Feed my fish bugs??

[NatakuTseng]

Mosquito larvae are great food for fish, similar to blood worms actually. Another thing I have heard, especially among discus keepers is feeding ants. I would freeze them to kill them first, but then try feeding them. From what I have read they are rather high in protein. Just be very careful where you get the insects from, there are people out there who do still use pesticides and herbicides that can harm or kill your fish. I know a fellow who had one gorgeous show quality Green Terror, gave it a grasshopper as a treat as usual, but hitch is that his neighbor had sprayed pesticides on his garden a couple days prior, the GT died shortly after.

 

[OnyxFishies]

I've fed my fish a couple spiders and they seemed to like them. However I've read that some spider parts aren't digestable so I stopped feeding them. Plus you don't know where the bugs have been or what they could be carrying.

I don't suggest feeding wasps.

Most everything that anything eats contains some portion of indigestible stuff. This is not a bad thing. For example, many forms of fiber are not digestable by primates. Celery has a lot of fiber that can't be digested. The same fiber has been shown to be healthy for humans and many primates.. The undigested fiber has good effects on the digestive system! (within reason.. don't go eating 20 pounds of celery!) So a particular food having parts that can't be digested is not a bad thing in and of itself.

As for insects: I know that insects are prime source of food for many fish, but I worry about a few things. A fish might be perfectly happy eating something that is harmful to em. A fish species native to North America will probably eat crickets, grasshoppers, ect.. but having never come across the asian "foo-bug" (made up for this example) that resembles a cricket but is poisonous, they happly gobble it up and get sick. A fish that is native to Asia has learned (by natural selection I would imagine) no to eat the "foo-bug", so it doesn't get poisoned. Many tropical fish come from places other than where the aquarist has the tank set up. For example, African Cichlids in a tank in North America. The cichlids would proabably eat most any bug thrown in the water, including a North American bug that is harmful to em.

Sooo.. I would *only* feed my fish bugs that I know are safe for em. I realize this is slightly exagerated and oversimplfied, but it illustrates my point. I don't feel comfortable feeding a bug to my fish unless I know it won't harm them. This post is meant to be the proverbial grain of salt, however. Don't stop feeding insects to your fish because of this! Just do a little research into what type of bug you throw in your tank before you toss it in there. (Dragon fly larvae are a great example: the larvae eat small fish!) I would go so far as to say that the majority of the time you could throw any old bug in the tank and be just fine. That one time when the odd bug makes your fish sick, however, will be one time too many for most of us.

 

[Avid_Aquarist]

if you have flies around your house, swat them and give them to your fish. unless the flies are too big for them to comfertabley eat, if you have larger fish, grasshoppers and worms are also great. mosquito larva are exelent and if you have ever been to a fish show, live foods are perfered because they bring out contrasting colors, do not polute the water, do not leach color into the water (as opposed to flake foods.), are very nutrient-rich. just dont give them something they will have a hard time swallowing-whole. when i lived in california, i raised largemouth bass, i almost always fed them flies, worms, grasshopers, I even had a fish big enough that ate birds (that one outgrew my 55gal and went into my pond.)

 

[Aquarius0015]

I occasionally feed my betta Drosophila melanogaster. They are really easy to culture and breed, and if you get a strain with vestigal wings they are really easy to capture, too. Cultures are available online for about $5, but you could certainly catch some of your own if you aren't worried about pesticides or disease.

 

[Aquaken]

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Termites sound like they would be tasty, has anybody tried them?

What about fire ants, they have poison that I wouldn't want getting in my fishies.

 

[chunksofpoooo]

if you can catch a fire ant with your hands without getting stung, then im sure your fish can too (but you cant, so dont feed them to your fish). Some termites have some pretty sick mandibles; could do some damage to your fish from the inside. Which brings me to a new point; mealworms. If your gonna feed pretty much anything a mealworm, its probably best to cut off the head; the worm can do some damage in your fishes stomach