crickets good food???

[alpha5115]

are crickets good food for oscars??? and mealworms, waxworms, red worms, nightcrawlers, butterflies, praying mantises, and grasshoppers. just wonderin because i want them to have a varied diet.

[leveldrummer]

most of that stuff is probably ok. but if your buying them at stores, they wont offer much for nutrition. i would stay away from the butterflies, the mantises, and the grasshoppers. crickets would be ok from time to time, but you should feed them something for a couple days first (corn meal is great) the wax worms have a hard shell made of citon (i can rememebr how to spell it) but it can cause constipation, so dont give them often at all. instead of catchin all these bugs. go to the store and buy a varied diet for them. frozen foods go a long way, krill, bloodworms, flakes, pellets, everything they offer, that will be varied enough with out risking accidental poisoning. (thats why i said no to the butterflies and the grasshoppers)

[leveldrummer]

forgot to add, if you get a mantis, keep it as a pet by itself, feed it 1/4" crickets, keep it in a small tank, and spray a fine mist in it everyday. (till if forms water beads all over everything) you will be suprised how cool of a pet they make. you can pick them up and everything.

[alpha5115]

what about the meal worms and the nightcrawlers and the red worms???

[leveldrummer]

meal worms have the same shell as wax worms, and hard worms do. im not sure about the night crawles and red worms, i would think the worms them selves are ok, but like i said before, you dont know what the worm has been eating. most are sold for fish bait, so their diet isnt based on nutrition, so there is no telling. i would just stick with as much store bought stuff as possible. (fish store, not bait store)

[zenyfish]

I would say all are ok ... except I'd let the mantis go, I have a soft spot for them.

[swordtail72]

Hey! I feed my fish crickets, night crawlers, wax worms, meal worms & minnows that I get from a bait store. I only feed them these as a treat, maybe 1-2 times a week. I feed them cichlid pellets & sticks as a staple diet.

[ron v]

Originally Posted by swordtail72

minnows that I get from a bait store.

Be carefull. Disease and parasites.

[Cichlid Man]

Butterflies are poisenous to most fish, but the other things should be fine.(Apart from the mantid)

[zenyfish]

I'm not sure all butterflies are poisonous.

The Monarch butterfly larva accumuates toxins from eating milkweeds. That species certainly should be avoided.

There are many species of non-poisonous butterfly ... but seperating them may take someone with expertise.

[leveldrummer]

Originally Posted by zenyfish

I'm not sure all butterflies are poisonous.

The Monarch butterfly larva accumuates toxins from eating milkweeds. That species certainly should be avoided.

There are many species of non-poisonous butterfly ... but seperating them may take someone with expertise.

your right, not all are poisonous, but its really not worth the risk, just because your too cheap to buy food... i wouldnt feed anything intended for bait. there is no nutrition in it, live foods from pet shops are usually ok, but like i said above, certain foods have draw backs and will not make a good staple, infact they can cause problems.

[zenyfish]

Originally Posted by leveldrummer

your right, not all are poisonous, but its really not worth the risk, just because your too cheap to buy food... i wouldnt feed anything intended for bait. there is no nutrition in it, live foods from pet shops are usually ok, but like i said above, certain foods have draw backs and will not make a good staple, infact they can cause problems.

As far as butterfly, I agree it's not worth the risk.

But you have no basis in stating that there's is no nutritional value in live bait foods, that simply is not true. It's only your opinion.

Protein from an earthworm is still composed of the same organic molecule regardless of what it has been fed. Live foods have far more nutritional value than anything processed.

[leveldrummer]

Originally Posted by zenyfish

As far as butterfly, I agree it's not worth the risk.

But you have no basis in stating that there's is no nutritional value in live bait foods, that simply is not true. It's only your opinion.

Protein from an earthworm is still composed of the same organic molecule regardless of what it has been fed. Live foods have far more nutritional value than anything processed.

no its not opinion, im just stating that most BAIT foods arent fed well, its a good idea to "gut load" with something more nutritional. go to a bait store and look in their cricket box and see if they even feed the little things. it would take a couple days for them to clear thier little cricket bowels. i was just saying that feeder items are far more superior to bait. no one cares about bait, just think of the poor conditions of feeder fish. now think about how they take care of the bait.... im not sure about worms, as i said above, but insects are mainly cariton, the hard shell, the goo that makes up the rest of them doesnt carry much nutrition either, just because its proteins doesnt mean its that great. thats why you have to look at the food they eat. thats all i was saying. thanks for gettin all crazy anyway.

