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Tank birthday and I'm a Geezer
- Thread starter Paul B
- Start date
Paul B
NJRC Member
I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Being we are Italian we had the table set for 24 people and had all seafood, no meat. We didn't count but we normally have about 20 different seafoods.
I like it when everyone celebrates my birthday.
My wife made linguine with crabs. I caught some of the crabs but not all of them. There was 2 dozen crabs in there which I cleaned.
My fish ate some of them.
And, of course we went to Christmas Mass in Nyack by our Daughters home.
I like it when everyone celebrates my birthday.
My wife made linguine with crabs. I caught some of the crabs but not all of them. There was 2 dozen crabs in there which I cleaned.
My fish ate some of them.
And, of course we went to Christmas Mass in Nyack by our Daughters home.
Paul B
NJRC Member
Good Morning Diana. You seem to be the only one here so you can read this.
I don't know when I posted this:
This morning like most mornings I took a walk to watch the sunrise and ponder the universe.
I really like to ponder and early in the morning there is no one out. I mean out of the almost 300 houses here in this development, I never see anyone at that time of the morning.
I am not sure why because that is the time that virtually everything happens. Of course those things are too small and insignificant for anyone to think about so I guess my mind is also small and insignificant. But I like to look at these small, common parts of life that affect us all and we rarely notice.
At the beginning of my walk I noticed something walking across the street far ahead of me.
It’s gait reminded me of an old girlfriend. As I got closer I noticed it was a large bird, but I was still to far away to make it out.
Thoughts raced through my mind to try to figure out what it was. An Emu? No, New York is a ways from Australia, maybe a turkey. We have a lot of turkeys here but this one walked different. A chicken? No, to big.
It was a "pheasant". I have never seen a pheasant here unless it was under glass, since I was a little kid. They used to be common in Queens NY and I used to chase them quite often. Over the years they, like most wildlife, were replaced by pigeons, rats, squirrels and Snowflakes.
(It was actually a peacock and I googled them and found out that peacocks are really like pheasants on steroids.)
I walked right up to him and noticed it had a few tail feathers ruffled so I assumed he got into a fight with his main squeeze.
I walked past him. This area is farms and wineries and to my left is a golf course and the only wildlife there are greens tenders but to my right is a defunct farm. That farm has not been in business as far as I lived here so it is basically a large area of weeds.
I thought about weeds and how we call them pests. We call a lot of things pests and we don’t like them, but if we look close, the weeds are much prettier and more interesting than grass.
If we don’t cut the grass it gets long, stringy and leans all different directions. Then it grows these crooked seeds which become heavy so the entire plant falls over. Quite ugly.
Most of the weeds are rigid and upright, standing tall. I would imagine an entire field of bright dandelions with nothing growing in between them would be kind of nice looking.
Here we have many kinds of farms and one kind is a sunflower farm. To me, those things look like giant dandelions.
But they sell sunflowers and they kill dandelions.
It's the same with parasites. We all hate parasites and also know them as pests that we want to kill. (Humans are always trying to kill something)
We want to kill them because they are tiny and we can’t see their faces. If we could see them and they looked like our Shih Tzu or Yorkipoo and if we could hear them scream when we exposed them to copper or prizapro we may not want to kill them.
Maybe if they were larger and cuter, sort of like Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt we may try to keep the parasites and grow achilles tangs to feed them.
We also hate bacteria which is weird because we are mostly made of bacteria. Some of us are more bacteria than others.
Bacteria, along with viruses and funguses also kill parasites. Poor parasites, they just want to live a quiet life and occasionally suck the blood out of our Copperband butterfly.
Speaking about funguses, during my walk I passed many trees. At the base of one tree was this huge mushroom. There is really no such thing as one mushroom and oddly enough They are one of the largest living things on the planet. Besides some Sumo wrestlers and a girl I once dated.
The part of the mushroom we see is just the tip of a giant organism that extends for many miles under the ground. They send out these tendrils that grow in all directions looking for food and they even communicate through this entire web. Sort of like our world wide web but they probably don’t text things like lol, OMG. or ROTFLMAO.
