Collected flying insects for fish?

[hobby5]

Well, as the other people said, prepared foods offer more nutrients that you can get from just feeding mosquito larvae.

What do you mean by "nutritions"? Yes processed food may have more calories, but those are dead calories. And we overfeed our fish anyway.

Sorry, but your statement is simply not true. Mosquito larvae is what fish eat in nature (not all but many). Due to the active intestine content life food it is much healthier than "dead" processed food. And please explain to me why black mosquito larvae are the best food to get fish into breeding?

And of course you can mix it with other critter, which will make the diet even better. But mosquito larvae or daphnia as a stable have worked for me over decades.

 

[King puff]

In the wild, there is way more diversity in food than there is in our backyard. Every day fish are eating prices of nuts that are in the water, uncountable different species of insects, parts of other fish, pieces of floating plant material, and much more. If you had a lake full of mosquito larvae and added 1000 plus guppies, those guppies would reproduce rapidly because of the abundance in food. Once all the mosquito larvae are eaten, the guppies are going to have to eat something else. If you lived in the Amazon rainforest and went out collecting every day, then I would understand. But collecting daphnia and larvae for your fish may make them live, but may not give them everything they need. On the otherhand, prepared foods offer almost everything a fish would eat in the wild along with other healthy nutrients. Another member made this comment to me earlier, "if you had a cat, would you feed it live mice? What about a dog?"

 

[hobby5]

Then enlighten me please, what content makes prepared food so (more) valuable? Most fish don't eat fish and all those added stabilizers in nature. If you chose one of the specialised food you have only spirulina, only daphnia, only artemia etc. And the living form of that is always better than the dead one.

Another member made this comment to me earlier, "if you had a cat, would you feed it live mice? What about a dog?"

Yes and that comment just bolsters my argument, because ideally you wood feed live mice to your cat every day. But we don't for ethics and convenience. Ever heard of raw feeding?

 

[Chief Brody]

This is why I always encourage creating habitat/actual ecosystems. I even like to include terrestrial environments in some way, even linking two tanks so the terrarium is uphill and the aquarium acts as a sump. Insects and amphibians add to the full cycle. Wait til you see my new tank it's my master opus. I'm using a flooded turle-topper which will drain into a high flow river-tank manifold aquarium below. There's gonna be alot of life in this set-up. I plan on being able to leave for long weekends without a second thought. Grow some cultures, make it self-sustaining- or as close as possible. Identify your motivation. Are you trying to keep fish alive or create art or breed and sell or what? Everyone's got their own unique objectives

Sent from my SM-G730V using Tapatalk

 

[AbbeysDad]

Then enlighten me please, what content makes prepared food so (more) valuable? Most fish don't eat fish and all those added stabilizers in nature. If you chose one of the specialised food you have only spirulina, only daphnia, only artemia etc. And the living form of that is always better than the dead one.
Yes and that comment just bolsters my argument, because ideally you wood feed live mice to your cat every day. But we don't for ethics and convenience. Ever heard of raw feeding?

Big fish eat smaller fish all the time, often including their own eggs and young.
What makes the high quality foods (not all commercial foods are the same) more valuable is that they are balanced with whole fish, shrimp, krill, kelp, etc., and fortified with vitamins and minerals. You simply don't have the diversity of live foods in your backyard to provide a balanced diet. For the same reason, ideally you would not simply feed your cat live rodents.

I am aware of the raw foodist movement, vegetarian, vegan, juicing, etc....
There are more diets than you can shake a stick at. My daughter has a vegetarian friend that was recently diagnosed as being malnourished. She wasn't eating enough different vegetables to stay healthy.

As I said in a previous post....each to his/her own. I realize that I won't convince you, but my post is for the benefit of those that may be on the fence regarding live vs. prepared. Our objective for our fishy friends should be to provide a balanced, nutritious diet.

'Food' for thought-
Omega One Freshwater Flakes:
Ingredients:
Whole Salmon, Halibut, Black Cod, Whole Herring , Whole Shrimp, Whole Krill, Wheat Flour, Wheat Gluten, Fresh Kelp, Lecithin, Astaxanthin, L-Ascorbyl-2-Phosphate (Source of Vitamin C), Natural and Artificial Colors, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Folic Acid, Biotin, Inositol, Tocopherol (Preservative), Ethoxyquin (Preservative).

Guaranteed Analysis:
Min. Crude Protein….41%
Min. Crude Fat………12%
Max. Crude Fiber…….2%
Max. Moisture…….. 8.5%
Max. Ash……………..8%
Min. Phosphorus....(0.5%)
Min. Omega 3 ……... 2%
Min. Omega 6….…...1%

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with any fish food manufacturer, live insects, or rodents!

 

[team spirit]

I am positive that everyone here has had a fly in their house at least once. Are wild insects safe for fish to eat? I feed my fish small flies that they can swallow which they seem to love. Is this ok? I feel like it brings out the instinct in them. I feel like it is fine unless the insect stings, lives in water, or bites. What are your thoughts?

 

[Byron]

I have agreed with every one of AbbeyDad's posts in this thread. There are a few things to keep in mind when considering fish foods.

Fish eat a variety of foods in their habitats. Obviously this can change depending upon the species or the habitat, seasonal availability, and so forth. But few (if any) fish have a restricted diet of just one food item. Zoobenthos (meaning animal species dwelling on or in the bottom of a water body), especially crustaceans and other invertebrates, insects on the water surface, and insect larvae are the most universal. Worms for some fish. Seeds and fruits for some species. Plant matter for some species, including algae.

The nutritional value of the above is considerable. The diets of the food critters themselves impact this. Life in a tropical jungle is very different from life in a temperate forest. "Live food" is not the same thing; the species that are "live food" are different, as are the fish that feed off them different. A diet of temperate live foods would not necessarily be sufficient nutrition for fish that live in a totally different ecological niche.

