Am I wrong about this (rant)

[duanes]

Just to narrow this down a bit.
The questioner needs to provide details about the tank and its fish to get a proper answer.
What fish are in the tank, are they shoal of neons or guppies, a Betta?
Or is it an Oscar.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/i97/dstuer/insects/dragonfly/.highres/006-1.jpg?width=450&height=278&crop=fill

The nymph the size of the one above, could totally clear a tank of neons in very short order.
And after that melee, it could grow enough to polish off a young Betta.
In a tank with an oscar, or just about any other medium size cichlid, it would be a snack for them.

In fact beside providing his or her own details, the questioner should probably ask where the person providing detail got their info from.

I occasionally see people wanting to do "species profiles" on a certain fish.
But in reading their rendition of a profile, it's obvious they have never kept, or even had tertiary experience with that fish.
They are just a regurgitation of something they read, which may or "may not" be relevant
IMO if you haven't kept that species yourself, you shouldn't venture an opinion.

 

[TwoHedWlf]

That's one of the things I miss about marine tanks, freshwater is so sterile. If you see something you don't recognize pop up in a marine tank, people's reactions will be more like "OMG, awesome! A frilled giant harlequin flatworm! It must have hitchiked in on your liverock." In freshwater, more like "OMG, MURDER IT! I don't know what it is, or what it might do but it must die! It might possibly hurt your $3 fish!"

 

[Deadeye]

That's one of the things I miss about marine tanks, freshwater is so sterile. If you see something you don't recognize pop up in a marine tank, people's reactions will be more like "OMG, awesome! A frilled giant harlequin flatworm! It must have hitchiked in on your liverock." In freshwater, more like "OMG, MURDER IT! I don't know what it is, or what it might do but it must die! It might possibly hurt your $3 fish!"

I agree
Though at least freshwater doesn’t have hitchhiker bobbits or mantises…

 

[jjohnwm]

Yes the fish is most likely gonna be just fine but I don’t understand why people are so fast to throw anything in their tank as food just because they were told it was alright. I guess people just hear what they want. Idk why I’m getting so worked up over this but I am. It just doesn’t make the tiniest bit of sense to me

Well, that's not really the same thing at all; you've switched the pitch a bit. Originally you were talking about these oddballs just magically appearing in one's aquarium, likely as hitchhikers on plants...but now you've progressed to talking about people purposely putting them into their tanks as fish food. We have largely accepted the notion that a quality commercial diet provides complete nutrition and is therefore the "best" choice. Although I tend to agree with this, probably the main reason that I avoid feeding live fish to my fish is an ethical one rather than a practical one; I simply don't like to see or cause unnecessary suffering. And as irrational as it may seem, it's easier to watch an insect quickly killed and eaten than to watch the same predator do the same thing to another fish.

I do have a sneaking suspicion that an occasional feeding of live food adds to the environmental enrichment of a predator; whether this is true or not, or to what degree, I don't know.

I also am quite certain that the odds of exposing your fish to a pathogen is exponentially greater when feeding live feeder fish as opposed to insects, crustacea, etc. Similarly, an insect intended for food that is taken from a body of water that does not contain fish is liikely safer than the same type of insect coming from a habitat that does contain fish.

I recall threads of yours in which you mentioned dropping live bait minnows left over from fishing trips into your tanks with your prized fish. If you were actually attempting to infect your fish with a pathogen, you couldn't possibly come up with a better way to do it than that...but now you're getting worked up because a mayfly nymph or other insect finds its way into the water?

That's one of the things I miss about marine tanks, freshwater is so sterile. If you see something you don't recognize pop up in a marine tank, people's reactions will be more like "OMG, awesome! A frilled giant harlequin flatworm! It must have hitch-hiked in on your liverock." In freshwater, more like "OMG, MURDER IT! I don't know what it is, or what it might do but it must die! It might possibly hurt your $3 fish!"

Lol, yep, and while some of these critters might actually harm your fish, most are harmless. My basement stock tank pond contains a leech that found its way in with some plants from my backyard pond. It was first noticed when still very small, but it evaded being eaten and has grown into a magnificent specimen well over 5 inches long when swimming. It's a scavenger, hasn't harmed or bothered a fish in the couple of years since I discovered it. My son-in-law christened it Snot, to the horror of my wife and the utter delight of my granddaughters.

Lots of these critters make very interesting aquarium inhabitants. The worth of an animal is not diminished just because you didn't pay money for it at the aquarium store. Snot's a keeper!

 

[esoxlucius]

I feed my giant gourami and chocolate cichlid, amongst other things, fattened up crickets. Fattened up with mainly fish food, but also veg and fruit. By the time I feed them they are tiny little packets of pure nutrition, and the best bit, they are something that they are likely to come across from time to time in the wild too, so quite natural. These two fish go nuts for them, it's the same with worms, again natural.

I can understand the pathogen aspect in critters which have miraculously just appeared in your tank, or the worry that large critters, such as dragonfly larvae, will eat your fry/small fish, but if you can get a supply you can trust, and your fish are of a size where you needn't worry about them being eaten, then these foods need to be fed more imo.

I know mass produced commercial fish foods give the fish all they need nutrition wise, but something's missing. I'm sure fish find it more exciting nailing live critters......as opposed to a boring old dried pellet! As jjohnwm said, it must add to the enrichment for the fish.