They probably send messages more like ONAMSIATPOM ( “Oh Nooooo. A Miniature Schnauzer is about to pee on me. “)
I continued past the mushroom and smelled something vile. It was the possum I saw two days before that was run over by a car, although it could have been an SUV or minivan.
Someone must have thrown it back into the woods as it was getting sort of "ripe". Flies were all over it as were maggots. Flies and maggots are another example of pests that we humans hate.
If it were not for flies and their offspring maggots, we would be living in mountains of dead things. Think of that for a while.
Speaking of flies, near the end of this road is a rescue horse ranch and I know when I am getting close by the smell of wet horse which is unmistakable. Almost as good as rotting possum but not quite as sweet. ;Yuck
As I watched the horses I noticed they kept “swishing” their tails back and forth. I think they have long tails for the sole reason of chasing flies because I don’t think it helps them swim.
I don’t know who designed horses but if I was going to make an appendage to shoo away flies, I think I would make the thing to shoo flies away from it’s "head" instead of it’s rear end where they probably won’t notice the flies anyway. Maybe give the animal three foot long eyelashes or nose hairs.
I started to walk back and I noticed a bit of fur just where the asphalt meets the grass. It was a dead fox that I also noticed the day before. This animal has been dead much longer than that possum and was mostly skeleton. I stopped and looked more closely now that most of the smell was gone. I could clearly see it’s spine and I noticed it had a little osteoporosis and maybe a touch of Gout.
I didn’t stay there long because I wanted to make breakfast for my beautiful wife who I assumed was still sleeping and certainly not dreaming of rotting possums, horses tails or my old girlfriends.
I looked up from my ground gazing and noticed a large deer in the middle of the road about fifty yards ahead of me. She stared at me and I stared back. As she was looking intently at me I was thinking how cool it would be if I could read her mind. Was she thinking of “me” as a parasite?
Was she planning how she could eliminate me as this was after all her street and I was a common pest?
I don't know.
The purpose of this post is the same as most of my posts. It has absolutely no purpose at all.
I don't know when I posted this:
This morning like most mornings I took a walk to watch the sunrise and ponder the universe.
I really like to ponder and early in the morning there is no one out. I mean out of the almost 300 houses here in this development, I never see anyone at that time of the morning.
I am not sure why because that is the time that virtually everything happens. Of course those things are too small and insignificant for anyone to think about so I guess my mind is also small and insignificant. But I like to look at these small, common parts of life that affect us all and we rarely notice.
At the beginning of my walk I noticed something walking across the street far ahead of me.
It’s gait reminded me of an old girlfriend. As I got closer I noticed it was a large bird, but I was still to far away to make it out.
Thoughts raced through my mind to try to figure out what it was. An Emu? No, New York is a ways from Australia, maybe a turkey. We have a lot of turkeys here but this one walked different. A chicken? No, to big.
It was a "pheasant". I have never seen a pheasant here unless it was under glass, since I was a little kid. They used to be common in Queens NY and I used to chase them quite often. Over the years they, like most wildlife, were replaced by pigeons, rats, squirrels and Snowflakes.
(It was actually a peacock and I googled them and found out that peacocks are really like pheasants on steroids.)
I walked right up to him and noticed it had a few tail feathers ruffled so I assumed he got into a fight with his main squeeze.
I walked past him. This area is farms and wineries and to my left is a golf course and the only wildlife there are greens tenders but to my right is a defunct farm. That farm has not been in business as far as I lived here so it is basically a large area of weeds.
I thought about weeds and how we call them pests. We call a lot of things pests and we don’t like them, but if we look close, the weeds are much prettier and more interesting than grass.
If we don’t cut the grass it gets long, stringy and leans all different directions. Then it grows these crooked seeds which become heavy so the entire plant falls over. Quite ugly.
Most of the weeds are rigid and upright, standing tall. I would imagine an entire field of bright dandelions with nothing growing in between them would be kind of nice looking.
Here we have many kinds of farms and one kind is a sunflower farm. To me, those things look like giant dandelions.
But they sell sunflowers and they kill dandelions.
