# Feeding live bugs to a betta?



## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

The title says it all. I have a bin of water outside that I occasionally find (various types of) drowning bugs in. Sometimes I like to take out one and feed it to my betta. Sometimes they are small flies, mosquitoes, larvae, and other bugs I dont know etc. I try not to feed him any bugs that look to "hard" such as beetles or pincherbugs or any that are too big. I look more for the fleshy ones. Anyways, My betta loves going after the twiching bugs and its pretty cool to watch... Once one of them climbed up the glass and he made a dolphin leap at it and got it! I was like "WHOAH!" Perfect YouTube moment.
is this safe to do? Does it provide healthy nutrients to the fish? And more importantly - Is it safe? I also feed him the occasional fly that I swat in my room - they are small flies not those giant flies that you see at dumpsters and such. Sometimes I worry about the bugs having come into contact with pesticides but if that happens then wouldnt they be dead? :-? I know I can buy frozen worms but I dont think my parents would be too happy if they ever find a tub of worms in the freezer :shock: My mom might just faint lol.


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## BlueHaven (Jul 17, 2010)

I can't say, but if you are worried about it, just stick to mosquitos & their larvae and rinse them off before giving them to him. 
I'd actually like to know though too....the more options the better!


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## Feral (Sep 19, 2010)

My guy *luuuuvs *baby cucarachas (hits 'em like a great white on a baby seal), doesn't care for gnats, and enjoys a small juicy bug or fly as long as it's not too hard to shred- make him work and he loses interest. 

So far so good!


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## Posaune (Sep 17, 2010)

Sounds like an interesting food source  I'd be more worried about parasites though.


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## Adastra (Jun 18, 2010)

The problem with feeding anything from outside is the fact that it might be tainted with pesticides, herbicides, other chemicals, and parasites. Unless you know the insects have not been exposed to chemicals, it's not safe to feed them to your betta. Mosquito larvae are a favorite because you can control the conditions they are exposed to more easily than say, a fly or other small bug that could walk/fly in from anywhere.


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## CjRager89 (Aug 12, 2010)

i have not done it yet with my betta (although i might) but i used to feed my oscar all kinds of bugs. yes i know its a totally different fish....but what the heck, still the same idea. he lived to outgrow my 20 gal so i guess he was fine with it.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

You have risk with about anything....and if the bug looks yummy and soft...toss it to your fish and see what happens and as Alex posted if it is alive it is most likely free of anything bad...I wouldn't feed an already dead bug that died of unknown causes...if you swat a fly or skeeter toss it in and watch the betta have fun...moths can make the water a bit fuzzy but a betta really gets into them flapping around in the water...talk about excited.....lol........all my tanks are open tops and I have bug flying in the tanks all the time..some not eaten but picked on and others I will watch the fish go nuts over and gang up on

I feed massive amount of larva, some that I have no idea what they are..laffs.....the fish eat them and I have never had any problems as far as death, illness or anything like that.....

Just use some common sense and remember bugs are part of their normal diet........


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## LikeDiscoSuperfly (Oct 18, 2010)

CjRager89 said:


> i have not done it yet with my betta (although i might) but i used to feed my oscar all kinds of bugs. yes i know its a totally different fish....but what the heck, still the same idea. he lived to outgrow my 20 gal so i guess he was fine with it.


bwhaha.. I fed my oscar all kinds of stuff. I love those fish. They just get too big, and I think Bettas act like them a bit. Loves food, notices you, kinda acts like a puppy.. ;-)


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## bloo97 (Mar 6, 2010)

Oooh!Now I want to feed Lucky and Dragon flies. We've got more than enough! xD


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## dampsugar (Oct 28, 2010)

So I tried feeding a beetle to my betta last night. I've come to the conclusion that he doesn't like beetles because its still in my tank and he hasn't gone near it.


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## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

Yeah I think beetles are too hard for a betta. They may be too big too.


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## dampsugar (Oct 28, 2010)

i guess ill try to find a fly.....not many flying around my house though.


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## Adastra (Jun 18, 2010)

Why not just purchase some live blackworms, brine shrimp, or bloodworms at the bait shop or fish store for a few cents? They will be safer than the bugs around your house--for all you know, they crawled through rat poison before they wandered through the door. Bettas love live worms, something about the wiggly motion they make. I don't think it's a good idea to try chitinous bugs like beetles and flies that have a lot of exoskeleton. This would be very difficult for your betta to digest.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Just a note on bait shop foods/worms...make sure they do not contain any additives- they often do to prolong the worms life and it can cause health problems for fish in closed systems

I would not feed large beetles=fish have lots of enzymes and gastric acids that will help with digestion-but it is best if the fish can swallow the bug whole or soft body that it can tear apart

I would only feed healthy bugs or ones you swatted and killed yourself


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