Ants

[shimanocono]

Would Ants Be Ok To Feed Fish?

[ChilDawg]

Many fish love ants thrown on the surface...but you have to remember that they can and will drown, so feed them like you would a flake food...the same rules apply.

Also, some ants may be poisonous, so you'd want to make sure that you aren't feeding something bad for the fish!

[mogurnda]

Two problems.
1) You don't know what they've been walking through, unless you're rearing them.
2) Ants release formic acid and other chemicals.
Another issue is that their exoskeleton is pretty tough. It's likely that many fish wouldn't want to bother with them.

[ChilDawg]

That's true, but I'm seeing that rainbowfish really love them. However, if they're not healthy because of the formic acid...don't feed them!

[OrionGirl]

If you are not raising them, I wouldn't feed them. Ants are resistant to a great many chemical pesticides, so can be sprayed or coated and still survive. These chemicals then take refuge in the hairs on the ant, and within spaces inside the carapace, and could easily poison a tank. Further, if you don't remove the head of the ant prior to feeding, odds are very good that the ant will be alive inside the fish for a while, and it will bite and cause harm to the fish. This is a big problem for frogs, because they swallow their foods whole. Any gulping fish would have the same problem.

As to rainbows--native consumption? The species of ant being eaten would need to be identified first. I do know that native trout don't like eating native ants--they'll hit on them, but spit them up quickly.

[Slappy*McFish]

Most ants simply don't "taste" very good to fish. Crickets are much better, IME.
Once, I had an oscar that absolutely loved to eat moths of all things..go figure. It was kind of fun watching the moths flutter around on the water surface with a hungry oscar in hot pursuit.

[thom336]

I seem to remember a thread on ants before...I'll try and find it and post a link.

[ChilDawg]

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6971

[thom336]

Cheers...I didnt really fancy the thought of looking for it, and hoped someone else would. lol.;)

[ChilDawg]

I just like increasing my post count (and helping out), and it's a day off class, so I figured that I better make the most of it! :)

[thom336]

lol

[vaheelsfan]

I think it would all depend on how hungry your fish are...OrionGirl said that trout don't eat them, but I've seen native brook trout (native to Virginia) eat them and people also fly fish for them with ant patterns...However, most of the mountain streams around here have limited food supply, and the trout will eat just about anything that wiggles, crawls, or swims.

[earwick]

Who would want to go to all the trouble to get ants and feed them to there fish plus after that you could be dealing with desease.

[Lobo.]

if you know what types of ants dont release acid (i think carpenter ants dont) then go for it!, ive tried to feed ants to my fish when i cought too many for my frog, but they ignored them b/c they didnt smell good enough or make enough movements!
as for what theyve been in, just rinse them off if you are worried about it, anything should come off the chiten exoskeletons pretty easy, and other than some sort of parisite that i dont think ants carry, i doubt that whats on them could be worse than wahts in fish food when its been unsealed for a few months by the time get to the bottom of the container

jus do some research to see what types of ants you are feeding, and if you dont want to do that, i could tell you if you give me a pic of it as i have several insect id books...just make shure i can count the number of segments on each antenae (feelers)