It's the same with parasites. We all hate parasites and also know them as pests that we want to kill. (Humans are always trying to kill something)
We want to kill them because they are tiny and we can’t see their faces. If we could see them and they looked like our Shih Tzu or Yorkipoo and if we could hear them scream when we exposed them to copper or prizapro we may not want to kill them.
Maybe if they were larger and cuter, sort of like Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt we may try to keep the parasites and grow achilles tangs to feed them.
We also hate bacteria which is weird because we are mostly made of bacteria. Some of us are more bacteria than others.
Bacteria, along with viruses and funguses also kill parasites. Poor parasites, they just want to live a quiet life and occasionally suck the blood out of our Copperband butterfly.
Speaking about funguses, during my walk I passed many trees. At the base of one tree was this huge mushroom. There is really no such thing as one mushroom and oddly enough They are one of the largest living things on the planet. Besides some Sumo wrestlers and a girl I once dated.
The part of the mushroom we see is just the tip of a giant organism that extends for many miles under the ground. They send out these tendrils that grow in all directions looking for food and they even communicate through this entire web. Sort of like our world wide web but they probably don’t text things like lol, OMG. or ROTFLMAO.
They probably send messages more like ONAMSIATPOM ( “Oh Nooooo. A Miniature Schnauzer is about to pee on me. “)
I continued past the mushroom and smelled something vile. It was the possum I saw two days before that was run over by a car, although it could have been an SUV or minivan.
Someone must have thrown it back into the woods as it was getting sort of "ripe". Flies were all over it as were maggots. Flies and maggots are another example of pests that we humans hate.
If it were not for flies and their offspring maggots, we would be living in mountains of dead things. Think of that for a while.
Speaking of flies, near the end of this road is a rescue horse ranch and I know when I am getting close by the smell of wet horse which is unmistakable. Almost as good as rotting possum but not quite as sweet. ;Yuck
As I watched the horses I noticed they kept “swishing” their tails back and forth. I think they have long tails for the sole reason of chasing flies because I don’t think it helps them swim.
I don’t know who designed horses but if I was going to make an appendage to shoo away flies, I think I would make the thing to shoo flies away from it’s "head" instead of it’s rear end where they probably won’t notice the flies anyway. Maybe give the animal three foot long eyelashes or nose hairs.
I started to walk back and I noticed a bit of fur just where the asphalt meets the grass. It was a dead fox that I also noticed the day before. This animal has been dead much longer than that possum and was mostly skeleton. I stopped and looked more closely now that most of the smell was gone. I could clearly see it’s spine and I noticed it had a little osteoporosis and maybe a touch of Gout.
I didn’t stay there long because I wanted to make breakfast for my beautiful wife who I assumed was still sleeping and certainly not dreaming of rotting possums, horses tails or my old girlfriends.
I looked up from my ground gazing and noticed a large deer in the middle of the road about fifty yards ahead of me. She stared at me and I stared back. As she was looking intently at me I was thinking how cool it would be if I could read her mind. Was she thinking of “me” as a parasite?
Was she planning how she could eliminate me as this was after all her street and I was a common pest?
I don't know.
The purpose of this post is the same as most of my posts. It has absolutely no purpose at all.
It's one of the best highlights of my day when you post!Same to you Diana. And thank you for always reading my dribblings.
Paul B
NJRC Member
What if Jesus had a reef tank?
Jesus and I have a couple of things in common. We both have the same birthday and like fish, but I can’t make miracles. I think Jesus must have been a cool guy, and I would probably get along with him, although he did have much more hair than I do, was perhaps better looking, and had a more likable personality.
If Jesus had a reef tank, I think it would have been fantastic and pretty easy for him.
Like most of us, he probably started with fresh water because even though the “Sea of Galilee” is called a sea, it is fresh water. However, it contains many different types of fish. Unfortunately, they are all kind of bland-looking.
Jesus would have no problems collecting fish because he could just bend down and grab whatever swam by while he was walking on the water.
I also think that, like most of us, he would eventually want a reef tank. But where would he get salt water from?
It was actually easy. Remember, in the Old Testament, God Smited everyone because they were all sinners, and many of them cycled their tanks using live fish.
