Dave Legacy
Fish Crazy
Hi everyone,
As some of you may already know, I've been investing a little bit of time experimenting with several different types of feeder insects and their compatibility with Archerfish. At this time I'm only keeping Toxotes jaculatrix, so I can only confirm that these feeders are compatible with T. jaculatrix. I am assuming that these feeder insects would be equally compatible with other members of the Toxotidae family, but I have not been able to confirm it.
Here are a list of proven edible feeder insects:
Feeder Insects
Common (Brown) Feeder Cricket
(Acheta domestica)
Crickets are one of the most common feeder insects and can be found in just about any pet store that carries reptiles. They’re active insects that draw a lot of attention from your archers and an excellent choice of feeder given they are small enough for your archers to eat.
Crickets have a life span of about 8-10 weeks and are considered difficult to breed. Due to the low price of crickets, Average of 0.04USD/each, I recommend making weekly purchases and storing them rather than breeding. A container giving them enough room as to not be bunched together with stacks of egg carton will suffice. Feeding your crickets fresh vegetables every 24-hour period will keep them well nourished and hydrated without having to offer an addition water source.
Crickets have a decalcifying effect on its consumer so it’s important to feed your crickets a highly calcium fortified diet before offering them to you archers to counter-act the decalcifying affects; this technique is called, “gutloadingâ€. If your archers are already getting a highly calcium fortified diet, and crickets are not a staple diet, I’d recommend gutloading your crickets with another important nutritional food item that your archers don’t get as often such as vegetable matter. A cricket’s digestive system cannot handle high concentrations of calcium and will die within approximately 48 hours of consumption. Separate crickets to be gutloaded in a smaller container with the gutload food of your choice for approximately 12 hours, before offering to your fish, for best results.
Wax Worm
(Galleria mellonella)
The Wax Worm is the larva of the Greater Wax Moth and is readily available at most pet stores that carry reptiles. It’s a small, stout, soft-bodied larva that is easily consumed, but known for it’s high fat content. I’m not too sure on what the effects would be on an archerfish if fed exclusively for an extended period of time, but I’d recommend offering them no more than once a week to play on the side of caution. I consider wax worms to be a treat and not a staple diet. Wax worms are kept in the refrigerator to delay their metamorphosis into a moth.
Mealworm
(Tenebrio molitor)
The Mealworm is the larva of the Mealworm Beetle (which might also be a good feeder, yet not confirmed), as species of Darkling beetle, and is readily available in most pet stores that carry reptiles. They are high in fat and have a hard exoskeleton, which makes them difficult to digest and has led to gut impaction and death in reptiles/amphibians. The question remains whether or not the exoskeleton of mealworms is harder to digest than that of crustaceans and if gut impaction will occur in fish. When feeding mealworms to my archers, I’ve chosen the ones that had recently molted (softer, and lighter in color) and were the most appropriate size to be consumed with ease. Mealworms are edible, but are my least favorite choice of feeder due to potential risk and personally do not feed them to my archers. Mealworms are also often kept in the refridgerator to delay the metamorphic process.
Silkworm
(Bombyx mori)
The Silkworm is the larva of a Silk Moth from the family Bombycidae. Most of us know it for being the larva that produces silk. Silkworms are soft-bodied caterpillars that are a high source of Calcium, Protein, Iron, Magnesium, Sodium, and Vitamins B1, B2, and B3, which makes them one of the best feeder insects. On top of their high nutritional value they have a very low fat content. They’re also excellent climbers, unlike all the other feeders on this list, so they’re perfect for a realistic biotope paludarium with overhead branches. Best of all they’re perfectly safe/edible for our archers.
Silkworms aren’t commonly stocked at your pet/reptile stores and will probably have to be ordered from a silkworm breeder via the internet. Silkworms can be purchased in pre-packaged containers with food enough food to keep them alive for approximately 2 weeks. They don’t require any care, but I recommend keeping them at a temperature of about 80F to maximize their growth rate. Silkworms can also be purchased in a variety of sizes (including eggs), in various quantities, with synthetic silkworm chow also avaliable which provides nutrition as well as hydration. They can also eat fresh mulberry leaves if available, but will require fresh leaves on a daily basis.
