# Can you feed your fish Ants?



## NeonFlux

It would probably be okay as long as the ants are healthy perhaps lol


----------



## BiscuitSlayer

My only concern would be what have the ants been into or on top of. I would be worried of using ants that might have been subjected to lawn pesticides, weed killers, etc.


----------



## epicfish

Ants contain formic acid. Not sure if you'd want to feed them to your fish.


----------



## Esox lucius

There are plenty of fish that consume a large number of ants on a daily basis, as well as many other terrestrial and aquatic insects, and the vast majority or our ants in the NA have a low amount of formic acid. So I would say go right ahead, I feed my carnivorous plants ants all the time. I would just stay away from fire ants, mainly for your sake.


----------



## NeonFlux

Lol Fire ants are like chili.. haha kidding n_n I agree with the others.


----------



## Stevie D

I've tried to feed my fish ants (small sugar ants) but they won't really eat them for some reason, maybe too small? Too crunchy?? lol

Stevie D


----------



## niko

That thread brings my memories back.

Kindergarten, 1974 or so. Gold fish in a bowl. All of us kids rush to see how the fish will eat a single ant that we caught.

Fish swallows the ant at once. Promptly curves on its side and dies in about 4-5 min. We all as a crowd rush to the caretaker lady to inform her that the goldfish died. We don't know why of course.

I recall the same scenario repeated about 2 or 3 times. Each time the poor fish died.

So I say - don't feed your fish ants.

--Nikolay


----------



## crabcake

ants produce a wide array of potent chemical defenses. if you look at an ant under magnification you will observe the _metapleural gland_, which can secrete a number of chemicals, along the side of its body. this feature distinguishes ants from similar animals, such as wingless wasps.

however, this is not to say that the ants in question necessarily have enough poison to kill your fish. maybe you should test with your least precious specimen.

i bet your fish will just spit the ants out. most animals don't like to eat ants because they taste bad.


----------



## Robert H

> I recall the same scenario repeated about 2 or 3 times. Each time the poor fish died.


That is the silliest thing I have ever heard. I can not believe you honestly believe that! What do you think goldfish in ponds eat? Esox is right, fish eat all kinds of insects as part of their regular diet. If it will fit in their mouth, or they can tear it apart, they will eat it with no problem. Larger fish eat larger insects, small fish eat small insects.


----------



## lauraleellbp

Ants are extremely high in formic acid, I wouldn't feed them to fish either. Instead- feed just the larvae.


----------



## niko

Robert H said:


> That is the silliest thing I have ever heard. I can not believe you honestly believe that! What do you think goldfish in ponds eat? Esox is right, fish eat all kinds of insects as part of their regular diet. If it will fit in their mouth, or they can tear it apart, they will eat it with no problem. Larger fish eat larger insects, small fish eat small insects.


It sounds like you are trying to insult me. But I'm not taking it as an insult, I don't think you really meant to insult.

I wrote what I remember (not "believe") seeing. It happened every time. One ant and the fish was "gone" in less than 5 min.

Could be the kind of fish being sensitive because it was raised on an "ant free" diet.
Could be the ants being posionous to that particular kind of fish.
Could have been a temporary reaction to the formic acid and we never bothered to wait and see if the fish was really dead.

--Nikolay


----------



## Esox lucius

FISH EAT ANTS! Read any published paper on fish predation on terrestrial insects and you most likely find that the fish in question feed on ants. There are trout that feed primarily on ants in Japan. And formic acid is an unlikely killer, it is a weak organic acid very close in composition to vinegar (it is actually used in its pure form to treat for salmonella), especially within the stomach, which is highly acidic. If the ants dont sting in the first place, which many dont (they spray the acid), they have no way of injecting the formic acid into the blood stream. I would not worry for one minute about feeding your fish ants, unless you are getting bullet ants from the tropics. If you still feel uneasy about it, give the ants abdomen a squeeze before feeding them to the fish, should release most of the formic acid.


----------



## NightSky

I saw a few ants crawling around on my tank one day and was mad at them, so I "nudged" them into the water.  I wanted to drown them but the fish ate em. They were fine afterward and survived years. I also fed them a small spider once.  Whatever managed to crawl on my tank pretty much. lol


----------



## Wö£fëñxXx

Once, years ago there was a large ant crawling on the top rim of my Ram
tank, I grabbed the swatter and hit it, which knocked it into the tank,
my very large very beautiful Ram shot to the top and snatched the ant
and started doing his thing, he was dead that night 
I was so pissed, I will never do that again...

It looked as though it may have been a painful death, he was swollen and
bloated sooner than he should have been under normal circumstances. 

So, I would say hell no don't feed the fish ants. 

For what that is worth.


----------



## dr.tran

Thats very werid. I use to have a gold fish many years ago that will eat just about anything I threw in the tank. Good thing to because it at misqitos as it would lay its eggs at the surface. Sometimes ants would crawl around the tank, I had many potted plants around it, and I would just knock it in. It at it and it was fine. Never had a problem. Must have ate hundreds of ants in its life.

I think it could be what type of ant. For me it was the black garden ant. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_garden_ant

I guess other ants could be more harmful?


----------



## NightSky

dr.tran said:


> Thats very werid. I use to have a gold fish many years ago that will eat just about anything I threw in the tank. Good thing to because it at misqitos as it would lay its eggs at the surface. Sometimes ants would crawl around the tank, I had many potted plants around it, and I would just knock it in. It at it and it was fine. Never had a problem. Must have ate hundreds of ants in its life.
> 
> I think it could be what type of ant. For me it was the black garden ant. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_garden_ant
> 
> I guess other ants could be more harmful?


Yeah, I agree. Mine was the basic sugar ant. I didn't make it a common practice, it just happened that one time. After reading other people's stories, I wouldn't do it again. Better safe than sorry.


----------



## arn24

I definitely have no qualifications for this type of subject, but is it possible that the fish swallows the ant without chewing it up and then the ant attacks the inside of the fish before it dies? (kinda like a 'two middle fingers up ain't goin' down with out a fight' thing!)

I know ants are pretty tough, so it seams plausible that one could survive in a fish long enough to jack it up.

My $0.02.

Aaron


----------



## lauraleellbp

Some fish can eat Some ants... as a general rule, given food choices, I personally wouldn't feed ants to fish except for larvae as I previously mentioned.

Grasshoppers, moths, and earthworms I feed on a regular basis.


----------

