Feeding ants

[HrHagel]

Hi

So i've been thinking lately now that summer is arriving, to go out and get myself a nice bucketload of ants to feed my fish.

From what i've seen on discovery channel (bear grylls ftw?) they are almost pure protein.

Obviously i wouldn't get any that have been sprayed with varies things, or even ones that have been close to a poisoned area.
But other than that, is there any reason why people don't feed ants? (or that i haven't seen or heard about it)

 

[Aquanero]

I can't see any harm in feeding ants as long as they're clean and not poisonus....same as any other insect.

 

[knifegill]

No, ants contain a dangerous acid/enzyme that makes them unsafe as a fish food. I looked into this myself last year. It's formic acid. Here's another thread on this I just found and didn't read all of

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/g...ussion/85015-can-you-feed-your-fish-ants.html


You also don't always know whether or not the ant ate some poison in your neighbor's house before you caught it.

 

[Oscars]

Yea there's always poison in the neighbor's house.

 

[knifegill]

Yea there's always poison in the neighbor's house.

Exactly. People want ants dead and will put traps and bait anywhere. Outdoors and indoors. You can never know what that critter is carrying.

 

[Aquanero]

I din't know that about the formic acid! Good info I don't feed ants but it is interesting, thanks.

 

[Cichlaholics Anonymous]

just use crickets from a herp shop or breed your own roaches if you want to feed insects to your cichlids, don't risk it with wild caught bugs

 

[Modest_Man]

Formic acid is readily metabolized and eliminated by the body.

According to a study published by the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford, "There appear to be no reports of biologically produced formic acid adversely affecting vertebrates" although the bites/stings could cause some irritation.

I've fed house ants (LINK) on several occasions. My only issue was they're so small that they don't break the water meniscus and just skate off before the fish see them.

I'd be more worried about pesticides than formic acid when feeding ants (or any insect).

 

[HrHagel]

Formic acid is readily metabolized and eliminated by the body.

According to a study published by the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford, "There appear to be no reports of biologically produced formic acid adversely affecting vertebrates" although the bites/stings could cause some irritation.

I've fed house ants (LINK) on several occasions. My only issue was they're so small that they don't break the water meniscus and just skate off before the fish see them.

I'd be more worried about pesticides than formic acid when feeding ants (or any insect).

Good info Modest_Man, and thanks to the rest of you aswell!

 

[NorCaliCichlids]

I feed my little guys mosquito larvae from a bucket I've allowed to go stagnant. I just place them in another clean water bucket and then feed them as a treat.