But if you recall, all the good people were running away from Sodom and Gomorrah as God was destroying the bad people on Earth with fire and brimstone. Lot's wife turned around because she forgot to turn off the light on her frag tank so God turned her into a pillar of salt. I think it was “Instant Ocean”.
Jesus could have scraped off a little salt, maybe from her kneecap, and used it in his reef.
So now he had salt water but he lived in a desert so where would he get rocks from?
Brimstone, of course. I don't know what brimstone is, but I bet it would make a really nice seascape.
At first, his tank would go through the ugly stage and get overrun with algae and diatoms. In time, his fish may get infected with things like ich, urenema, or that Brooklyn disease because he didn’t have a quarantine tank. He could try a few drops of Muhr and frankincense but I’m not sure if that would work as well as Prizapro.
For Jesus, this would be no problem because he could just turn the water in his reef into Holy Water, thereby curing his fish from whatever they had. Even if that didn’t work 100% and a fish died, he could just resurrect it.
I’m not sure how he would test the salinity, but I assume he could clean the glass with that swaddling cloth he was wrapped in when he was born.
His Father, Joseph, was a carpenter, so he could make a dynamite stand. While Jesus was away preaching, his Apostles could have cared for his tank. They most likely wouldn’t mind because while they were there, Jesus' Mother Mary would make them a dynamite meal, as she was an excellent cook.
I think that’s exactly how Jesus would have created his reef tank.
Jesus and I have a couple of things in common. We both have the same birthday and like fish, but I can’t make miracles. I think Jesus must have been a cool guy, and I would probably get along with him, although he did have much more hair than I do, was perhaps better looking, and had a more likable personality.
If Jesus had a reef tank, I think it would have been fantastic and pretty easy for him.
Like most of us, he probably started with fresh water because even though the “Sea of Galilee” is called a sea, it is fresh water. However, it contains many different types of fish. Unfortunately, they are all kind of bland-looking.
Jesus would have no problems collecting fish because he could just bend down and grab whatever swam by while he was walking on the water.
I also think that, like most of us, he would eventually want a reef tank. But where would he get salt water from?
It was actually easy. Remember, in the Old Testament, God Smited everyone because they were all sinners, and many of them cycled their tanks using live fish.
But if you recall, all the good people were running away from Sodom and Gomorrah as God was destroying the bad people on Earth with fire and brimstone. Lot's wife turned around because she forgot to turn off the light on her frag tank so God turned her into a pillar of salt. I think it was “Instant Ocean”.
Jesus could have scraped off a little salt, maybe from her kneecap, and used it in his reef.
So now he had salt water but he lived in a desert so where would he get rocks from?
Brimstone, of course. I don't know what brimstone is, but I bet it would make a really nice seascape.
At first, his tank would go through the ugly stage and get overrun with algae and diatoms. In time, his fish may get infected with things like ich, urenema, or that Brooklyn disease because he didn’t have a quarantine tank. He could try a few drops of Muhr and frankincense but I’m not sure if that would work as well as Prizapro.
For Jesus, this would be no problem because he could just turn the water in his reef into Holy Water, thereby curing his fish from whatever they had. Even if that didn’t work 100% and a fish died, he could just resurrect it.
I’m not sure how he would test the salinity, but I assume he could clean the glass with that swaddling cloth he was wrapped in when he was born.
His Father, Joseph, was a carpenter, so he could make a dynamite stand. While Jesus was away preaching, his Apostles could have cared for his tank. They most likely wouldn’t mind because while they were there, Jesus' Mother Mary would make them a dynamite meal, as she was an excellent cook.
I think that’s exactly how Jesus would have created his reef tank.
That's one of the most original things I have read on aquarium forums. Great post.
My wife wanted one of those. I told her to get rid of her
Paul B
NJRC Member
Posted January 17, 2013
Some thoughts on fish health
Keeping fish healthy is a very simple thing, fish want to get and stay healthy even though they are rarely in that condition when you get them. Of course we know why that is with the stress of collection, shipping and then being placed in a tiny, bare tank with other, un familiar creatures in artificial sea water with artificial lighting that abruptly comes on and goes off then being fed an assortment of un familiar foods that don't wriggle or try to get away. It's a miracle anything lives. Unfortunately, many don't. But, luckily for us, it is easy to get and keep fish in "almost" the same condition they were in in the sea. How do we know if our fish are in great condition?
