As far as food quality goes, the MMNS diet seems right on target.
Paddlefish in nature feed primarily on crustacean zooplankton, secondarily
on aquatic fly larvae; in some environments they eat rotifers. Steven
George and I have done gut analyses on paddlefish in the Mississippi delta
and found that 53% of the diet was copepods, 45 % cladocera, 1% seed shrimp,
and 1% insects (most of which were phantom midges and bloodworms). Because
the insects are larger, their contribution to the diet is greater than
numbers would indicate, but I tend to think that paddlefish get all the
nutrients they need from just a few major invertebrate taxa.
>>>Who in turn got THEIR advice from the Tennessee and Americas. I am just
wondering about the quality of the food. MMNS is feeding a slurry of
frozen-thawed
brine shrimp, bloodworms, and some type of ocean planton (I
think). I don't think of FBS as a good staple food. SInce I don't
have any personal experience with this species then I am
encouraged by your observations on "normal" growth.<<<
> We got our advice on feeding from MMNS. A couple of times during the
> day, they turn off filters and add a plankton cocktail suspension and
allow
> the fish to filter feed. We did something very similar.
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org