# Eating ants



## xShainax (Feb 11, 2012)

Um..There is A LOT of flying ants in my house. Will it hurt my babies if I let them nom on the ones that fly into their tank?


----------



## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Darn those flying ants....lol. I have had ants climb in, aphids drown, and flies get snagged under the hood of my tanks before. Usually they will be eaten, or pestered to death. I never found a problem with it, but it was annoying.. Any idea where those ants are coming from?


----------



## isochronism (Nov 24, 2012)

One Betta had a little fly go in under the hood. He was watching it. When it got down to two inches over the surface, he jumped and snatched it. He's hoping for more!


----------



## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

I had one of mine eat a mealworm that I accidentally dropped in his tank. He was just fine. They won't eat something they know they can't digest. Don't spray them! Mine get fruit flys all the time lol.


----------



## xShainax (Feb 11, 2012)

Lol, we have cats and a dog, we don't spray


----------



## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Not true.. They will try to eat things they cannot digest: Mealworm shell stuck in a female's mouth. Luckily she was able to get it up the next day. Java moss through a baby betta's mouth and out his gill... I had to manually remove it.


----------



## xShainax (Feb 11, 2012)

Sena Hansler said:


> Not true.. They will try to eat things they cannot digest: Mealworm shell stuck in a female's mouth. Luckily she was able to get it up the next day. Java moss through a baby betta's mouth and out his gill... I had to manually remove it.


I had to remove hair from Big Momma's mouth once. She hated me after. :lol:


----------



## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

The baby was relieved :lol: My female was so upset... After that I shelled mealworms x.x


----------



## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Really? I believe you completely... Just sharing that my PK ate an entire mealworm, and I watched him deficate it. So he obviously digested (most of) it. But... Ants should be digestible unless they are those super big scary weird ones lol.


----------



## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Yes, really. The shell is not going to be digested... Well, it can be... But think of it like gum for us. We swallow it and it takes YEARS to break down. Similar to fish (though different time frame)


----------



## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Gum doesn't take years to break down- it moves out of us in the same amount time as everything else. http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/gum-seven-years.htm I would compare it more to corn... We can't digest the cellulose in the shell... I think you all know what comes next . 

The mealworm shell would likely be partially digested, would it not?


----------



## percyfyshshelley (Feb 26, 2013)

Matt this post is going in a disturbing direction lol.


----------



## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Either way it is dangerous. It can get lodged in their throats, their intestine, etc.I know this first hand, as do a few members on here (who were the ones who taught me to deshell the mealies). Currently for informational purposes I am doing betta anatomy... And I can tell you everything is ever so tiny :lol:


----------



## logisticsguy (Sep 7, 2012)

I had a java moss piece get stuck the mouth/gills of a young fish too! Silly fish. I felt like a fish doctor removing it.


----------



## xShainax (Feb 11, 2012)

I had to dislodge a pebble out of my goldfish's mouth. :lol:


----------