That is also easy. If they die, that is a no brainer, if they get sick, any type of sickness, that is also unacceptable as fish in the sea rarely get sick. There is a reason for that and that reason is food. Yes water chemistry is a factor but it is more of a factor for corals than fish. Fish don't really care if their salinity is a few points higher or lower than what the "experts" tell us it should be. They don't notice if the nitrates are zero or 40. They may like it better at zero but my 19 year old fish have never complained. They also did not complain when I was away and the "babysitter" let the water level go down by 7" making the salinity off the scale. The fish also didn't text me when the temperature went into the 90s or from the Hurricane Sandy, into the 60s.
No, I don't advocate letting these things happen, I also don't want hair growing out of my ears or gaining a few pounds, I don't like when my taxes go up or when I get a flat tire, but you know what? These things happen so get over it.
"But" if the fish are in great shape, they will forgive us and we can try to remedy the situation and try to change things so it doesn't happen again.
Getting fish in great shape should be a goal of everyone in this hobby that keeps a tank for enjoyment. Tanks in malls, stores or Paris Hiltons house are there for entertainment of people who like to see the brilliant colors but usually don't know a healthy fish from a plate of halibut steaks.
(I had that for dinner last night and it popped in my head)
Fish are simpler than us, (well, most of us) they don't worry about what to wear, or what other fish think about them because fish only think about three things. Eating, being eaten and spawning. (I myself also only think about 2 of those things, I won't say which two)
Being eaten is easy to prevent in a fish tank, don't add something that will eat them. So no Great white Sharks, or polar bears. Spawning is something that fish "always" do, not just some times, not just on holidays or birthdays, but always.
That is why there are so many fish. Are they spawning in your tank? Why not? Well, usually it is because they have no mate but even if there is no mate, many fish, especially bottom dwellers or fish in the damsel family don't seem to realize that there is no mate in there for them and if they are a male, they should be looking for a mate and cleaning a nest site.
Fish in spawning condition also do not get sick. "Almost" never, they also "almost" always live a very long time. Many of the fish we commonly keep should live 15, 20 or more years. There are no fish with a lifespan that is only a couple of years. Seahorses, pipefish and Bangai Cardinals have the shortest lifespan but even them should live 5 or 6 years.
Clownfish will live over 30 years, some 40 as many people keep them that long and if one can live to that age, they all can.
Why don't they? Because they are not in breeding condition. That is the main reason.
Keeping the fish in clean water, feeding them a variety of food and watching what they like on TV will not get them in breeding condition. Sometimes it will but to get fish in that condition and keep them there all comes down to food.
Yes they will live on flakes, pellets, shrimp tails and a few other things but most fish were not designed to eat that type of diet. If you want to keep your fish in breeding condition, disease free and have them live forever you need to do a little extra work. First there is that TV thing, but then you have to know what "your" fish are supposed to eat. Not my fish, not Miss Hiltons fish, but your fish. Most fish in the sea do not live on flakes so you can do without them. I feed flakes to my worms.
There is nothing wrong with flakes for keeping fish alive but flakes are dried and usually heated.
If you think that is a good diet, eat them for a month and see if anyone wants to spawn with you.
Fish in the sea eat other fish, other whole fish. They do not eat shrimp and spit out the head and guts, they do not eat a fish and spit out the guts and bones. Guess why?
Bones are made of calcium and fish need calcium just as we do. I eat fish almost every day but I don't eat the bones and guts, but I am not a fish. Fish need "mostly" the guts and bones along with the eyes, tails, scales, eyelashes etc. They are also getting the benefit of what was that fishes last meal.
As I said fish don't worry about the things we worry about because we are not fish.
When a fish eats another fish it is getting (I am making up this number) 40% of it's meal as calcium, 20% fish oil and the rest is an assortment of minerals that the prey fish is made out of which happen to be "exactly" what the fish in our tank are made out of. What a concept, a food that is composed of exactly what our fish are made out of.
