Baby Crickets For Fish?

[GoldenRoses]

Hello all,

Recently, I brought home a rescued baby bearded dragon to add to my menagerie. Anyone who's owned a beardie knows what coincides... crickets. Lots and lots of crickets. Babies of this age can gobble up 50 small crickets a DAY! With all these crickets sitting around in the house, I got to thinking...

Could I feed my fish these baby crickets?

I get my crickets from a reputable breeder and are gut loaded before feeding, so the risk of harmful parasites is very low. They aren't super tiny, but smaller than the diameter of a penny in length.

My goldfish would have no problem devouring the crickets, although I'm not sure if they would be able to digest it properly. My betta's would certainly enjoy tearing it apart and the crayfish would clean up the scraps, but I don't know if they could eat the legs, antennae, etc.

They eat bugs in the wild, right? So they should be able for eat crickets as an occasional treat?

Would I need to prepare the crickets in any way? Dead or alive?

What do you think?

 

[sawickib]

I would say no, simply because the fish are to small, things that would generally ea crickets are arowana, oscars, bichirs, african bush fish, nandus nandus or even species of aquatic frog. You would really just want the fish to eat the entire thing and not feed them to vegetarians. 

 

[star4]

The goldfish wouldnt be a problem, if they were in a pond outside all sorts of insects would fall into the water and be eaten. I feed crickets purchased for my dragon to my fish (American cichlids) and turtles love them too. So long as your cricket keep is clean and you dont add any cricket droppings into the water.

 

[GoldenRoses]

Thank you for the replies.

I thought the same about the goldfish; they aren't herbivores, they still require protein in their diet. Once it starts warning up here, I may try feeding them a few crickets, to simulate the natural cycle of the wild. Mimicking a natural environment is very important to me, especially with my goldfish. Their tank has gravel that they love foraging through, live plants with a constant supply of elodea/anacharis for them to shred, and smooth rocks dipped in a homemade gel food for the goldies to pick at. I'm sure they'd enjoy the crickets aswell.

You don't think the crickets would be okay for the bettas? Even if they didn't eat it, could they not just play around and pick at it?

If I couldn't feed my crayfish crickets, what about mealworms or Phoenix worms?

Should I rinse off the crickets before feeding, or at least dip them in a bowl of tank water to get rid of any feces?

Thanks again.

 

[Tongue_Flicker]

I'd say otherwise.. Goldfishes don't require that much protein in their diet than a betta would. However, these baby crickets, do you mean pinhead crickets or those a quarter an inch long ones?

Pinheads are okay like 5 a day but not too much since they have exoskeleton that are tougher than what bettas would normally eat in the wild, yes even as baby crickets.

I doubt your crayfish would eat cricket carcass also since most non-aquatic insects are lightweight and less dense than water hence they float, dead or alive. Your crayfish will have a hard time accessing food from the surface

 

[sawickib]

I would also add that mealworms are fairly hard to eat digest the exo-skeleton, you could however feed a small and molted mealworms, which is white, however these ones do not sink like the ones with non-fresh exo-skeletons lol
 
I would a guess that phoenix worms do not sink as well right?
 
I will say i feed my nandus nandus solely mealworms, wax worms, earth worms and live fish.

 

[GoldenRoses]

They aren't extremely small like pinheads, but still smaller than the diameter of a penny. Again, I wouldn't make the live bugs at a part of their staple diet, just a treat every once in a while.

I hand feed my crayfish, so getting the food to the bottom won't be a problem.

How do you prepare the live foods, if at all, sawickib?

 

[sawickib]

Well for my mealworms and waxworms i just take them out and throw them in the tank, but i also breed them so im not really concerned with any ill effects. With the earthworms i just rinse them underwater and then feed.

 

[GoldenRoses]

Thank you!