Quote:
Originally posted by Bill Cody:
Gambusia are predatory on anything living that is small enough to fit into their mouth. I think they eat more newly hatched fish fry than fish eggs. Fish fry quickly grow beyond edible size for Gambusia, but for a short period Gambusia eat lots of pelgic fry. The most susceptable fry are non- sunfish/bass fry. Sunfish/bass fry have parental guarding and once they leave the nest, they are probably too large for Gambusia to injest. Most vulnerable fry would be minnow fry and other fish that are not nest builders.

Deb, put some newly hatched fathead fry in an aquarium with adult Gambusia and you can verify my comments.
That's sounds like a double-whammy survival advantage for Gambusia over small minnows like FH - live birth that produces "advanced" fry (which I assume aids in increasing the % living to adulthood) and a propensity to eat small fry from similarly-size species of minnow, which ought to reduce their competition to some extent.

"Live like you'll die tomorrow, but manage your grass like you'll live forever."
-S. M. Stirling
[Linked Image from i.pinimg.com]