Bagworms as fish food?

RazzleFish

RazzleFish

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Oct 28, 2009
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So for the last few years one of my 25 year old arbovitaes has had a case of bagworms. Up until this year I had no idea what they were but they have started to kill the tree so I looked them up. Hopefully the tree will survive until next spring ince they are too old to kill with chemicals. But they are still small I figured, why not feed a few to my fish. I don't offer very much live food as it's a pita to keep most things but these worms look very fat and they have been feeding off of a healty (until now) arbovitae that has not had any chemicals or even fertilizer added to it since it was planted. I thought I'd ask here before I feed them since I do not know nor can I find any info about them being toxic but since the arbovitae is not toxic I figure they should be alright. Also they have fairly large mouthparts, should I remove these before feeding?

PS: I am only feeding a few small angelfish and some large tetras so I will most likely have to cut them in half so that my fish can eat them.

Thanks for any info!
Razz
 
Nobody has tried this?
 
I dont know what bagworms are, but if they actually eat the pulp of the tree then you might want to do some research. Most people would never know, but many trees are actually toxic. If the one that theyre feeding on contains toxins then it could be transfered to your fish. If the tree isnt toxic then i cant think of any reason not to feed it to them, especially since the worms have never been exposed to chemicals or fertilizers.

Heres a list of poisonous plants to help get you started. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_poisonous_plants
 
It's not on that list but I've been seeing mixed views from various sites. Some say it's not toxic others say it's lethal. I have also found on some fishing forums that peole use these as bait with mixed results but I doubt any fishermen have checked up on a fish that ate one. I do know that birds love these things. Finches spend hours hovering around the tree picking off worms but I don't know if this is a good indication which is why I asked here.
 
Birds can build up an immunity to most plant toxins by eating little bits of it over the years. I wouldnt go by that if i were you. If in doubt id probably opt to err on the safe side and not use them. If you want to test them out you could set up a tank with some rosy reds or other feeder fish and see how they react to it, though im sure many people wouldnt consider that to be very humane. Personally, id do that before trying them in my show tanks.
 
conifers are bad news for tanks, right? since you found them munching on a conifer, i wouldn't even try
 
tru but fish live in streams in pine forests (which means any sap from the trees is washed away)

so you would have to make sure by testing it on another (single) fish
 
true, but tropical fish don't live in pine forests

edit: ahh heck, we're creatures of science! try it out on a fish and post your results :thm:
 
Well I think I'll opt out of a test on my display tanks. If I can find any space for a 10g maybe I'll test it! I just don't want to risk it!
 
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