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Unread 12/31/2003, 12:34 PM   #3
M.Dandaneau
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Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: 1477 S. Prescott Ave., Clearwater, Florida. Phone: (727) 443-6459
Posts: 3,258
The only fault I can find with the article is in relation to using mollies as feeders, even though I do agree with the author in relation to brackish feeders tending to be similar to freshwater feeders as far as lack of elements and additional fats are concerned.

If fed straight from the LFS, then I agree fully, but I often advise people to introduce a small school into a marine aquarium, particularly with juvenile lionfish/scopionfish specimens in an established aquarium or species tank.

My point of contention is that, unlike guppies, mollies are largely vegetarian by nature and are often full of phytoplankton and algae by the time they are consumed, just as are the intestinal tracts of most wild feeder fish, thus the point of balance in the diet.

While I've not seen any scientific reference in literature, I've also pointed out that many to most "frozen" feeders in LFS are silversides and other easliy trawled open water species, whereas the bulk of the diet in the wild for most marine reef predators rarely, if ever, contains any of these, being comprised instead of less fatty species, such as damselfish and grunts.

Mike


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