bugs as food

[SkarloeysMom]

Can you feed bettas mosquitos that you find in or around the house? or mosquito larva that you might find in standing rain water? Sometimes we get little fruit flies in the house. Would a betta like to eat such live food or would that be dangerous to the fish?

[Lady Hobbs]

I wouldn't. Mosquito's are disease carriers with lyme disease being just one of them.

[Incredulous_Ed]

I think it would be okay to use the mosquito larvae, but not the mosquitos. Generally if you are going to feed them live bugs, feed them aquatic bugs. But you should be okay with the larvae.

[SkarloeysMom]

Good to know...maybe someday I'll try the larve if I happen to find any in the birdbath after a good long rain.

[Rue]

...I think mosquito larvae from a clean water source would be fine...

...I'd worry about possible parasites though...can't think of any off hand, but that doesn't mean that there aren't any your betta can get...

...that's why I prefer frozen foods...no guarantees there either, but much less likely to have issues...

Lyme disease is carried by the deer tick. Nothing eats ticks as far as I know, except maybe some monkeys...

Adult mosquitoes in this neck of the woods carry some diseases...West Nile, Easter Equine Encephalitis, etc., but they won't infect your fish ...

[cocoa_pleco]

you can get little bottles of live fruit flies at petsmart for 15$, much safer than ones that potentially could carry parasites

[ChurchofAdam]

or you could go hardcore diy and breed fruitflies. I guess the petsmart ones would be clean to start with...