Ben
----- Original Message -----
From: <BR0630_at_aol.com>
To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
Sent: Friday, July 18, 2003 6:07 PM
Subject: Re: NANFA-- Feeding live food
> In a message dated 7/17/03 9:28:18 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
> chirstyn_at_cogeco.ca writes:
>
> > I have a ways to go yet before, I think, I'm entirely prepared for this
> > endeavour but I'm psyching myself up to it. I've got the basic edicts
of
> > keeping fish under my belt, I just need to learn a bit more about the
lake
> > from where I intend to take the fish and more about the fish themselves
> > (sunfish is what I want, I think).
> >
> > Chirstyn
> >
>
> Maybe start out by planting your aquarium quite heavily, at least in part
of
> it, and dropping something like daphnia, gammarus, mayfly nymphs, etc into
the
> plants. Then you may want to sit and observe for a considerable time just
to
> see how the sunnies go about finding their food in a somewhat natural way.
I
> think that the nearer to a realistic "mini" natural environment that we
can
> create, the more natural behavior we can expect to observe. While
observing my
> sunfish, I am frequently reminded of the circle of life that is all of
> nature. Usually a quick gulp of a water bug, worm or small shiner by a
beautiful,
> healthy & colorful sunfish doesn't evoke the same emotional maelstrom that
> observing a pack of lions feeding on a mortally wounded, but struggling
wildebeast
> on TV does! By having heavy plantings, lots of wood & rocks in my
aquariums,
> it's not like dropping in trout chow - they have to hunt for their food
much
> of the time. Fact is, when I clean one of my aquariums, I will likely
find
> water insects or insect larvae clinging to the plants, under the rocks and
wood
> or buried in the sand, not to mention snails on everything. Often, what I
> observe is just a quick flash as a sunfish gulps down a gammarus or other
water
> bug that had randomly swam out of the plants or from under a rock or piece
of
> wood. Pretty natural.
>
> Bruce Scott
> Meridian, Idaho
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