Can i feed hornworms to my fish?

[that_fish_Guy]

Went to my local reptile store, and picked up a Giant container of hornworms. They are commonly used in the reptile hobby to beef up reptiles for breeding etc. I was wondering if these were also safe to feed to my fish? I have large arowana and a dovii who I would feed it too. I just want to make sure before I do.

 

[Oddball]

The hornworms used in the reptile trade are fed on a special hornworm chow to purge the worms of toxins they consume from plants. There are 2 types of these worms. The tomato hornworm that comsumes tomato plant leaves (the leaves hold substances toxic to herps) and the tobacco hornworm (the body retains nicotine for use as a defense toxin against potential predators).
Some herpers don't use the hornworm chow. Instead, they starve the worms for several days to purge the worms of the bulk of their toxicity.

 

[Wailua Boy]

That's good info Oddball . I get them in my aquaponics growbeds often and considered using them as a feeder but now know better.

 

[that_fish_Guy]

Well said Oddball assuming that is a no.

 

[rodger]

My knowledge of them is from living on a tobacco farm. I used them for fishing and fish love them!

 

[Frank Castle]

Went to my local reptile store, and picked up a Giant container of hornworms. They are commonly used in the reptile hobby to beef up reptiles for breeding etc. I was wondering if these were also safe to feed to my fish? I have large arowana and a dovii who I would feed it too. I just want to make sure before I do. View attachment 1197053

you can definitely use the ones in that container w/ the leftover hornworm chow stuck to the top of it. These are clearly captive bred and fed the standard mixture. I encourage the use of these for all animals that will eat them more-or-less as one of them is the equivalent in nutrients to about 24 crickets.

Go for it.

EDIT: just so you know, the air holes are actually on the bottom of that container, so putting it up on spacers to allow some air flow will keep them alive much longer. Also, keeping them cooler now that they are full-grown will make them last longer as well by slowing down their tremendous metabolism. You can put a romaine leaf in there if you want just to keep them going

 

[Bottomfeeder]

As stated: the captive bred ones are safe, but wild caught ones are absolutely not... they will kill your animals.