â€Match the Hatchâ€
It’s always important to size up your feeder insects with the size of your archer’s mouth to avoid choking. Typically your archer will continue to bite the prey until they can line it up with their throat lengthwise to ease swallowing. Crickets will sometimes lose legs when being consumed, but most feeder insects will be consumed whole. I don’t use anything longer than the length of my archer’s jaw, and nothing wider than the spread of my archer’s eyes. Archerfish mouths are deceivingly large, so you shouldn’t have any issues as long as you approximate size based off of my simple rules.
Wild Caught Insects
Wild caught insects should not be fed to you archers unless you’re 100% sure they’re pesticide free. Even then there is a risk that the insects have fed on a plant that is toxic to your archerfish. You should avoid feeding wild caught insects all together to play on the side of caution.
Final Notes
I’ve personally fed every species of feeder insect on this list to my T. jaculatrix, without any negative affects, while maintaining excellent health and growth. However, I do not feed my archers a strict diet of insects. I feed a staple diet of Hikari Cichlid Gold floating pellets and frozen foods with the occasional feedings of live feeder insects to spice up their diet and stimulate natural feeding behavior. When feeding a group of archers try to size all your feeders based on the mouth of the smallest individual in the group. Dump all of the feeders into the tank simultaneously to ensure the entire shoal gets fed evenly and reducing the risk of overfeeding an individual fish.
Check back periodically for updates to this list as my experimentation continues!
Coming Soon…
Guyana Orange-Spotted Roach
Blaptica dubia
B. dubia is a South American roach with a high meat-to-shell ratio. They’re a livebearing species, reaching approximately 1.75†at maturity, and easy to breed. I’ve just obtained a starter colony of 30 individuals and should have my first round of nymphs in 2-3 months. I’ll begin edibility testing when my first nymphs reach appropriate size.
David Tong
(Dave Legacy)
As some of you may already know, I've been investing a little bit of time experimenting with several different types of feeder insects and their compatibility with Archerfish. At this time I'm only keeping Toxotes jaculatrix, so I can only confirm that these feeders are compatible with T. jaculatrix. I am assuming that these feeder insects would be equally compatible with other members of the Toxotidae family, but I have not been able to confirm it.
Here are a list of proven edible feeder insects:
Feeder Insects
Common (Brown) Feeder Cricket
(Acheta domestica)
Crickets are one of the most common feeder insects and can be found in just about any pet store that carries reptiles. They’re active insects that draw a lot of attention from your archers and an excellent choice of feeder given they are small enough for your archers to eat.
Crickets have a life span of about 8-10 weeks and are considered difficult to breed. Due to the low price of crickets, Average of 0.04USD/each, I recommend making weekly purchases and storing them rather than breeding. A container giving them enough room as to not be bunched together with stacks of egg carton will suffice. Feeding your crickets fresh vegetables every 24-hour period will keep them well nourished and hydrated without having to offer an addition water source.
Crickets have a decalcifying effect on its consumer so it’s important to feed your crickets a highly calcium fortified diet before offering them to you archers to counter-act the decalcifying affects; this technique is called, “gutloadingâ€. If your archers are already getting a highly calcium fortified diet, and crickets are not a staple diet, I’d recommend gutloading your crickets with another important nutritional food item that your archers don’t get as often such as vegetable matter. A cricket’s digestive system cannot handle high concentrations of calcium and will die within approximately 48 hours of consumption. Separate crickets to be gutloaded in a smaller container with the gutload food of your choice for approximately 12 hours, before offering to your fish, for best results.
Wax Worm
(Galleria mellonella)
The Wax Worm is the larva of the Greater Wax Moth and is readily available at most pet stores that carry reptiles. It’s a small, stout, soft-bodied larva that is easily consumed, but known for it’s high fat content. I’m not too sure on what the effects would be on an archerfish if fed exclusively for an extended period of time, but I’d recommend offering them no more than once a week to play on the side of caution. I consider wax worms to be a treat and not a staple diet. Wax worms are kept in the refrigerator to delay their metamorphosis into a moth.
