Anybody ever tried this?

[Jack]

I'm keeping Belonesox Belizanus and am trying to keep them in food (all they eat is live fish). I bought a refugium (made for reef aquariums) that I plan to breed guppies in. Also, pregnant mollies could give birth in. The refugium hangs on the back of the main tank, takes water from the main tank and spills back into the main tank. Sure, some guppies/fry will get sucked into the main tank, but that's part of my plan. The three Belonesox can wipe out $5 worth of feeder guppies in two or theree days. My plan is to add a few every day or every other day, then add 30 or 40 to the main tank for the Belonesox to gourge on, every week or two. Anybody done anything like this?

 

[millym]

poor little fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[LondonGman]

LOL. I am new to this hobby and your plans to feed your “killfish” amused me, and reminded me that big fishes DO eat small fishes. Food Chain. We do the same with chickens, cattle, rabbit etc for our and others consumption including breeding our frozen live fish food or sea monkeys.

Anyway, I have raised both guppies and mollies. You will also need a large “refugium” to get the females to breed, I think. You certainly cannot keep the baby mollies or guppies (fry) with the parents or they will eat them long before your killfish has a chance. So you may need another separate container.

 

[cdawson]

I don't think a FW barracude is a Killifish ( then again I'm no killifish expert). I read a couple articles when I was interested in getting one, and it was only mentioned that they were livebearers however not killifish.
As for the refugium, it would have to be planted and have lots of shelter in order for the fry to survive long enough for there to be any point in feeding them to the Belonesox. There is also no point in feeding the fry to the belonesox unless they are gut loaded (fed before being the belonesox's meal) as the fish alone are fatty and not really very nutritional.

 

[Jack]

Probably not likely that mollies would breed in this container. However, a pregnant female could be moved to give birth. I do hope the feeder guppies breed.

I feed the fry "larvae" type food so they are fed. Guppies and mollies are natural food sources for Belonesox so I'm not that worried about nutrition.

So far the system has worked well in regards to dispensing fish. Some fish inevitably get to the area with the overflow siphon and are eventually sucked into the main tank. I'm afraid this might work too good leading to eventual depletion of the feeders in the refugium. However, I can reduce the flow of the pump, causing less current and hopefully less fish to enter the chamber with the overflow siphon; or increase the current, hopefully raising the water level enough to where fish can freely swim back and forth.

By the way, Belonesox are not killifish, they are livebearers; related to guppies, mollies, gambusia and such.

 

[LondonGman]

By the way, Belonesox are not killifish, they are livebearers; related to guppies, mollies, gambusia and such.

Thanks for the correction. Like I said above I am new to the hobby so I searched for the words “Belonesox Belizanus” in Google before I posted the above message. It was first few sites it returned that told me that “Belonesox Belizanus” was a livebearer. Also that it was killifish. However I am new and may be mistaking two different types of fishes see:

http://species.fishindex.com/species_289belonesox_belizanus_pike_livebearer.html
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/PikeKillifish/PikeKillifish.html
http://www.gsmfc.org/nis/nis/Belonesox_belizanus.html
http://susdl.fcla.edu/lfnh/matrix/T/00003204.htm

 

[justDIY]

sounds like a great plan!

I had planned on using my rather large molly population to breed and feed an angelfish tank, growing the fry in a separate brackish tank, and then feeding the angelfish some live food every few days, supplimenting with flake for the rest of the time

however, my angel tank is on hold right now, so the mollies continue to feed a single angelfish instead.

 

[Jack]

LondonGman, check out these links:

http://www.killifish.us/about.htm
http://www.intellweb.com/gcka/livebearer1.htm

Basically, Belonesox, guppies, mollies, etc. share the same order with killifishes (Cyprinodontidae). However, they are from different families. Killifishes are egg-laying, while Belonesox, guppies and such are livebearers.