WORMS WORMS WORMS - GOOD OR BAD FOR YOUR CICHLID ?

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Pufferpunk;4991187; said:
Meal/superworms have a hard outer shell (chiton) that is indigestible & will cause serious constipation. They're really not good even for reptiles.
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x2 Most people will forget this small fact when feeding copious amounts.

I also don't feed waxworms but very spareingly as they're phosporouse levels are very high and will bond with calcium to simply pass threw w/out utilization.. why alfalfa hay is bad for most herbivoure, unless offered calcium suppliments...

As already said.. variety is always key in any fishes diet. the actual amount of nutrition in the size of the mealworm makes me feed Nightcrawlers as a main source of live food. my smaller fish also enjoy live black worms. along with a well rounded mix of pellets and frozen foods.

And the question why to add live foods to a diet for many reasons. Pellets lack a few things.. one of which is unprocessed vits/mins and proteins and fats... live foods also offer stimulation and offer the fish a chance to exercise it's body and brains.

Live foods in and of themselves are not bad, Ignorance of why you should and shouldn't feed them is.

People throwing disease infested bags of goldfish into RBP tanks for years has given live foods a bad wrap. When most seriouse breeders utilize and maintain cultures of live foods because nothing on the market is comparable to get the same results of health/reproductive rates/ ect...
 
The aforementioned worms are also extremely high in fat. If you must feed them out (even to reptiles/amphibians), use the ones who have just shed their chitons.

I do feed a staple diet of blackworms, soaked in vitamins & ground flakes/FD plankton & whatever old foods I have around.
 
What do you feed them to? Those areeexactly the ones I refer to as being bad to feed as a staple food to anything.
 
There are tons of people who feed mealworms as a staple to leopard geckos and many more reptiles. With no ill effect. I don't believe the hype that mealworms are dangerous to reptiles. To each their own. Not going to argue over it either.
 
I feed my colony with Flucklers Cricket Diet, Fish (Flake) Food, Oats, Wheat Germ, All Natural Rice Protein Powder, and Fresh potatoes.

It is my personal opinion that feeding mealworms is only as good as you make it :)

Im sure that no live foods are the best choice for staple diet. However most wild fish eat the same sorts of things... Feeding as a variety and not a staple is a great idea IMO.
 
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