Quote Originally Posted by Skiploder View Post
I'm wary of live feeder fish bought from pet stores - they are crowded together and kept in fairly unclean conditions (as a rule). If you were raising your own guppies, that might be okay - although I have heard conflicting information. On one hand, guppies are often recommended as safe feeder fishes because of their presumed to be low thiaminase content. Some people claim that guppies contain thiaminase producing bacteria, however I have never read any scientific study confirming this.
The sites I read on were under informed and mostly seemed worried about the fact that goldfish are a hardy (ish) fish that can take a 'beating' and can be kept in those unclean conditions you mentioned. Guppies on the other hand are considered more delicate and so they must be better kept to be kept alive. Conclusion: Goldfish are more likely to be sick and dirty... and also carry thiaminase. So guppies would be better.

I'm more than likely to buy live feeder fish so I'm trying to sound out what would be best of the choices presented. The above conclusion is what I turned up. I still need to sound out my local pet stores. I'm making a trip tomorrow and will be inquiring as to what they carry feeder fish wise.

Just in case. Any info on thawing frozen fish? Was my assumption right about not needing to warm only thaw?