Is it a good idea to feed my African cichlids water spider?

[the_darkm6n]

I was just wondering if anyone have try feeding these cichlids some water spider? Is it a good idea? I get lots of these creature in the summer time in my swimming pool.

 

[christerrell2k3]

i used to feed my jack dempsey spiders... he loved em. sometimes they would fight back and he would have a good ol' time with em.

 

[Fruitbat]

the_darkm6n...

Welcome to Aquarium Advice!!

I think the insect you're talking about is commonly called the Water Strider. It is a long-legged insect of the genus Gerris that scoots over the surface of the water and feeds on smaller insects like mosquito larvae. Since you're talking about a cichlid tank then there would be no problem feeding them to your fish.

What you want to avoid are the more heavy-bodied water insects like Backswimmers which can deliver a painful bite with their strong, piercing mouthparts and could conceivably attack smaller juvenile cichlids. Also avoid the even larger Predaceous Diving Beetles and Giant Water Bugs which can also deliver formidable bites. Add the Water Scorpion (not a real scorpion) and certain insect larvae like the Dragonfly larva to the list of insects to avoid.

 

[Pufferpunk]

I feed gut-loaded crickets to my larger fish & puffers on a regular basis. They love them!

 

[snapcrackler]

Make sure you keep track of all of the spiders you bring into the house 8O

And see that they are all eaten....

 

[RogerMcAllen]

You said from your pool, you would have to make sure you clean them off really well to get the chemicals off.

 

[christerrell2k3]

Boil em!

 

[Jizoel]

Wouldn't want to kill them though before feeding them.

 

[TankGirl]

Wouldn't want to kill them though before feeding them.

Right, so maybe bugs from the pool would be a bad idea, just from being in contact with pool water.