This video shows arowana feeding on various insects in the flooded Amazon rainforest

[video type=mediaplayer]http://www.wheelchairanglingandhamradio.co.uk/Insects.wmv[/video]

This 33 month old thread from our fearless founder seemed like a good one to resurrect.

Insects are excellent live food.....they are absolutely vital in thousands of food chains in diverse ecosystems worldwide.

Young Oscars have a thrill chomping down a crippled housefly or other unfortunate winged insect.

My favorites are juvenile insects (larvae) which I think of as mobile embryos/eating machines. Beetle larvae like mealworms have the added benefit of being quite tasty.......you may have seen them actually being eaten onscreen in programs like Star Trek...no wonder our fishes like them.....they're quite easy to culture at home, but it takes time. I use slices of bread to feed them with....sure beats buying the half starved ones from the pet store. This might gross some of you out, but that's all in your head.....a cultural hangup. If you think carefully about some of your other foods you probably wouldn't want to eat them either.

I also harvest other beetle grubs in my compost pile (pics to follow) however I've never been tempted to eat those.

Mosquito larvae, ant larvae and termites are excellent fish foods if you can get them. Of course size matters. Mosquito egg masses are quite easy to spot (grey floating blobs about 1/8" across)....put them in a covered jar of water..let them hatch and voila..your fry will go wild for them. Don't tell the neighbors.

Live foods like these are what your fish really want. Most of the time what we feed them looks like rabbit food.....no wonder they never seem satisfied.

pic #1 is an adult green june beetle.....the larvae develop for 2 years in rich soil....once established you can pick the size that will fit in your fish's mouth The adult beetle is not fish food.....I'm talking about the white grub that metamorphosizes into the adult pictured here.

R a N d O m

benmcfadden wrote:


How enigmatic

I get crickets to feed my O from my LFS sometimes. He loves them!

I hadn't thought of crickets....that's one I need to try.....

When they get loose in the house and chirp it's supposed to be good luck

I catch Preying Mantids and feed my O. Super neat critter, but even better observing an apex predator take down another predator. I think it gives them ability to practice their "wild" insticts: to hunt.

I should really try feeding him insects from time to time. Adds variety to his diet and it will be fun to watch him eat as well

Mine love all the bugs we'll find randomly around the house, spiders, flies any thing else unlucky enough to wander through the door and get caught.

But then they also love prawns, and bloodworms and so on, I really haven't found anything they won't eat yet, I wish my kids were more like my fish

spirogyra wrote:


Yea I normally get like 30 of them and keep them in a caged 2.5 gallon tank. You need to buy this like water gel to feed them but you just put a capful in every couple of days.

I give my O about 4 of them (depending on size) and a couple pellets. I only feed him once a day.

ohskeet wrote:


At 57 I still get a thrill out of watching insects kill each other.....long live childhood.

haha yep; the circle of life is amazing to witness.