Raising fish

[New Mutant]

I can't find any feeder fish that aren't minnows or goldfish at pet stores near enough to my house, my mom is getting tired of driving me to the pet store every two days, and my snakes will only eat live prey. How difficult/cost-efficient would it be to raise my own fish? What species would be best?

[infernalis]

Guppies breed fast and make lots of babies..

You can have a fairly large colony of guppies in a relatively small tank too.

[New Mutant]

Sweet. I read that they eat their own young sometimes. Would there be enough left for Percy and Luke when the parents are done?

[infernalis]

you put in a partition and lots of cover for the babies to hide.

Most all aquatic stores sell the partition kit.

[Selkielass]

I haven't had any trouble with the adults eating the babies that I've noticed. Do provide lots of cover and feed several small meals a day if possible- the babies grow faster.

I get about 20 babies a month per female, but it takes about a month for them to grow to a size worth feeding. I don't know if Its really worth it, from a food standpoint, but If I wasn't feeding my snakes my tank would quickly become *way* overpopulated.

[New Mutant]

Could someone post a list of small, easy-breeding fish that are available in the pet trade and suitable for serpentine consumption? I want to keep my options open, and am thinking about setting up a community tank with several species that are pleasing both to the human eye and the snake's stomachs.

[guidofatherof5]

Here's two:
Fancy or normal guppies and Black mollies. The Mollies come is some very beautiful colors.

[mustang]

now how do you keep the snake from eating enough then just taking them out of the water just to kill them?(as stephen allready said on a diff. post)

[New Mutant]

now how do you keep the snake from eating enough then just taking them out of the water just to kill them?(as stephen allready said on a diff. post)

Could you re-state that? I don't understand.

[Stefan-A]

Could you re-state that? I don't understand.
It's a reference to something I said a while back in regards to a permanent water feature with live fish (if I remember correctly), which was more or less that there's a risk that once the snake is full, it will keep catching fish without any intentions of actually eating them.

His question seems to be, how do you prevent that from happening?

[infernalis]

In my humble opinion, keep your fish separate so YOU have full control over when and how much the snake eats.

Garter snakes will commonly overfeed if given the opportunity.

[New Mutant]

I was going to put them in a separate tank. I guess I didn't know I needed to state it? I have trouble knowing what's going on in other people's minds, so sometimes I don't give enough information.

[infernalis]

actually it was a combination of the posts made that led me to think you wanted to keep all the guppies in some sort of water feature. ;)