Mealworms as fish food

[76dragon]

Has anyone tried to raise mealworms for fish food to feed cichlids??

[eklikewhoa]

I fed my old gold aro red meal worms for most of it's life.

[76dragon]

I understand from a protein point of view for the arrows and the convicts and the oscars, but I am wondering if any one has tried it for african cichlids??

[eklikewhoa]

I fed my mbuna/malawi tank them as well on ocassion. I didn't know any better but never had any problems

[myjohnson]

Ek use to gve me mealworms and I had fronts with my aro. Fronts ate without issue.

Never tried with tropheus or petos.

I would guess, if the fish mainly ate meat stuff in the wild it would do fine.

[76dragon]

I'll have to find some over here to start a colony then

Thanks

Phung

[Totenkampf]

I used to buy worm colony stuff from this guy, the super mealworm or superworm (zophobas sp) is nutritionally superior to mealworms. i have never fed them to fish but i dont see why they wouldnt be great for any carnivore that will take them. the best part is that you can gut load them with good nutrition and that will end up in your fish:

http://www.wormman.com/breeding_superworms.cfm

[eklikewhoa]

I think that's the same person I bought from too.

I would just buy sacks of them and throw them in the fridge. Just kept buying and didn't bother with cultivating.

[Totenkampf]

i want to say he used to sell live bloodworms because of have feed those along with live blackworms and tubifex to aquatic frogs like xenopus and hymenochirus. fire toads liked them as well. i would give the live bloodworms to my apistogramma and they would go nuts. the response to hunting live food appeared to be very beneficial to their well being.

[myjohnson]

Meal worm group buy?!

[eklikewhoa]

I'm down to split an order if it happens!

Only if they are the Red Superworms though. I'm sure my trophs and crays would love the stuff!

[myjohnson]

Order some qoucy, my fish need mealworms!

[eklikewhoa]

Aite, let me look up the info of the guy I use to buy from.

[fishman1]

I used to feed my baby arowana mealwprms and he grew really fast you can get some in the reptile section

[Totenkampf]

just be careful feeding a diet primarily of true mealworms, they are very fatty and have a lot of chitin in their shell. the chitin can act as fiber but it has been known to cause occasional intestinal distress in frogs if the mealworm is too large for the frog. If cichlids actually tear apart their food then it should be okay. i would definately try some superworms too though, they have a really good protein to fat ratio like earthworms (redworms) do. Mealworms do have a place for growing out animals quickly though, there are lots of calories. and they taste great fried and chocolate coated.