Feeding live fish

elefante

elefante

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Maybe this has been posted before, but do zoos still feed live fish? I remember visiting the Grizzly Discovery Center about 2005 and there were trout in a pond for the wolves to catch. I also remember Animal Planet showing polar bear exhibits with trout for them to catch. I haven't seen that since about the mid 2000s.
 
Sure, it is quite common. Some zoos raise tilapia in the moats as well so that they can feed them to different animals in the zoo.
 
Some species require live fish for their normal diet. Flower hat jellies and (converted) asian vine snakes off the top of my head.
 
The Woodland park zoo use the salmon to feed their grizzly bear. It is wonderful to see the baby bear catch one fishes in the pool when I visit the zoo last year!
 
elefante said:
I didn't know this. Are goldfish commonly fed to smaller predators?
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I don't know if it is common but goldfish are not the best feeder fish. They have too much body fat and contain too much thiaminase. Which is why they are regarded as a bad feeder option, at least in the aquarium hobby.
 
Worth noting that there is a much different take on the feeding of live fish in the UK (see the below statement from DEFRA). Almost all of the British keepers I've spoken to have been scandalized by how prevalent the practice is here.

"1.6 Live feeding of vertebrate prey is to be discouraged (see Section 5). Although the Animal Welfare Act 2006 does not prohibit the feeding of animals with live prey, the live feeding of vertebrate prey should be avoided save under exceptional circumstances, and only under veterinary advice. Where it has to be undertaken, a written justification and ethical review process must have been undertaken and agreed by senior staff weighing up the welfare of predator and prey; feeding must be observed and live prey not left in the enclosure. Such feeding should not take place in the presence of the public"

https://assets.publishing.service.g...data/file/69596/standards-of-zoo-practice.pdf
 
Chlidonias said:
Generally feeder fish are goldfish. What do you see being used as feeder fish?
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Common and comet goldfish are often used as feeders in the hobby but seem to be used less in the public sector.

Off the top of my head I've used or seen used:
Rainbow trout
Largemouth bass
Common carp
Golden shiner
Common shiner
Emerald shiner
Fathead minnow
Tilapia
Surplus offspring of various other cichlids
Weather loaches
Mollies
Swordtails
Guppies
Damselfish
And definitely more I am forgetting right now.

When you have larger populations or animals to feed or entertain, the pet store stops being a financially viable option pretty fast and most institutions buy from bait dealers or private stocking operations. Goldfish are also avoided due yo being high in thiaminase and because survivors can "ruin the illusion" for a visitor viewing the exhibit.
 
CMTM said:
Some species require live fish for their normal diet. Flower hat jellies and (converted) asian vine snakes off the top of my head.
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Generally used more so as enrichment more than anything. To 'inspire natural behaviors'.
 
Chlidonias said:
Generally feeder fish are goldfish. What do you see being used as feeder fish?
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Apart from goldfish, mollies, mosquito fish, guppies, minnows of various types, bass, etc. At zoo Tampa the most common was tilapia as they raised them in some of the moats when I was there.
 
Aardwolf said:
Worth noting that there is a much different take on the feeding of live fish in the UK (see the below statement from DEFRA). Almost all of the British keepers I've spoken to have been scandalized by how prevalent the practice is here.

"1.6 Live feeding of vertebrate prey is to be discouraged (see Section 5). Although the Animal Welfare Act 2006 does not prohibit the feeding of animals with live prey, the live feeding of vertebrate prey should be avoided save under exceptional circumstances, and only under veterinary advice. Where it has to be undertaken, a written justification and ethical review process must have been undertaken and agreed by senior staff weighing up the welfare of predator and prey; feeding must be observed and live prey not left in the enclosure. Such feeding should not take place in the presence of the public"

https://assets.publishing.service.g...data/file/69596/standards-of-zoo-practice.pdf
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Pretty sure there's one too here in Italy, if the animal does not accept dead prey, only after you tried several times can you feed it live (vertebrate) prey
 
SwampDonkey said:
Apart from goldfish, mollies, mosquito fish, guppies, minnows of various types, bass, etc. At zoo Tampa the most common was tilapia as they raised them in some of the moats when I was there.
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I wasn't really asking which other species of fish are used, I was more wondering what you were specifically referring to in the post which I quoted.

You said "If by "goldfish" you mean the little feeder fish that have different colors, then yes sometimes. But not actual Carassius auratus." - what species does "the little feeder fish that have different colors" refer to?
 
Auckland Zoo have a creek running through the zoo and have always fed eels from here (and the central lake eels used to inhabit in large numbers) to the Sumatran tigers and Asian small-clawed otters. The live prey was both a source of variety in their diet and a source of enrichment.

I read Auckland Zoo also used to put them in the Polar bear pool, for the same reasons listed above. The waterways were overrun with them, so it addressed that problem as well.
 
Chlidonias said:
I wasn't really asking which other species of fish are used, I was more wondering what you were specifically referring to in the post which I quoted.

You said "If by "goldfish" you mean the little feeder fish that have different colors, then yes sometimes. But not actual Carassius auratus." - what species does "the little feeder fish that have different colors" refer to?
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Maybe Fathead minnows Pimephales promelas? They are common as feeder fish here in the states and have a red morph that is actually more common in captivity than the wild morph called a Rosy red.
 
Chlidonias said:
I wasn't really asking which other species of fish are used, I was more wondering what you were specifically referring to in the post which I quoted.

You said "If by "goldfish" you mean the little feeder fish that have different colors, then yes sometimes. But not actual Carassius auratus." - what species does "the little feeder fish that have different colors" refer to?
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CMTM said:
Maybe Fathead minnows Pimephales promelas? They are common as feeder fish here in the states and have a red morph that is actually more common in captivity than the wild morph called a Rosy red.
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This. But to be honest, it has been so long since I was in an environment where feeder fish are used I really don't remember for sure. I haven't been around feeder fish in a zoo environment for around 20 years.
 
Yep, live feeder fish are still used. Some fish, especially picky predators, require live fish as food, or are fed feeder fish before they are weaned onto dead foods. Frogfishes and lionfishes in particular come to mind.
 
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