Question about feeding cichlids live food?

[lazykiwi]

I was just wondering would be ok to feed my cichlids:

1. worms that i use for fishing (like from walmart, 7-eleven)?
2. crayfishs i catch from lake?
3. guppies from a nearby lake?
4. crickets/insects from outside?

 

[Rbishop]

Boy..are you going to get some input on this topic! Check the forum search on live foods.

I'd be cautious...you could easily bring in outside parasites, disease and contaminates. I am not saying do not feed the local live foods, just use caution if you do so.

 

[liv2padl]

in my opinion, live/wild foods are terrific supplements for cichlids .. and many other fish as well .. with this CAUTION: do not harvest any earthworms, crickets and such from areas which may have been treated with fertilizers and/or pesticides. how do you know if they are or are not? growing them yourself or pluck them from your own backyard is the only way to know for certain. any other, such as a walmart, is a risk i wouldn't take if it were my fish.

 

[sumthin fishy]

Another question is what kind of cichlids they are. Not all will benifit from a protien rich diet.
The following quote, by Daveedka, was in response to an oscar question, but has information relavant to your question.

I have no qualms at all with catching bugs, nightcrawlers and many other types of wild caught food. I rinse it carfully and do not bring in anything that was dead when I found it. I certainly don't trust pellet food any more than I do my home caught stuff. There are enough contaminants that go into FDA inspected human food that I'm sure the packaged fish food is at risk as well.

There is no doubt In my mind that these fish like to hunt, and should be be given live samplings as part of their diet. My personal reccomendation for feeder fish is home raised Guppies or convicts. Goldfish (Comets) are heavy on the fat and cartiledge side and low on the nutrition side. additionally goldies are not tropical fish and It seems to me it makes more sense to feed similar type fish to what an Oscar may find in the wild. In addition to feeder fish, I raise snails for my cichlids, also ghost shrimp. I also collect earthworms, crayfish (Be sure to QT them for several weeks) Tadpoles and frogs. Occasionally I'll feed the flies or crickets, but my Oscar has a different personality than tank raised fish and it's a little harder to feed him things that can swim to the edge and crawl out. Anything that you don't raise yourself should be rinsed and quaratined. I hear good and bad things about Blackworms, I have fed them to my fish but really Blackworms are small and For the occasional treat I find them to be a bit of a pain.