Shrimp tails, squid tentacles, fish fillets and Alpo dog food are just made out of muscle tissue, lacking most of what fish need.
So if we can feed fish exactly what they are made from, they have no choice but to be in the best condition they can be.
Of course if we keep them in saw dust instead of sea water, it will not matter what we feed them and they "may" not spawn.
Feeding whole fish is very hard because they are not available commercially. I have spoken to fish food distributors about this but they don't seem to care. The closest we have is frozen mysis. Mysis are a complete food but they have a problem. a large part of them is un digestible shell and that shell is not calcium so much of that food is wasted.
Putting whole fish in a blender is just disgusting and mush of the oils are lost. (Saturday Night Live used to do a Skit with the "Fish O Matic" where they did this.
A great food is clams because we are feeding the entire animal, guts and all. A better food is live blackworms, or Whiteworms. If you feed your fish live worms a couple of times a week, and you don't keep your fish in saw dust, I can almost guarantee they will get in spawning condition (all other factors correct) Live worms are a whole food with blood, guts and all.
(I think that was a John Wayne movie) Fish eggs are another really good food as they also contain everything a fish is made out of but they also contain chemicals that will make your skimmer go nuts so they have to be rinsed very well.
For small fish like mandarins and pipefish, new born brine shrimp are excellent because most of them when they are just born are mostly oil from their yolk sack. After a few hours they lose much of their nutrition so you have to hatch them yourself. I do and also fed live worms every day. My mandarins spawn every few weeks as do my 31 year old fireclowns blue striped pipefish. I don't have to quarantine and have no use for a hospital tank, but if you don't have my tank, you may want to keep your quarantine procedures and hospital tank.
In the unlikely event that you disagree with this post, start your own thread called, "PaulB doesn't know a clam from Paris Hilton's dog and he should stick to breeding guppies in his bathtub"
Some thoughts on fish health
Keeping fish healthy is a very simple thing, fish want to get and stay healthy even though they are rarely in that condition when you get them. Of course we know why that is with the stress of collection, shipping and then being placed in a tiny, bare tank with other, un familiar creatures in artificial sea water with artificial lighting that abruptly comes on and goes off then being fed an assortment of un familiar foods that don't wriggle or try to get away. It's a miracle anything lives. Unfortunately, many don't. But, luckily for us, it is easy to get and keep fish in "almost" the same condition they were in in the sea. How do we know if our fish are in great condition?
That is also easy. If they die, that is a no brainer, if they get sick, any type of sickness, that is also unacceptable as fish in the sea rarely get sick. There is a reason for that and that reason is food. Yes water chemistry is a factor but it is more of a factor for corals than fish. Fish don't really care if their salinity is a few points higher or lower than what the "experts" tell us it should be. They don't notice if the nitrates are zero or 40. They may like it better at zero but my 19 year old fish have never complained. They also did not complain when I was away and the "babysitter" let the water level go down by 7" making the salinity off the scale. The fish also didn't text me when the temperature went into the 90s or from the Hurricane Sandy, into the 60s.
No, I don't advocate letting these things happen, I also don't want hair growing out of my ears or gaining a few pounds, I don't like when my taxes go up or when I get a flat tire, but you know what? These things happen so get over it.
"But" if the fish are in great shape, they will forgive us and we can try to remedy the situation and try to change things so it doesn't happen again.
Getting fish in great shape should be a goal of everyone in this hobby that keeps a tank for enjoyment. Tanks in malls, stores or Paris Hiltons house are there for entertainment of people who like to see the brilliant colors but usually don't know a healthy fish from a plate of halibut steaks.
(I had that for dinner last night and it popped in my head)
Fish are simpler than us, (well, most of us) they don't worry about what to wear, or what other fish think about them because fish only think about three things. Eating, being eaten and spawning. (I myself also only think about 2 of those things, I won't say which two)
Being eaten is easy to prevent in a fish tank, don't add something that will eat them. So no Great white Sharks, or polar bears. Spawning is something that fish "always" do, not just some times, not just on holidays or birthdays, but always.
