Fish to eat culls of other fish.

[Fancyfish]

I've been breeding guppies and swordtails, and mystery snails and marble cloning crayfish. I find that I would like to get some fish that would eat my culls. I have available tanks of 30, 40 breeder, 75, 125 and 210 that I could set up for this project. I've been thinking about the electric blue Jack Dempsey, and recently saw the post of the electric blue Acara(?). I've also thought about some of the different Africans. I've always considered Jack Dempsey's to be aggressive fish and there are lots of people breeding Africans in Houston. The acara's I'm not sure if they would eat the culls.

I plan to breed what ever I get so I also have to consider if there is a reasonable market for the young fish or if I need to plan on culling those as well. I am tempted to try Oscars, they do like crayfish and I've always liked them.

Any thoughts or suggestions from anybody?

[armthehomeless]

EBJDs aren't as voracious eaters as regular JDs. Regular JDs or Oscars sound good. There are always people buying both... but they tend to be new hobbyists. You'd most likely need to sell them to several LFS because of the quantity of fry that they have at once.


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[Kimfoleyz]

Also , you ca not breed EBJD's like normal fish. If 2 EBJD's do the dance, the fry are not viable and won't make it. They have to mate with a reg jd, then take the fry, and mate it again with the ebjd, to actually get EBJD's that are viable =-)

[mnemenoi]

Some of the newer pikes look very nice and only a few folks keep them, no breeders I am aware of

[Andrew_B]

Look into some lake victoria cichlids. They're aggression is rediculous and guppys wouldn't stand a chance. Plus they're easier to breed, more valuable and take up a whole lot less space than the jds /oscars mentioned above

[Fancyfish]

I've raised some of the Victorian cichlids before, they are haram spawner's if I remember right. They are nice and I've got all the holey rock I used before. I'm thinking they would do well to start out in the 75 gal. Any specific species you would recommend?

[Fancyfish]

Some of the newer pikes look very nice and only a few folks keep them, no breeders I am aware of

Are they legal in Texas? I was under the impression that pikes can't be kept or sold here. But maybe that's because I really wish I could keep and raise some pike livebear's. :P They would be perfect companions to raising guppies.

[mnemenoi]

I was referring to Pike Cichlids, Crenicichla sp. (xingu I and Atabos are both great looking collection points), True Pikes (perciformes) are legal if purchased legally. There is one native species found here, the Grass Pickerel (have caught them locally on many occasions) and they stay relatively small. Pike Livebearers are indeed illegal, so I would not try and order any on Aquabid.

[Andrew_B]

For vics, if you want something for guppy control, go with Hap SP.44. They push 6-7" as adults. Most other vics tend to stay in the 4" range as adults. Can always go the large hap route, venestus, dolphins, sp 44 etc etc

[Fancyfish]

the Pike cichlids look cool but water quality and parameters are a serious issue.

[mnemenoi]

Indeed

[morpheus]

I have some mbunas/malawis in with a reg JD now and they would eat anything thrown in there. everyone really gets out of the JDs way except during feeding time. none are really picky eaters in terms of frozen foods. they go through live rosy reds pretty quick, so guppies/swordtails/shrimp would be gone in my tank too to handle the culls.