Posted by bloomindaedalus on May 11, 2003 at 15:36:12:
In Reply to: What exactly is a "clean" fish? posted by hredder on May 10, 2003 at 23:19:36:
clean may also refer to a parasite load carried by wild-caught fish or fish treated badly (like many farm-raised and pet store sold gold fish and guppies)
clean may also refer to copper-free fish. many fish farms use a copper based solution to cut down on ick and other fish "diseases"
The residue of these chemicals in the fish's gut may cause illness in animals which eat them as they act as poison.
I agree that bait store minnows are probbaly a better choice than pet store fish but even these should be "cleaned" by keeping them alive for a wek or so and feeding them well (many bait and feeder fish are starved before they are sold)
the best plan is raise your own minnows (its also cheape rin the long run if you use a lot of them)