Good quality prepared foods are nutritionally equal or in some cases better than live foods that we would be able to offer. The prepared foods are most certainly better nutrition than any of the frozen foods (bloodworms for example). This is not to say that feeding live or frozen daphnia is not beneficial, but in ways other than nutrition.

Jack Wattley is recognized around the English-speaking world as an authority on discus fish. In his former monthly columns he regularly advised that a diet of prepared foods was as nutritious as any live foods, and more healthy for other reasons. Others have said the same.

Live foods can be useful to initiate spawning, especially in difficult-to-spawn species. It is not always the nutritional aspect, but the "live movement" aspect. That is not to say that live foods like mosquito larvae are not nutritious, or beneficial. But no one should suggest this as a sole food; and fish can be as healthy if not more healthy with a diet of prepared foods because the nutritional value is not the same as good quality prepared foods.

On another issue raised herein, that of flake food falling to the substrate and going uneaten...if that occurs, you are clearly feeding too much.

 

[hobby5]

Looks like we are bound to disagree somewhat

I agree that there is good prepared food out there, but imho live food from a good (not contaminated and not industrially mass produced) source is always better. It will have the same or better nutritional value and also contain all the vitamins needed. Also it has additional beneficial effects besides nutrition. I am speaking from personal experience.

The list of ingredients above contains some unnatural and problematic substances: for example wheat floor & ethoxyquin, which is a toxic pesticide. The use of prepared food is so widespread because it is convenient and cheap compared to live food and always readily available. Also I wouldn't trust any of the big names if they tell you any company makes better food than others, because they normally get paid for those statements.

How can prepared food be nutritionally better, when they try to mimic nature? The composition of insects and larvae is the same all around the world, so it doesn't matter if you catch them in your backyard or in the tropics. And yes mosquito larvae and daphnia have the perfect composition and can be used as stable. But you are right variety is always good and there are some food specialists, but the majority of our smaller ornamental fish will be very happy with it.

One advantage of prepared food, which hasen't been mentioned yet, is certainly that you don't run the risk of introducing any disease or unwanted critter and that is the imho one of they main reason it is so heavily propagated amongst discus breeders.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Just my two cents worth....I've been doing some research on bearded dragons and leopard geckos so one day I may have one and take care of it as well as it needs. A lot of the time, these are fed live insects. But from my research, they won't even get the best nutriton without the insects eating great nutrition as well. So...who's to say that insects we find outside are getting the best? Maybe they do at times and maybe at times they don't.

From what I've read for these words lizards, gut loading insects as well as powering them with calcium and multivitamins (and feed bearded dragons different vegetables) is they way.


So in my opinion a mix can probably be the best. But for steady nutrition the better quality prepared foods are a must even if it's a little bit to make sure the fish get adequate nutrition.

(I also have cats and dogs and I have fed my cats home made semi raw chicken diet, with extra things added. I got busy and couldn't make it but will again. I also plan to feed my dogs partial home made mixed with their dried prepared food. My horse well....I'm learning more about his diet still. He looks at food and gets fat...lol.)

 

[fish48]

I am bound to disagree with some opinions here. Imho, nothing beats quality live food. And yes you can feed it everyday and forget about any commercial stuff. That is what I do, as long as I have some available and my fish thank me with colour, activity, health. and lots of offspring. What exactly to feed, depends on the fish species. But for nearly all smaller fish black mosquito larvae is the very best.

top 3 live foods 2 tubifex. 3 blood worm ,

 

[AbbeysDad]

Looks like we are bound to disagree somewhat
I agree that there is good prepared food out there, but imho live food from a good (not contaminated and not industrially mass produced) source is always better. It will have the same or better nutritional value and also contain all the vitamins needed. Also it has additional beneficial effects besides nutrition. I am speaking from personal experience.
How can prepared food be nutritionally better, when they try to mimic nature?

High quality commercial foods are made from natural ingredients AND fortified with vitamins and minerals to which significant expert study has been done to formulate. You simply can't compare this to random insects and larva you might collect or culture. Oh they may make for great treats, but not a healthy stable diet.

 

[hobby5]

@AbbeysDad
After reading you, I wonder how fish in nature can survive on random insects and larva without those commercial foods Sorry, you have seen to many commercials. Point me to any one trustworthy scientific study which shows that commercial foods are better than natural live foods? Did you ever feed your fish live foods for an extended period of time?

 

[NickAu]

Whats healthier? A pellet, or a Live well fed Red Cherry shrimp, Live fat juicy mosquito larvae, Live crickets ( I buy these from a pet shop ) Bits of fresh earth worm, moths, fruit flies missing a wing ( these are a hit ) live black ants fruit fly maggots?

 

[AbbeysDad]

@AbbeysDad
After reading you, I wonder how fish in nature can survive on random insects and larva without those commercial foods Sorry, you have seen to many commercials. Point me to any one trustworthy scientific study which shows that commercial foods are better than natural live foods? Did you ever feed your fish live foods for an extended period of time?

I've been in the hobby for 50+ years. I collected and cultured live foods in the 70's before high quality commercial foods became available. I might still be doing it if the only commercial foods available were made with low quality fishmeal and grains. But nowadays we have highly nutritious prepared foods available....augmented with frozen treats.

The reason fish in the wild can thrive is because of the diverse types of food sources available in the amazon and other natural habitats. The kind of diversity that most of us just wouldn't have in the backyard...let alone due to seasonal constraints.

Again, EACH TO HIS/HER OWN. But for most hobbyists, high quality prepared foods is by far, the very best choice.

 

[NickAu]

Because processed food Is so highly nutritious and healthy for humans it must be good for animals, Right?