Is it safe to feed feeder crickets and compost worms to my cichlids?

[cambrew]

I have fed my CA/SA cichlids compost worms and feeder crickets used for my Wife's bearded dragon and was wondering if this poses any risk to introducing parasites to the tank and fish? I have recently treated the tank for internal parasites/fluke and would prefer not to have to deal with them again.
Thanks Cam

 

[E.C.]

No, there will be no problems, but be careful for the earthworms, make sure that no soil/dirt is with the earthworms as you offer it. Wash it thoroughly, also for the crickets, same as feeding it to the bearded dragon, gutload it.

 

[cambrew]

Good to hear. Thanks for your reply E.C

 

[jiant2520]

I agree... I've fed my cichlids worms and grasshoppers for years.

 

[JOSCAR05]

When I feed my silver aro superworms I sometimes think it will give him digestive problems.


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[neutrino]

Lot of people do it and I'm not going to (again) debate a subject that's a matter of opinion. But before coming to a hasty conclusion on it you may want to consider the following:

From an INHS report

A variety of parasites and pathogens have been shown to infect earthworms. These include bacteria, fungi, protozoa, rotifers, platyhelminths, mites, parasitic fly larvae, and nematodes. Of the nine families of nematodes that have been recorded from lumbricid earthworms, most use earthworms as intermediate hosts and are mostly innocuous to the worms. During 1997 in Champaign, Illinois, we collected a nightcrawler (Lumbricus terrestris) suffering from a nematode infection that has never before been described. Within days of isolating this earthworm, it died and thousands of nematodes emerged from its body... Subsequently, earthworms infected with the same nematode have been found on two more occasions, most recently in April 1999. In all cases, infected worms died shortly after isolation, and were quickly covered with thousands of nematodes.

...nematodes are not innocuous to fish.

People have their opinions on this and culturing your own in a clean environment may be one thing. But the above is more than enough to convince me not to go out and randomly dig up earthworms and feed them live to my fish-- that's just me, come to your own conclusions.

Also, regarding an earthworm feed trial with trout:
Growth of rainbow trout fed a diet supplemented with earthworms, after chemical treatment

The results on growth rate and feed utilization efficiency of fish fed diets containing high levels of whole frozen worms suggested an adverse effect of worm incorporation, probably due to dietary energy/protein imbalance.

Main reason I have this reference is for the nutritional aspect. But it's also interesting to note they chemically treated the worms. Why do this, other than to ensure safety from pathogens?

The above are science references, not personal opinion. The feed trial thing might be debatable in that it may vary with species of worm and species of fish. But based on the potential for pathogens and parasites alone, I wouldn't/don't feed live earthworms to my fish, especially randomly collected wild earthworms-- that's my opinion. Culturing your own may be a whole different ball of wax. Worms from compost might be also, don't know-- I expect it depends on the local conditions and relative bio-security of your compost.

Again, don't expect me to engage in a debate on the science or to debate the extent of the risk. I've seen people have problems feeding worms and seen others who didn't. You can form your own opinions and come to your own conclusions...

 

[cambrew]

I after a bit more reading also I am leaning towards not using worms and just sticking to crickets which are gutloaded for nutritional purposes as well as health.

 

[jonclark96]

Interesting info on the worms. I've not heard many negatives to using them in the past. Thanks for the info.

 

[dogofwar]

I've cultured and fed red wigglers (composting worms) to my cichlids for years and would recommend them as a food.

Neut posts the same theoretical concerns about nematodes, etc. whenever there is a thread about feeding live worms. While possible, I've never experienced any nematode-related issues nor have I heard about anyone who feeds these foods experiencing them. I put this into the same criteria as oft-repeated internet-fish forum memes about the dangers of garden hoses, gray PVC and the like. Mike Hellweg, who literally wrote the book on live foods, is also an advocate of using red wigglers (among others).

Neut - have you actually cultured and fed red wigglers or are your concerns based on theory?

I wouldn't recommend worms as a sole or primary food source for most cichlids (other than, perhaps, predators) because they're over 70% protein.

I simply pull however many I need from my composting bin, give them a quick rinse in the sink and drop them in whole or torn into smaller pieces for smaller fish. E.C.'s advice to make sure all of the dirt is out of them is unfounded.

As an aside, I feed stray crickets and other bugs that appear in the fishroom. I don't feed aquatic worms...which do actually pose risks.

Matt

 

[petspoiler]

keep in mind, the earthworms with nematodes were taken from outdooors where feces from (who-knows-what) birds, animals & unknown biological contaminants are.
I can't see cultured worms having any of those risks.