Mealworm
(Tenebrio molitor)
The Mealworm is the larva of the Mealworm Beetle (which might also be a good feeder, yet not confirmed), as species of Darkling beetle, and is readily available in most pet stores that carry reptiles. They are high in fat and have a hard exoskeleton, which makes them difficult to digest and has led to gut impaction and death in reptiles/amphibians. The question remains whether or not the exoskeleton of mealworms is harder to digest than that of crustaceans and if gut impaction will occur in fish. When feeding mealworms to my archers, I’ve chosen the ones that had recently molted (softer, and lighter in color) and were the most appropriate size to be consumed with ease. Mealworms are edible, but are my least favorite choice of feeder due to potential risk and personally do not feed them to my archers. Mealworms are also often kept in the refridgerator to delay the metamorphic process.
Silkworm
(Bombyx mori)
The Silkworm is the larva of a Silk Moth from the family Bombycidae. Most of us know it for being the larva that produces silk. Silkworms are soft-bodied caterpillars that are a high source of Calcium, Protein, Iron, Magnesium, Sodium, and Vitamins B1, B2, and B3, which makes them one of the best feeder insects. On top of their high nutritional value they have a very low fat content. They’re also excellent climbers, unlike all the other feeders on this list, so they’re perfect for a realistic biotope paludarium with overhead branches. Best of all they’re perfectly safe/edible for our archers.
Silkworms aren’t commonly stocked at your pet/reptile stores and will probably have to be ordered from a silkworm breeder via the internet. Silkworms can be purchased in pre-packaged containers with food enough food to keep them alive for approximately 2 weeks. They don’t require any care, but I recommend keeping them at a temperature of about 80F to maximize their growth rate. Silkworms can also be purchased in a variety of sizes (including eggs), in various quantities, with synthetic silkworm chow also avaliable which provides nutrition as well as hydration. They can also eat fresh mulberry leaves if available, but will require fresh leaves on a daily basis.
â€Match the Hatchâ€
It’s always important to size up your feeder insects with the size of your archer’s mouth to avoid choking. Typically your archer will continue to bite the prey until they can line it up with their throat lengthwise to ease swallowing. Crickets will sometimes lose legs when being consumed, but most feeder insects will be consumed whole. I don’t use anything longer than the length of my archer’s jaw, and nothing wider than the spread of my archer’s eyes. Archerfish mouths are deceivingly large, so you shouldn’t have any issues as long as you approximate size based off of my simple rules.
Wild Caught Insects
Wild caught insects should not be fed to you archers unless you’re 100% sure they’re pesticide free. Even then there is a risk that the insects have fed on a plant that is toxic to your archerfish. You should avoid feeding wild caught insects all together to play on the side of caution.
Final Notes
I’ve personally fed every species of feeder insect on this list to my T. jaculatrix, without any negative affects, while maintaining excellent health and growth. However, I do not feed my archers a strict diet of insects. I feed a staple diet of Hikari Cichlid Gold floating pellets and frozen foods with the occasional feedings of live feeder insects to spice up their diet and stimulate natural feeding behavior. When feeding a group of archers try to size all your feeders based on the mouth of the smallest individual in the group. Dump all of the feeders into the tank simultaneously to ensure the entire shoal gets fed evenly and reducing the risk of overfeeding an individual fish.
Check back periodically for updates to this list as my experimentation continues!
Coming Soon…
Guyana Orange-Spotted Roach
Blaptica dubia
B. dubia is a South American roach with a high meat-to-shell ratio. They’re a livebearing species, reaching approximately 1.75†at maturity, and easy to breed. I’ve just obtained a starter colony of 30 individuals and should have my first round of nymphs in 2-3 months. I’ll begin edibility testing when my first nymphs reach appropriate size.
David Tong
(Dave Legacy)
. I never thought that was to counteract any effects of the crickets, I thought it was just as a calcium supplement for the reptiles.
