Feeding insects to Oscars

[bottom feeder]

Is it ok to feed an Oscar crickets? I want to give him some kind of
live food besides feeder fish. The only problem I can see with the
crickets is their tough exoskeleton. If anyone has any suggestions on
the types of live foods best for Oscars it'd be greatly appreciated.

--
dan

[Glenn]

I have fed mine crickets many times. Also, whenever I catch a moth, the
oscars love em. just about everything i put in there, they would eat.
Never tried tadpoles, but that sounds like good advice to avoid them....


"George Zyngulgursh" > wrote in message
...
> On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 14:07:00 -0600, bottom feeder wrote:
>
> > Is it ok to feed an Oscar crickets? I want to give him some kind of
live
> > food besides feeder fish. The only problem I can see with the crickets
is
> > their tough exoskeleton. If anyone has any suggestions on the types of
> > live foods best for Oscars it'd be greatly appreciated.
>
> I haven't had any problems with crickets.
> Salamanders seem to be well liked, but not tadpoles. Tadpoles can excrete
> some kind of toxin that will leave the Oscar belly-up...
> GZ

[Kodiak]

Have you considered contamination due to
insecticides on caught specimens?
Just wondering if this is an issue?
....Kodiak

"Glenn" > wrote in message
news:YgwZb.14857$o52.1686@fed1read02...
> I have fed mine crickets many times. Also, whenever I catch a moth, the
> oscars love em. just about everything i put in there, they would eat.
> Never tried tadpoles, but that sounds like good advice to avoid them....
>
>
> "George Zyngulgursh" > wrote in message
> ...
> > On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 14:07:00 -0600, bottom feeder wrote:
> >
> > > Is it ok to feed an Oscar crickets? I want to give him some kind of
> live
> > > food besides feeder fish. The only problem I can see with the
crickets
> is
> > > their tough exoskeleton. If anyone has any suggestions on the types
of
> > > live foods best for Oscars it'd be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > I haven't had any problems with crickets.
> > Salamanders seem to be well liked, but not tadpoles. Tadpoles can
excrete
> > some kind of toxin that will leave the Oscar belly-up...
> > GZ
>
>

[Sarotherodon]

"bottom feeder" > wrote in message
...
> Is it ok to feed an Oscar crickets? I want to give him some kind of
> live food besides feeder fish. The only problem I can see with the
> crickets is their tough exoskeleton. If anyone has any suggestions on
> the types of live foods best for Oscars it'd be greatly appreciated.
>
> --
> dan
>
There was a pretty interesting study done a few years ago on wild Oscars.
If I remember correctly it was actually about the purpose of the caudal
spot, but the researchers noted that Oscars ate far more aquatic insects
than small fish. In my aquariums I have fed domestic crickets to a variety
of carnivorous cichlids (not mbuna and Tropheus!) and it seemed to be a
great food for them. Don't worry about the exoskeleton- some of it may go
through undigested, but the fiber won't hurt the fish and the crickets are
pretty well chewed by the pharyngeal teeth, so all the good stuff inside
gets digested.
Sarotherodon

[Adrian Delves]

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 14:07:00 -0600, bottom feeder wrote:
>
> > Is it ok to feed an Oscar crickets? I want to give him some kind of
live
> > food besides feeder fish. The only problem I can see with the crickets
is
> > their tough exoskeleton. If anyone has any suggestions on the types of
> > live foods best for Oscars it'd be greatly appreciated.

I've been feeding small crickets to my juveniles with no ill effects for
some time. They relish them.
Ade.

[jefferson]

When I had Oscars, one staple food were nightcrawlers that I caught
after rain storms. Now that I'm older (and wiser) I would chose
locations free from insecticides and fertilizers.
j

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 14:07:00 -0600, bottom feeder
> wrote:

>Is it ok to feed an Oscar crickets? I want to give him some kind of
>live food besides feeder fish. The only problem I can see with the
>crickets is their tough exoskeleton. If anyone has any suggestions on
>the types of live foods best for Oscars it'd be greatly appreciated.

[Peter D. Rau]

Crickets, grasshoppers, flies, mealworms, redworms, nightcrawlers, grass
or ghost shrimp, and even cockroaches are alternative foods that you can
feed your oscar. Mealworms are one of my favorites to feed large
cichlids. They are easy to keep dormant in the fridge and very good for
fish to eat. There are plenty of places on the Internet that sell them
by the 1000 relatively cheap.

bottom feeder wrote:

> Is it ok to feed an Oscar crickets? I want to give him some kind of
> live food besides feeder fish. The only problem I can see with the
> crickets is their tough exoskeleton. If anyone has any suggestions on
> the types of live foods best for Oscars it'd be greatly appreciated.
>
> --
> dan
>

[Rob]

One comment: feeding your pet cockroaches is generally not a great idea
unless they are bred for food (e.g. some folks breed madagascan hissing
cockroaches and feed the young to fish, amphibians and reptiles). If you
happen to catch cockroaches (or other bugs) in or around your home, there is
a risk that they may have been exposed to pesticides and should generally be
avoided as a food source for your pets for obvious reasons.

Personally, I don't have oscars or other large predatory fish, but from what
I have heard, crickets and other commercial live food are probaby healthier
than feeder fish, which often carry diseases due to the high stress
conditions they're kept in.

I do feed bugs to my lizards and frogs, and always bring them home and put
them in an "optimal" environment for a day before feeding them to my guys so
that they have a chance to gut-load on good food (in my case: alfalfa
(commercial rabbit food), wheat germ and occasionally dry cat food and
washed veggies like carrots or lettuce) - the same approach would be good
for feeding fish if you want to boost the nutritional value. I buy larger
lots of them and keep them in a secure container with air holes, use food as
a substrate and provide egg cartons to crawl/hide/crap on, and a small
amount of "cricket gel" to provide water. They will live for a long time
like this, although they are noisy and can get pretty stinky if they're
there long enough.

Mealworms are a good food source and easy to keep over a period of time, but
are higher in fat than crickets, which tend to be a better protein source.
Mealworms are also far easier to keep around the house than crickets as long
as you (and your S.O.) can deal with them being in the fridge. If you get
larger worms (superworms), the relative proportion of hard chitin
(exoskeleton) and the fat content becomes less of an issue. I've also fed
waxworms (very high in fat - basically "bug twinkies") and silkworms (quite
high in protein) to my guys to provide dietary variety. Basically, my
approach is to use gut-loaded crickets as a staple, mealworms as variety and
a fallback if I can't get crickets, and other bugs as treats.

- Rob

"Peter D. Rau" > wrote in message
news:fb57c.20029$272.2525@lakeread03...
> Crickets, grasshoppers, flies, mealworms, redworms, nightcrawlers, grass
> or ghost shrimp, and even cockroaches are alternative foods that you can
> feed your oscar. Mealworms are one of my favorites to feed large
> cichlids. They are easy to keep dormant in the fridge and very good for
> fish to eat. There are plenty of places on the Internet that sell them
> by the 1000 relatively cheap.