Healthy Goldfish to feed my Golden Tree Snake. How to minimise risk ?

[Multifoliate]

dont chuck them in a dam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You could sell some either privately or go to a pet or aquarium store and trade them for store credit...(a lot of them sell reptile gear as well)

Or you could get a larger fish that will predate the small fry, set up a second tank and bam live food.

I am not sure, but I believe that fw tortoises may eat live fish as well.

 

[69blottfilms69]

Its not a huge dam
it a pond what flows into a pound.
but thanks ill take them to a pet shop

 

[Ramsayi]

Sorry for being off topic but why would you feed a tree snake fish?

Lots of snakes,not just tree snakes,will eat fish.

 

[gillsy]

If you look at a post I made about fish eating snakes you will see why you should never use goldfigh as a main diet.

The site you were recommended above livefish, is where i get my feeder fish from. I keep an eye on it every couple of weeks and order what ever is on bulk special. One week it was sleepy cod, the next it was rainbows. I try and use native fish, but it all depends on what's available. I prefer letting them sit for 1-2 weeks in a spare tank, as I've lost keelbacks to treated fish.

My GTS use to have fish in the enclosure all the time and be supplemented with pinky rats and mice. If you use white bait like the darwin above just ensure you soak it for a few hours to rid of any excess salt.

Small GTS will eat the gambusia you find in the local creek, i have no found anything that can be passed on from fish to snake so you should be fine as long as the water is clean.

 

[Ramsayi]

gillsy,
I have often heard that marine fish have a higher salt content than freshwater species but I can find no literature that backs that up.I have read that for the most part fish have a lower sodium content than red meat,I guess that would include rodents as well?

 

[gillsy]

Hey Rams, I'm not saying fish themselves just excess salt that are on the fish. It's recommended for turtles so I just get in the habit. I'm sure it wouldn't do anything specific more of a if you have time do it, why not.

D

 

[mysnakesau]

Saltwater is a great medication for goldfish. Will kill out parasites, and the germs that cause White Spot, Fin Rot,fungus etc. So if you're not sure about how much medicine they've had before you've brought them home, it certainly wouldn't hurt to put them into a fish tank with a filter with carbon insert which will remove impurities from the water, and saltwater. I can't remember the measurements. I think its a tablespoon per 20litres, I will see if I can find it. But when I had my pet shop, I swore by saltwater than the medicines anyday. And in the case of saltwater fish, its freshwater that is good for them.

 

[gillsy]

Yes that's right Kathy, but it's not what we were saying. We were talking about salt content in fish used for reptiles. The only one you need to be careful of going into snakes is whitespot in true aquatic snakes like files and macleays. I have lost keels to fish that had been treated before I got in the habit of using a tank in the middle before feeding.

 

[Ramsayi]

Hey Rams, I'm not saying fish themselves just excess salt that are on the fish. It's recommended for turtles so I just get in the habit. I'm sure it wouldn't do anything specific more of a if you have time do it, why not.

D

Yeah a quick rinse or thawing under tap water washes away any salt on their skin.I often hear that marine fish are full of salt but it makes zero sense to me.

 

[dottyback]

I think the key when feeding any type of feeder fish is to 'gut load' them. I feed my feeder goldfish high quality spirulina flake food as swell as high protein trout pellets. Also keeping the feeder fish in excellent water chemistry is a must, a sad old goldfish kept in water high in organic matter and nitrates would in my opinion not be good for the snake/s. By doing this the nutrition would have to be far better and greater than pinky rats..

 

[gillsy]

I think the key when feeding any type of feeder fish is to 'gut load' them. I feed my feeder goldfish high quality spirulina flake food as swell as high protein trout pellets. Also keeping the feeder fish in excellent water chemistry is a must, a sad old goldfish kept in water high in organic matter and nitrates would in my opinion not be good for the snake/s. By doing this the nutrition would have to be far better and greater than pinky rats..

Dotty they still contain Thiamase, constant supply of Goldfish will cause Vit B deficiences.

 

[sarah1234]

As an experienced fishkeeper I've bred my fair share of live food over the years.
Have you considered breeding your own? I would recommend breeding convicts or brassiliensis. Both bombproof and will breed on a wet sponge. Breeding your own is one way to guarantee your food is safe.

 

[SteveNT]

Hiya

I have recently acquired a GTS girl, who feeds on 5 cm live goldfish. I have heard horror stories about over-medicated goldfish being fed to colubrids and killing them.

Does anyone with experience in this area have a fail-safe method to cleanse acquarium bought live fish in order to eliminate the risk ?

Would keeping a few fish in a tank of clean water with no chemicals and additives for a set time enable the fish to cleanse it's system of whatever crap the acquarium or fish breeders have fed them ? How long would be sufficient to keep them like this in order to clean them out ?

Would be great to hear from experienced GTS keepers or even people around the Brissie area to hear what you feed your GTS and where you purchase your feeders from. I would imagine acquarium water would have all sorts of added extras which may harm my girl.

Cheers.

Breed the fish yourself. It's easy. Just dont breed carp!

 

[dottyback]

Dotty they still contain Thiamase, constant supply of Goldfish will cause Vit B deficiences.

If the gut of the fish is loaded with spirulina with is packed full of B vitamin complex then in theory there should be no Vitamin B deficiency?

In a round about kind of way like dusting calcium on crickets..

