Feeding meal worms to Discus

I'm posting this here because I don't think that anyone has tried this before. I'm going to try feeding my Discus meal worms. I have a supply because I breed them for the chickens and the wild birds. When I first thought about feeding them to the fish I rejected the idea because the worms have an hard exoskeleton. Today as I was separating beetles from larvae it occurred to me that if I were to slice the worm in half or thirds the fish could get to the juicy good stuff and leave the shell for me to suck up at WC..

I'd only toss them the worms once or twice a week. From what I have read they are very fatty. Besides, I'm the one who will have to cut the nasty worms in half. \

Any thoughts about my idea other than the fact that I can think up some weird stuff?

Hey Liz, seems like mealworms are a go: http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...7615-Mealworms

And here I was thinking that this was something never attempted. I'm embarrassed. I should have done a search. Thanks for doing it for me. Even with the white ones I still worry about it clogging up the Discus' guts. I'm going to cut them up and let the fish peck the good stuff out.

I purchased a large bag of freeze dry meal worms today at the local pet store. The advertising said they were for chickens. I ground them up and mixed with black worms. The fishies ate them and did not die. Meal worms are high protein.

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Originally Posted by peewee1

I purchased a large bag of freeze dry meal worms today at the local pet store. The advertising said they were for chickens. I ground them up and mixed with black worms. The fishies ate them and did not die. Meal worms are high protein.

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I would be cautious on these. If you do an internet search on "mealworms treated with hormones" you will see many references to this. They use it to make them grow big and not pupate as fast or make them sterile.. Its a common discussion item on chicken, reptile, and arthropod forums. If your culture them yourself and they reproduce you are fine. I have done this for years. But commercially dried ones may be have been exposed to chemicals/hormones.

Al

Thanks, I wondered about that, Al. Caution to be sure. I had lunch yesterday with a friend of yours. Won't mention name but has to do with a photography project. Heading off topic here but have you posted any of your photos elsewhere? I heard that you are talented in that.

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Originally Posted by peewee1

Thanks, I wondered about that, Al. Caution to be sure. I had lunch yesterday with a friend of yours. Won't mention name but has to do with a photography project. Heading off topic here but have you posted any of your photos elsewhere? I heard that you are talented in that.

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lol... don't know about that but I just dropped you a pm. :)


al

This an older thread but I’m probably not the only person who throws every living insect in my tank, if it moves it’s eaten. Back in the late 80’s I used to have an earthworm farm just to feed my fish. I think I’m going to start one again, somewhere I read that growing earth in used coffee grinds “scrubs” their intestinal tract so they are not so dirty when being fed, I never did this myself in the past. Do you think this would be safe, I’m not sure how much caffeine is left behind? Anyone try this, or thoughts?
Thanks
Eric

I used to do the same thing. Once the fish figure out what they are they scarf them like nobody's business. I quit because they just became too much bother. I'm retired now, so I think I'll start up a culture again. They're a great food! I didn't mind them having dirty intestines. That's what WC is for.

Liz;

I’m retiring too, so that’s an interesting project for me as well. My old red worm cultures used to die off from neglect. No more excuses now!

Willie