Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have read several posts about feeding a pac man frog feeder fish, my question is this....HOW would he even know they were in there? ROFL. Rupert, my pac man sits in one spot and waits for his food to be presented to him or it has to walk by for him to eat it. I think I could have feeder fish in there for weeks before he would even know, if THEN! ROFL..

Is Rupert just different or do I need to PUT him in the water dish to see them??

Nina

Actually you are better off hand feeding him the fish. This way you can control the amount of food as well as prevent him from accidentally ingesting anything you don't want him to eat.
On a side note what kind of fish were you planning on offering your frog?
Ed

Fish shouldn't be fed often though right?

It depends on the fish and whether the fish is live or dead. Warm water fish like goldfish are high in saturated fats and can contribute to fatty liver problems. Cold water fish and marine fish have a higher content of unsaturated fats and are a much better choice. I have reared horned frogs on a diet of "rosie reds" (aka fathead minnows) and moved them to shiners when they were large enough without any problems. One of the problems with pet store feeders is that they are often kept with an additative to minimize disease outbreaks. Before I purchased any fish from a pet store I would inquire to see if they added any medications to the tanks and what the medications were. There is some anecdotal evidence of copper poisioning originating in feeder fish in Pelochely (an aquatic fish eating turtle) due to buildup from fish kept in copper based medications.
There was a study performed on bullfrogs to see which food items fed as an exclusive diet the frogs grew best. The three items were live fish, earthworms and crickets. The frogs fed a sole diet of crickets (not dusted) predictably developed "MBD" issues. The frogs fed a diet entirely of earthworms developed a type of muscle abnormality and the frogs fed a diet entirely of fish did just fine as did the control group fed a diet of all three items. (Modzelewski, E.H.; Culley, D.D. Jr.; 1974, Growth responses of the bull frog, Rana catesbiana, fed various live foods; Herpetologica, 30(4): 396-405)
The thiaminase problem is really only an issue when the fish is dead. After death, there is no regulation on thiaminase resulting in thiamine deficiency. The addition of thiamine to the fish does not usually work as the thiaminase rapidly degrades the thiamine. For this to be effective, you would need to feed the thiamine to the frog in a different food item at least one hour prior to feeding the dead fish.
Parasites, I am unaware (but this does not mean they do not exist) that uses fish for one stage of its life and the amphibian for another. This means that a parasite coming from the fish and completing its lifecycle in a amphibian is slight. Most fish parasites are either using the fish as its host or are using the fish as part of stage to a different host (for which the majority are birds, and some mammals depending on the fish). This does not mean that the parasite cannot infect and encyst in the amphibian as this is a possibility. Freezing for two weeks will kill most parasites but you will need to remember to adjust for the thiaminase. Most domestically produced fish (such as rosie reds are relatively clean and can be used as feeders (personal communication, nutritionist at the local Zoo)).

Hope this helps.
Ed

Sorry it took so long to reply, I have had a busy few days.

Anyway, I really didn't even know what fish TO feed, but read the additional post you wrote and will take your advice and see what I can find.

Thanks for taking the time to write such an informative post.

Nina