 

[gillsy]

If the gut of the fish is loaded with spirulina with is packed full of B vitamin complex then in theory there should be no Vitamin B deficiency?

In a round about kind of way like dusting calcium on crickets..

Yeah but thiamaise stops the untake of Vit B, if you have all the sun in the world but the plants are covered by a roof you still won't get any sunshine to the plants.

 

[HonestPirate]

Thanks for the info guys. It's been an interesting day !

I decided to go with a freshwater carbon filtered 30L tank which I have set up today with a trio of swordies- I picked up some organic fish feed and have a nice thermostat controlled water temp to promote the swordies breeding- I will drop the 100 feeder fish in there when they arrive on Wednesday to get them fat and free from chems.

A little bedtime story I call OPERATION PERSISTANCE.....

​

The anal aquarium kid at the store refused to sell me anything from his tanks to feed a snake, aside from goldfish and guppies- the reason was that "ornamental fish shouldn't be fed to snakes". It's not like I was asking to buy an albino Angel Fish or anything- just a couple of plattys ! Clearly this was a moral issue for him which to be honest felt a little hypocritical when the place is littered with tanks of "feeder fish", barra and small sharks who no doubt feast inadvertently on the very ornamentals they are all too happy to sell to yuppies who DON'T have tattoos and black T Shirts with a view to mixing them together in their little home aquaria of death.

Wasn't hard to wait 5 mins until the Fish Nazi was otherwise occupied selling his beloved scaley babies in an act of barbaric marine conscription, before getting another staffer to pull 5 plattys from the tank for me quicker than Jerry Mcguire

Operation Persistance; Task One Complete.

I dropped 2 plattys into the water bowl this afternoon. Despite the condescending advice and pessimistic know-it-all smirk from the pet shop employee who told me a GTS will NEVER be interested in thawed pinky mice because hers is not- despite my assurance that APS members have had some success in this regard (to which she rolled her eyes) I thought I would give it a go anyway - so along with the two plattys I threw a tiny pinky in the water bowl as well.

Anyone wanna take a guess what happened ?

Uh huh. First to go was the pinky (within about 30 seconds of hitting the water) , followed by the remaining two plattys, followed by another three plattys I threw in there- she took them all like a champ. (before anyone yells "powerfeeder", the fish were pretty small even for plattys so 5 was not overkill by any means.

So there you go- no need to scent the pinky or do anything drastic- she powered through...I suspect the plattys got her attention and she was interested enough to assume the pinky was an easy feed or a weak fish.

Operation Persistance: Task Two Complete.

I will continue with 5 or so smallish feeder fish twice a week and a pinky every fortnight as a treat. I will also be visiting the pet store to show the lovely lady pics of my GTS smiling as the pinky goes down the chute Was VERY satisfying to see.

 

[gillsy]

Just remember the GTS need to be fed frequently, I always had fish available and just fed rodents when I was feeding other snakes. They will drop off really quickly if not fed consistently and often.

But the best bit is it's eating rodents, congrats!! Makes things alot easier.

 

[Tari-Q]

HonestPirate: I am that 'lovely female employee' you are talking about and I have visible tattoos, piercings, wear black out of work uniform and noone at the shop treats me any different so I don't think your tattoo and black shirt had ANYTHING to do with how they treated you. I imagine it would more be the fact that the woman who manages the aquarium section comes down pretty hard on employees who do not follow her rules and instructions so asking them to sell you those fish as feeders actually puts their job at risk. I tried to tell you that and give you advice on how to purchase those fish and yet you still try and make the person who helped you look like they had some kind of personal vendetta against you .. someone trying to do and keep their job is not a crime.

I did not roll my eyes at you, I was concerned that your snake would not take it and that you would be wasting your money, so sorry for trying to look out for you. I still don't think they need pinkies as part of their diet. You would be better off doing small quail as a treat seeing as they are far more likely to eat birds in the wild than small mammals. They would also be more nutritious than pinkies anyway. I find the way you portray me quite rude. I was not trying to be rude or condescending to you I was trying to help. I had no way of knowing what your level of experience was and honestly we deal with a lot of people who know next to nothing so I was just trying to give you the best advice I could given the circumstances and you have spun the situation to make me look like I was just trying to be smug and up myself. I am glad you did not waste your money, but keep up with the fish and maybe try quail as a treat instead.

No need to come into store to show me pictures, does not sound like you want to deal with me anyway. Just post them here, I am sure I will see them.

 

[HonestPirate]

I honestly accounted my experiences. I'm surprised you read this thread after the unkind things you said about this forum and it's members. Remember that ?

I think your post speaks for itself. Happy to leave it at that.

 

[Tari-Q]

I tell all my customers to be careful with any information they get off the internet, especially on forums that can get very opinionated which yes, includes this one. Secondly, I am not a kid. I am an adult just as you are, and was trying to set the record straight. I was trying to help you and I did not 'out' myself I defended myself because of the unfair way you portrayed me and my co-workers. My boss would support me and the advice I gave. And just for the record, you say up in your account of what happened that you think the snake took an 'unscented' pinkie. It was scented the second it went into the water with fish. Then you say you think it took it because it thought it was a slow fish; easy pickings. You gave me the very distinct impression you were only going to feed pinkies til your fish arrived which would have been a completely different scenario.

You made this personal by publicly slandering me, and even though there are no names, I can still easily identify myself so maybe you should take that into consideration next time you are going to post something negative about someone, justified or unjustified.