That is why there are so many fish. Are they spawning in your tank? Why not? Well, usually it is because they have no mate but even if there is no mate, many fish, especially bottom dwellers or fish in the damsel family don't seem to realize that there is no mate in there for them and if they are a male, they should be looking for a mate and cleaning a nest site.
Fish in spawning condition also do not get sick. "Almost" never, they also "almost" always live a very long time. Many of the fish we commonly keep should live 15, 20 or more years. There are no fish with a lifespan that is only a couple of years. Seahorses, pipefish and Bangai Cardinals have the shortest lifespan but even them should live 5 or 6 years.
Clownfish will live over 30 years, some 40 as many people keep them that long and if one can live to that age, they all can.
Why don't they? Because they are not in breeding condition. That is the main reason.
Keeping the fish in clean water, feeding them a variety of food and watching what they like on TV will not get them in breeding condition. Sometimes it will but to get fish in that condition and keep them there all comes down to food.
Yes they will live on flakes, pellets, shrimp tails and a few other things but most fish were not designed to eat that type of diet. If you want to keep your fish in breeding condition, disease free and have them live forever you need to do a little extra work. First there is that TV thing, but then you have to know what "your" fish are supposed to eat. Not my fish, not Miss Hiltons fish, but your fish. Most fish in the sea do not live on flakes so you can do without them. I feed flakes to my worms.
There is nothing wrong with flakes for keeping fish alive but flakes are dried and usually heated.
If you think that is a good diet, eat them for a month and see if anyone wants to spawn with you.
Fish in the sea eat other fish, other whole fish. They do not eat shrimp and spit out the head and guts, they do not eat a fish and spit out the guts and bones. Guess why?
Bones are made of calcium and fish need calcium just as we do. I eat fish almost every day but I don't eat the bones and guts, but I am not a fish. Fish need "mostly" the guts and bones along with the eyes, tails, scales, eyelashes etc. They are also getting the benefit of what was that fishes last meal.
As I said fish don't worry about the things we worry about because we are not fish.
When a fish eats another fish it is getting (I am making up this number) 40% of it's meal as calcium, 20% fish oil and the rest is an assortment of minerals that the prey fish is made out of which happen to be "exactly" what the fish in our tank are made out of. What a concept, a food that is composed of exactly what our fish are made out of.
Shrimp tails, squid tentacles, fish fillets and Alpo dog food are just made out of muscle tissue, lacking most of what fish need.
So if we can feed fish exactly what they are made from, they have no choice but to be in the best condition they can be.
Of course if we keep them in saw dust instead of sea water, it will not matter what we feed them and they "may" not spawn.
Feeding whole fish is very hard because they are not available commercially. I have spoken to fish food distributors about this but they don't seem to care. The closest we have is frozen mysis. Mysis are a complete food but they have a problem. a large part of them is un digestible shell and that shell is not calcium so much of that food is wasted.
Putting whole fish in a blender is just disgusting and mush of the oils are lost. (Saturday Night Live used to do a Skit with the "Fish O Matic" where they did this.
A great food is clams because we are feeding the entire animal, guts and all. A better food is live blackworms, or Whiteworms. If you feed your fish live worms a couple of times a week, and you don't keep your fish in saw dust, I can almost guarantee they will get in spawning condition (all other factors correct) Live worms are a whole food with blood, guts and all.
(I think that was a John Wayne movie) Fish eggs are another really good food as they also contain everything a fish is made out of but they also contain chemicals that will make your skimmer go nuts so they have to be rinsed very well.
For small fish like mandarins and pipefish, new born brine shrimp are excellent because most of them when they are just born are mostly oil from their yolk sack. After a few hours they lose much of their nutrition so you have to hatch them yourself. I do and also fed live worms every day. My mandarins spawn every few weeks as do my 31 year old fireclowns blue striped pipefish. I don't have to quarantine and have no use for a hospital tank, but if you don't have my tank, you may want to keep your quarantine procedures and hospital tank.
In the unlikely event that you disagree with this post, start your own thread called, "PaulB doesn't know a clam from Paris Hilton's dog and he should stick to breeding guppies in his bathtub"