[Georgia Peach]

Originally Posted by leveldrummer

forgot to add, if you get a mantis, keep it as a pet by itself, feed it 1/4" crickets, keep it in a small tank, and spray a fine mist in it everyday. (till if forms water beads all over everything) you will be suprised how cool of a pet they make. you can pick them up and everything.

matises are cool! I had one that lived on my stick plant all of last summer - he never left the porch!

[zenyfish]

"but insects are mainly cariton, the hard shell, the goo that makes up the rest of them doesnt carry much nutrition either"

What you don't seem to understand is that just as we need fiber in our diet, fish do also. They get it from plants as well as animals like shrimp and insects (the "hard shell" or exoskeleton).

The "goo" is protein, same as a piece of beef that you would eat. In different parts of the world, insects are eaten by humans as a source of protein.

[leveldrummer]

Originally Posted by zenyfish

"but insects are mainly cariton, the hard shell, the goo that makes up the rest of them doesnt carry much nutrition either"

What you don't seem to understand is that just as we need fiber in our diet, fish do also. They get it from plants as well as animals like shrimp and insects (the "hard shell" or exoskeleton).

The "goo" is protein, same as a piece of beef that you would eat. In different parts of the world, insects are eaten by humans as a source of protein.

yes they are eaten, but those insects usually arent STARVED for a couple weeks before they are eaten, i was just suggesting gut loading, look it up, it much better for your fish then feeding them dying bait. and no, chitin (not cariton) is not fiber, it does the same things to animals (like your fish) as cheese does to humans, it stops them up, wax worms and other hard shelled worms also have it... im not saying that feedin this is bad, its fine, but if its the staple the fish will die. get it? it will cause a blockage in their colon, that will result in many many problems. this is not an opinion, im just letting this person know that if they want to feed bait to their fish, to feed the bait something first, and dont feed the fish nothing but crickets (or any other hard shelled insect) and i think the processes foods are much better too. do you realize how much those food companies spend a year in research to get a good blend of vitamins and proteins and everything a fish needs? they arent gonna sell food that will kill your fish, so you dont buy anymore food!!

[zenyfish]

Originally Posted by leveldrummer

do you realize how much those food companies spend a year in research to get a good blend of vitamins and proteins and everything a fish needs?

Hah! How naive ... that's what they want you to think.

How much profit do you think there is in fish food? It's not like Microsoft selling new software. Where is this research money coming from?

Processed fish foods is all pretty much similiar. Read the ingredients: fish meal.
Sure some'll give you a bit more spirulina, some more shrimp ... minor differences. Sure some'll put some vitamins here and there ... all pretty similiar.

[leveldrummer]

so now its a huge conspiracy? thats what they want you to think? they are all pretty similar because thats what keeps fish alive without giving them and impacted colon. and im sure there is a HUGE profit in fish food, since its basically bread crumbs and sells for 8-20$ a can.

[RockabillyChick]

i think all carniverous fish should be fed live foods. but you should raise them yourself and gut-load them before feeding to your fish. earth worms are great, and crickets, and oscars do like meale worms, shrimp, krill, brine shrimp, etc. are all great, frozen or live.

[zenyfish]

Originally Posted by leveldrummer

so now its a huge conspiracy? thats what they want you to think? they are all pretty similar because thats what keeps fish alive without giving them and impacted colon. and im sure there is a HUGE profit in fish food, since its basically bread crumbs and sells for 8-20$ a can.

No conspiracy, just the bottom line from a business perspective ... the profits are invested into advertising to generate more sales.

It's pointless to continue this debate, but I want to point out your flawed logic.

First you try to convince me fish food is the result of tons of expensive research resulting in an expensive product.

Then you try to convince me it's only "bread crumbs" and it's an inexpensive product resulting in hugh profits.

I'm not saying processed food is bad, but it doesn't compare to live food. I do understand your point about hard shell worms constipating fish, especially herbivours.