Fathead Minnows

jdphish

Here is a little video I took of Rosy Red fathead minnows I had in a holding tank before feeding them to a largemouth bass pond. Channel Catfish will definitely eat fathead minnows. Be real careful with any pump/water intakes in a fathead spawning tank. The fry are tiny and almost transparent for several weeks. They will eat catfish food as it softens. They are easy to grow. Like big worm says, they aren't considered food fish and sometimes get treated with some nasty chemicals.
enjoy...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj5PyMroh7g

TCLynx

good point about the chemicals that can be used on minnows and how you don't what to be adding lots of that into your food system.

I would definitely be trying to raise my own stock as I wouldn't want to be buying them all the time.

scotty435

Very interesting about the heavy metals. Will definitely grow my own from wild caught if possible. Fathead minnows are used for wastewater toxicity testing - I wonder if the people who designed the test are aware of this or whether it matters?

big worm

the minners you buy at the store were not tested on wastes, they just got siened out of a pond filled with god knows what. i was just offering a little insight on what happens in commercial ponds....ever wonder what nice things they raise tlapia on or in that come from china? most all the frozen ones in the supermarket here were imported......i don't eat anything from other countrys if i can avoid it. i find it hard to trust unknown food sources, because greed wins out every time.

Ryan

Problem is it isnt just outside the US. I talk to a lot of shrimpers, crabbers, blue crab shedders etc and maybe 5% use FDA aproved products to maintain their crop. It's everywhere. And we wonder why cancer had shot up so high in the recent years.

big worm

i just use china as an example,because of the melamine in infant formula and lead/toxic pains on kiddie toys. good food is why we are here...good clean safe food...its what we need, and its what we should have.
my point is.....home grown is best, local grown is good, and supermarkets are a crap shoot....because they only read the bottom line and buy the cheapest food they can sell.

Ryan

Definately agree. Although, I read this link about whole foods the other day and thought it was awesome. At least it somewhat justifies $8/lb tilapia.
http://www.perishablenews.com/index.php?article=0012179

concealed

keith wrote:

i was thinking along the lines of polyculture as well, i have a few crayfish in one tank (i've seen them breeding 2x in the last week), bg in one, and yp in the third.. couple of bg look like they're ready to lay some eggs, yp will probably not be ready till spring.. i've been thinking of adding more minnows in the cray tank and just see what happens this winter,, maybe i'll try to get them to breed too.. i don't really have that many perch left, maybe 8, and 10 or so bluegill(and 1 bluegill that thinks he's a perch, i've moved him 3 times back to the bg tank)
i'll defintely need some tank dividers if i do, or i'll be pumping fry through the whole system if anything does breed

Just curious, how does the bluegill get into the perch tank??

Also, I have had minnows before and they do bread like crazy. I'm planning on using them as a feeder fish for the fish I want to grow and eat

concealed

For some reason I can't edit the previous post??

Just a random memory - when I was a kid I took a small fly-fishing hook and put a small piece of an earthworm on it. When I threw it into the bayou, something tugged the line away and when I pulled it in, it felt like nothing, but to my surprise I pulled up a minnow. I put it in a 5 gallon bucket and a few days later I didn't just have one minnow, but tons of them! I guess this kind was a live barring fish and was storing it's eggs when I caught her!

big worm

concealed wrote:

For some reason I can't edit the previous post??

Just a random memory - when I was a kid I took a small fly-fishing hook and put a small piece of an earthworm on it. When I threw it into the bayou, something tugged the line away and when I pulled it in, it felt like nothing, but to my surprise I pulled up a minnow. I put it in a 5 gallon bucket and a few days later I didn't just have one minnow, but tons of them! I guess this kind was a live barring fish and was storing it's eggs when I caught her!

most like it was a misquito fish or as we refer to them as top water minnows, they come in as a bycatch with the bait fish...along with grass shrimp, tadpoles, creyfish, carp, bream...ect....lol
edit.....
live birth fish

keith

regarding the bg that keeps crossing tanks.. i've got 1.5" waterbridge/slos between the tanks.. i'm getting a new camera so should be able to take pic's soon..but this fish keeps going across 2 overflows to hang with the yp..

i think the yp are mildly retarded or something.. whatever they try to eat pretty much has to find it's own way into their mouths... floating or hydrated pellets.. they just seem confused.. when they get some minnows, they don't really chase them, the minnows basically swims right in!

scotty435

Quote:

i think the yp are mildly retarded or something.. whatever they try to eat pretty much has to find it's own way into their mouths... floating or hydrated pellets.. they just seem confused.. when they get some minnows, they don't really chase them, the minnows basically swims right in!

Maybe their smarter than you think? :shark:

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Fathead Minnows

Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics