Crickets or Insects as food?

[molotov256]

I know that oscars like live food, but I don't want to take the risk of feeding him diseased fish from an LFS, and I don't want to take the time to raise my own. I've been reading about people feeding fish crickets from their LFS. Is this a safe alternative to live food? What are the odds of a cricket carrying a disease?

[Pufferpunk]

I feed all my fish crickets. I get 1000/3 weeks for my frogs, turtles & fish. You should be able to get you oscar to eat large cichlid pellets & krill, too.

[Bluefrog]

From what I've read (and I don't know a lot obout Oscars, but...) feeder fish actually aren't the ideal diet for oscars. Apparently they are supposed to be only for a 'treat' because they don't have all the nutrients that oscars need and as well as the fact that many do contain disease/parasites. And yes, crickets (from the several articles I've read) are good for oscars.

[tabitha]

WOW i honestly never knew that crickets could be used as fish food (well i dont have the type of fish who would eat them anyway).. thats interesting!!

[BrianNY]

There is always a risk of introducing something nasty when feeding any live food. Feeder fish can be especially bad simply because of the mess. The great thing about oscars molotov, is they will eat almost anything. Personally I think you are better off sticking with commercially prepared foods for them, and varying the diet.
How large are now, and how large is the tank?

[ferret]

I live in an apartment complex. Fairly decent one, but as everyone knows your little friend the Roach will always exist to one extent or another. Don't really have many, but when I find one I'll toss it towards the Oscars and they snap it up.

I also raise convict fry for the oscars to hunt and eat. That way I have control over the feeder population, and don't have to buy from the store. Convicts are extremely easy to raise. All you need is a 20G for the parents to breed in, and a 10G grow-out. Could get away with just the 20G but I don't know at what stage the adults will began to be hostile to the fry. Probably once a new batch is on the way.

[tennhound]

I don't know anything about Oscars but my Danios love ants and small flys. I don't feed it to them often but only once in awhile as a treat. The only problem I can see is if they were from the wild(caught yourself) is if any pestacides were used.

MARIE

[screaminbuckeye]

A wayward cricket found its way into my cichlid tank and Ozzy and Nemo inhaled the thing. My friend feeds her oscars crickets from the pet store and they go nuts for them. Just be careful about catching ones around the house. You never know what the cricket has been sprayed in or been roaming through.