Fish!

[shilohismygirl]

So, I know that you can feed fish, but I am not really sure what kind one can feed. Freshwater? Is saltwater not good because of the mercury? Can you feed shrimp? I have also heard people say that it's not great to feed them a lot of fish. I've fed them fish 3-4 times in the past few months, and they seemed to like it. I have only fed them catfish thus far. What about whole fish, with the scales and gills and head on? If someone could advise me, that would be amazing.

[sunnyberra]

I haven't done whole fish, because we usually just get deboned fileted stuff for us, and I'll give the guys a filet as a treat. So far, they've gotten tilapia, salmon, flounder, and hoki (?) (it was supposed to be very similar to tilapia, but we didn't particularly care for it :/ ). My guys adore tilapia and they like the salmon. They ate the flounder but they seemed to stink the next day or two after eating it. I'd say, I feed it a few times a month, overall (I did pick up 1 lb of Hare-Today's ground white fish (bone in) but I haven't actually gotten around to giving it to the ferts, ha).

[Little Wise Owl]

Occasionally I'll feed my guys a whole frozen mackerel. My girl LOVES it. The only downside is that it's stinky! But I've never noticed a change in their smell or feces after I've fed one fish. I only feed them sparingly though.

[Jackie]

That picture is so adorable! What pretty little furchildren!

Does she eat the whole fish head (just curious)?

[sherrylynne]

Lucrezia is like that with smelts When she was a kit, she actually made herself ill on them, she ate so many so fast Unfortunately, she refused to eat the heads, so I was having to search for these small dried up fish heads all over the cage.
When it comes to fish, the general idea is the larger the fish, the more toxins they contain, including mercury. Small fish ingests mercury, bigger fish eats that one, even larger eats that one, etc. And it does build up in the body, instead of being excreted.
So yes, smaller fresh water is certainly better, but they can have some of the larger once in a while.

[shilohismygirl]

Cool, guys. I will keep this all in mind! They seemed to really love catfish, so I'd love to get them some smelts (limited of course, or probably Oz would eat himself sick).

[Little Wise Owl]

My guys eat everything. Head and all.

Actually, I can't think of anything that they've refused. lol

[rarnold18]

The boys (husband, BIL and my son's) catch their bait using cast nets and if they have bait fish left after their day of fishing they bring it home for the furkids... So my crew have eaten, mulllet, shiners, minnows, and something else...can;t remember... Even though I've put one in the cage for each fuzz they always seem to fight over the same on fish...ugh.

[shilohismygirl]

rarnold, that's the way it always goes! You put three chicken wings in, and they fight over one!

[Heather]

That's only because that's the best tasting one
ciao

[maddiesmom]

what an awesome picture! Thanks for sharing!