

I breed mollies along with ghost shrimp but I plan on ending the molly feeding, the reason being that they are higher in fat than saltwater fish, which can cause problems. It seems it would be best to use freshwater shrimp, with little nutritional value whatsoever, and gutload them with marine foods. The sticky at the top of this forum goes into further detail about using mollies as feeders.

[dendro982]

Here is my feeders tank, where I'm keeping ghost shrimp for my lion:
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g78/dendro982/Debris%2090g%20tank/Jan25Feederstank.jpg

I'm buying shrimp in bulk, 50 at time, this way it's cheaper.
Started with sponge filter (you still can see the blue sponges inside) - not enough flow, including around the heater. Now there are 2 $3 corner filters with filter floss, fed by one pump.
Sponge was left for biological filtration, and shrimp just like to hang on it.
I'm feeding shrimp by defrozen grocery seafood, rarely a few marine pellets. In tank there are same Java moss (low light) and leftover of elodea.

Tried to breed guppies and a ghost shrimp - the lion eats them faster, then they grow. Not efficient, and all room is filled by breeders tank, birthing (?) tank, growing tank. I tried both - guppies and ghost shrimp, so, it's 6 tanks. Each needs heated and water flow - eventually eliminated them all.

[snapper1]

Mollys and Ghost Shrimp would be best.I had a 10 Gallon feeder fish tank for a year and had guppys and mollys and comets in there.Got rid of it I did not like what I read about these fish not being good food for salt water predators. I buy frozen Krill and silversides.There is a good article on this board about feeder fish.It was interesting check it out if you like.If you decide to keep feeding them feeder fish stick to mollys and Ghost Shrimp.

[gussy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9133408#post9133408 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xhaust50
You might want to look into breeding peppermint shrimps. They seem to be pretty easy, but I have no personal experience. I do breed ghost/glass shrimps in a freshwater tank, and they are NOT cannobalistic. The problem is that many clear shrimp are sold simply under the title of "ghost shrimp" when they indeed are not.

Well...this seems more work...like using a sledge hammer to kill a fly.