antz

[justrelax]

anyone ever considered feeding ants to your fish? i imagine the same risks go along with ants as say, worms off the sidewalk. but if i found some in the woods that were away from the contaminates of city life, think they would work?

 

[Guest]

i throw ants in my tank all the time. their gone as soon as they hit the water and ive never seen a sick fish yet.

 

[Guest]

i have frogs and toads that eat live insect and worm feeders. I occasionally toss a cricket in my tanks for the fish. they like it.

ants on the other hand... some are venemous, which would concern me. and i don't really trust anything from outside, because of pesticides, etc.

If you want to try live foods, i'd suggest buying from a reputable pet store. that way you are sure they aren't going to damage anything. and if the fish don't eat them quick, remove them so they don't rot.

 

[Guest]

i live in ohio, and the most common ant i see are the big black kind. they dont bite or sting like a fire ant would, so i dont think venom is an issue, at least in northern ohio. they find their way into the kitchen sometimes, and when i see one, i grab it and the fish love them. i wouldnt throw a dead ant in the tank that might have been affected by pesticides, but a live, big black ant that gets in the kitchen is history. if i had seen a fish harmed by giving them an ant, i would surely warn against it.

edit:
im not meaning to contradict you(fishy), l think fla may have more venomous bugs and i would be more careful if i lived there.

 

[talloulou]

I prefer worms and crickets.

 

[Guest]

no apology needed =) florida bugs are nasty critters =)

 

[Toirtis]

Way back when, we used to buy tinned ant eggs as a regular fish food.

 

[jbarr]

Woah that's awesome.

 

[Caincando1]

I haven't tried ants yet, but my tiger barbs LOVE house flies.

 

[jibboo]

I've thrown in house flies as well as small ants (the ones that sometimes track food into you house).

I've fed them to my africans and my guaramis before I got the africans. No ill effects that I can tell.

 

[krap101]

hmm lol when i use to turn over rocks in my yard, i was amazed that there were white ants! at the time i thought they were nurse ants, but maybe albino?

 

[fish_4_all]

Now there is a thought. Another new live food to culture, sugar ants. Time to bring the old ant farm back into fashion and find a dealer that sells ant colonies with a queen. Good idea for a good food source for some fish and sugars should be safest and definately the least to worry about getting bitten by!

 

[7Enigma]

hmm lol when i use to turn over rocks in my yard, i was amazed that there were white ants! at the time i thought they were nurse ants, but maybe albino?

Ummm, small white albino looking ants are in fact termites. How close to your house were these 8O ?

And Fish_For_All, the traditional ant sold for ant farms is in fact quite poisonous and painful if bitten. Not sure if a "sugar" ant is a different species, but the ones normally sold with ant farms are actually pretty bad! I remember they had the top 50 most painful stings/bites and these little buggers were on the list.

 

[hc8719]

my fish manage on frozen foods, house flys are reserved for my venus fly trap

 

[fish_4_all]

yah, I have seen farms with those too. ussually red ants that have a nasty pinch. I have also seen a few that came with bullet ants if you know anything about them. I have seen suppliers that have a large selection of ants, even leaf cutters which would be awesome but need a really large farm because of how they grow their food.

 

[Toirtis]

I have also seen a few that came with bullet ants if you know anything about them.

I doubt that...bullet ants are completely prohibited in the US (highly enforced), and are restricted to 2-3 very secure laboratories.

 

[hc8719]

I have also seen a few that came with bullet ants if you know anything about them.

I doubt that...bullet ants are completely prohibited in the US (highly enforced), and are restricted to 2-3 very secure laboratories.

imagine what labratories are doing with the bullet ants too, probably seeing how much a dog reacts to being bitten by a hundred or so

 

[fish_4_all]

I could only find 2 sources to order them but no queen so a colony wouldn't live long so no colony.

They collect the bullet ants and milk them of their venom to do reasearch on pain relief like they do with snake venom and bees. It has a lot of proteins that could be very useful for treatment of MS and other diseases.

But that is off topic. There are many sites that have the native ants species, the farms to raise them in and certificates to get the ants and queens. If you have kids it could be a very good way to teach them about ants and have an extra food source at the same time.

 

[JohnPaul]

I believe it's illegal for queens to be sold with ant colonies (at least for the "mass market").