While sitting at a friend's house Saturday watching the Sox game I noticed several "feeder" goldfish swimming in his 250 gallon tank. It seems his Oscar refused to eat them and now they are between 4"-5" in length. When he told me I could have them I immediatly thought of live linning them for stripers. :think:

My question is this, how long do you think a goldfish would last in salt water. If they're going to die right away then I wouldn't waste my time, but some freshwater fish can last for a short time in saltwater. I'm just not sure if goldfish will last at all.

I would never use them as bait in fresh water or in a river system because I know their use is prohibited these waters, but I figure using them in the surf on a beach front means they would never survive to breed even if they got off the hook.

30 seconds

I don't think I want to know what "his Oscar" is! :eek5:

An Oscar is a freshwater tropical that can grow to about a foot in length. Typically they are somewhat aggresive fish that prefer live food. This fish just happens to be afraid of goldfish.

You could probably get a couple of good fillets off this one. :yak6:

Afraid???
Probably just feeding him fish that are too big..
My brother had an Oscar named Zeus who was ~10" long... he ate small 2" goldfish

My fiance and I have 2 Jack Dempsy's which are smaller and probably meaner than Oscars... they Love 1-2" goldfish and they are only 6" or so long....

Tell your friend to buy smaller ones, and leave them in the bag at the top of the tank for a little bit (15min or so) and it will piss them off enough so it's a frenzy when you open the bag and release the fish....

Rock, when he bought the goldfish they were the 1-2" size and the oscar was still afraid of them. They have survived in the tank with the oscar for about a year and have grown to this size.

Thats what I thought I read...
What a Pansy @ss Oscar!!!
They sell smaller ones (guppies) that are 3/4 of an inch.. sometimes we get a few doz of those instead

When I was a kid we had two tanks, one with a Dempsey and one with guppies. You can produce plenty of guppies to feed them.

Try it, I bet it would work. Ever use a "Al's goldfish" lure ?

Like piemma said. 30 seconds (if that)

I used goldfish quite often for freshwater stripers and hybrids when I lived in TX.