Natural foods

[Griz]

Yesterday I was digging around in the garden and came across a large quantity of ant larvae. My immediate thought was - I'll bet my fish would love those! And did they ever gobble them up!

So, I'm wondering if others do this too, and what foods have you tried?

Of course, I am confident that no pesticides or insecticides have been used anywhere near my property and anyone thinking of doing this should obviously be extremely careful. Please, lets not get into that.

 

[abstract]

i just tried some worms from the garden for the first time last week and omg, i've never seen my tank that crazy...

this summer i'm gonna try some other types of insects and see how that goes....i'm also interested to see what types of natural foods others use...

 

[Bloo]

Sorry this is a tad off-topic, but I used to feed my hamsters live earthworms. What a sight that was ! They used to practically slurp it up while wrestling to control the worm

 

[Griz]

I think I'm going to try aphids. I noticed them starting to show up in the garden yesterday. I think mosquito larvae are another one worth trying. Fortunately it's been a dry spring and I haven't seen too many of the little vampires yet. Only a matter of time though.

 

[Fiori]

bloozoo2 - OMG OMG. I have a hamster but the thought of giving her a worm to eat Mind you - I hate worms, which was a bit tricky when I was an archaeologist.

Sorry - off-topic there guys.

 

[Bloo]

Fiori, trust me: if your hamster could speak she would thank you

But back on topic to feeding live food to fish. I would if I could but sadly I have no garden where I live at the mo, so it's not feasible. And people would think I'm nuts if I go scratching in a park. And from what I can remember (when I hand reared some birds) a tub of about 50 earthworms (at a fishing shop) cost about £10

 

[maxpayne_lhp]

I did feed some of my fish on earthworm dug out from my garden... It's cheap. but after you dig a site up, no worm will be found the next week!

 

[SirMinion]

Dried ant eggs and lavae have been used as fish food for hundreds of years.
When I was a kid in the 70s, 'Ants Eggs' was pretty much the only kind of food readily available to the casual fishkeeper other than flake.

Fresh, live ant lavea are so much more nutritious than dried, so it's no wonder that your fish went mad for them!

However, most species of adult ants exude a noxious acidic spray (formic acid) which is distasteful, or even harmful to many fish, so be careful when using live lavae not to accidentely include adults.

 

[Chaz]

NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!! YOU MAY INTRODUCE HORRIBLE THINGS SUCH AS DESIESE!!!! I HAD MY TANK RIPPED APART FROM THIS 10 NEONS 1 ANGEL SHRIMPS E.T.C PLEASE NO NO NO
ONLY prepared foods from the shop

 

[SirMinion]

NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!! YOU MAY INTRODUCE HORRIBLE THINGS SUCH AS DESIESE!!!! I HAD MY TANK RIPPED APART FROM THIS 10 NEONS 1 ANGEL SHRIMPS E.T.C PLEASE NO
ONLY prepared foods from the shop

While I agree that there is a risk, if your fish are healthy with strong immune systems, the risk from pathogens introduced with live foods is minimal and far outweight by the benefits such foods offer.

Most live daphnia, bloodworm and river shrimp is 'wild caught' from ponds & rivers (at least here in the UK they are) and I've never had problems with them introducing disease.

 

[LoachLover]

My fish enjoy earthworms cut up in small pieces

 

[eudielynn]

I am planning on stopping by the bait shop this weekend and getting 1/2 tube of live crickets for my guys. I've heard that the fish love them.

 

[SirMinion]

I am planning on stopping by the bait shop this weekend and getting 1/2 tube of live crickets for my guys. I've heard that the fish love them.

Ours certainly do!

Our local Herp store sells cricket in sizes from micro to jumbo and also locusts which our bichir loves.

Our PSG loves the medium brown crickets and the parrot cichlids are very fond of small browns.

 

[Ethos]

Would Blood worms count? I give my fish dried and frozen blood worms. They like the froze much better, but most of the time I'm too lazy to go downstairs
(All my tanks are upstairs, so when I want frozen stuff I need to go downstairs)

 

[OohFeeshy]

I feed whatever. I gave them bloodworm last night, but if the shop has any I feed them brine shimp, glassworms etc.