Mealworms

[Rex740]

Can you feed mealworms to fish? I have a bearded dragon so I have mealworms. The fish I have are 2 Mickey mouse platies, 1 Sunset/Orange platy, 1 hi-fin platy, 2 blue platies, 1 Pineapple lyretail swordtail, 2 Balloon Mollies, 2 Black long-finned skirt tetras, 2 gold killifish, 1 Florida flagfish, 1 mini ramshorn snail (Got him accidentally with some fish, it's only a cm big), 4 Cherry Barbs, 1 Farlowella, 1 chinese hillstream loach (borneo species) and 2 Dojo loaches (also known as the weather loach). So, will they eat mealworms and can I feed mealworms to them?

 

[shroob]

I've heard of them being fed to fish, but normally larger fish like CA cichlids or arowanas etc. I would be worried if your fish could handle the hard shells they have.

 

[three-fingers]

I give my fish loads of things like that for variety.

You can feed mealworms, but you'd need to chop them into small pieces. The dojo loaches would probably eat whole bits, as may the flag fish. But the other fish will only pick at the insides of the worm, the skin is too tough for them.

 

[fry_lover]

they have shells?

i was at someones house recentlym (T1karmann) and he was feeding mealworms, they seem soft?

 

[BigC]

I have fed them to larger Killifish such as Fp. sjoestedti but found that smaller species just ignore them. So the answer is yes if you intend to feed larger species such as cichlids mentioned earlier.
Regards
BigC

 

[fry_lover]

sorry to hijack, but i was on verge on doing a similar thread

I was thinking about it as an option for my Senegal Bichirs and Rope Fish (size of fish 6-8")

Could it work?

 

[three-fingers]

they have shells?

i was at someones house recentlym (T1karmann) and he was feeding mealworms, they seem soft?

Not exactly what I'd call a shell, but their exoskeleton skin is pretty, mid-large cichlids/catfish can handle them as could the arowana no problem at all.

But platies have no chance whatsoever, they cant even handle waxworms .

sorry to hijack, but i was on verge on doing a similar thread

I was thinking about it as an option for my Senegal Bichirs and Rope Fish (size of fish 6-8")

Could it work?

Easily. But I'm not sure I would recommend them as a staple or even that regularly - they are very high in fat.

I don't know if you can gut load them to give the right nutrition either...I've tried doing it with fish food but they prefer the stuff already in their tub.

 

[fry_lover]

I give my fish loads of things like that for variety.

You can feed mealworms, but you'd need to chop them into small pieces. The dojo loaches would probably eat whole bits, as may the flag fish. But the other fish will only pick at the insides of the worm, the skin is too tough for them.

lol, i dont think i can quite get my head around chopping something up thats alive, cant you just buy small ones, or is it not that simple?



Platies can barely handle blood worm sometimes, i dont think meal worm is an option for those type fish, mouths too small, unless you use a cheese grater on the meal worm lol

 

[shroob]

When my brother had a lizard, I sometimes fed my oscar a few(EDIT: Mealworms that is, not lizards ). I thought they had a shell, well they seemed pretty hard. The ones I had were pretty big, I don't know what size you were thinking of, but the ones I was feeding were about an inch if I had to guess.

@Fry_lover: You could try it, but from what I remember the mealworms floated, which could be a problem as polypterus/ropefish might not come to the surface for food. But its worth a try. (Its a long time ago since I fed them, I think they floated)

 

[Esfa]

there are "mini" ones at my lfs. They are about 1cm long and thin, I used to feed them to my abf and my congo tetras used to much them.

Edit: Yeah, they float

 

[fry_lover]

thanks Shroob

good point, i cant even remember if T1karmann's meal worms sank or not, the Arrowana's ate them so fast!

 

[three-fingers]

lol, i dont think i can quite get my head around chopping something up thats alive, cant you just buy small ones, or is it not that simple?

Depends, I've not seen them in the shops, but have seen them on the net.

My meal worms always sink .

 

[fry_lover]

there are "mini" ones at my lfs. They are about 1cm long and thin, I used to feed them to my abf and my congo tetras used to much them.

Edit: Yeah, they float

the mini ones would float i guess, three fingers has had the sinking variety i see, thats what i want

 

[Rex740]

I just threw a mealworm(about one inch) in my tank and it floated. As I expected, my golden killifish grabbed it right away. Then he swallowed it whole...

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

I used superworms for my larger fish, they really liked em. Superworms are very similar to meal worms, and after submerging them they would sink and drown within 25 seconds. I had a bunch for my gecko so now and then I'd throw some into the fish tanks. My senegal bichir, african knife fish, and wolf fish would eat em quite readily. For the fish you have, I would just stick with your regular diet as they are kinda big for those fish. Throw one in and see what they do, but remove it if they do not eat it as they will rot.