# crickets



## marilynmonroe (Jan 8, 2009)

my P stopped eating raw shrimp , so now he only eats earthworms. im thinking of buying some crickets those little brown ones. should i starve him and try other food [ pellets, white fish, squid ]???????


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## FEEFA (Nov 19, 2007)

Were you only feeding it shrimp? If so he probably got sick of it.
Mix up its diet


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## marilynmonroe (Jan 8, 2009)

yes only shrimp i am now going to mix it up , yea i guess i would get sick of eating the same food too.


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## marilynmonroe (Jan 8, 2009)

hip hip hooray bought some tilapia today and my P ate it up. gonna try crickets this weekend


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

My mac loves crickets....if yours doesn't eat pellets or go near the top of the tank it may be tough.


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## TJcali (Mar 27, 2009)

Thats a good idea Ive never tried crickets before


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## Guest (Dec 8, 2009)

Notaverage is correct. if your fish wont come to the surface to eat then crickets will be a no go. They dont sink.


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

Crickets are great.

They're packed with protein and since they are surface 'swimmers' they will help your fish get used to eating from the surface.

You can also gutload crickets... I usually feed them color enhancing fish flake food or Tetra Min.


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## 65galhex (Nov 5, 2008)

Piranha_man said:


> Crickets are great.
> 
> They're packed with protein and since they are surface 'swimmers' they will help your fish get used to eating from the surface.
> 
> You can also gutload crickets... I usually feed them color enhancing fish flake food or Tetra Min.


Heres a dumb question.....how do you gutload crickets? Where do you keep them?


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

You can keep them in just about any container.

An old aquarium is best, with some cut up egg cartons in there to give them sitting spaces...
Just be sure to keep a piece of damp sponge in a saucer in there for water, and feed them flake fish food.

They do poop alot, which can be pretty nasty.


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## 65galhex (Nov 5, 2008)

huh, thats pretty ninteresting I never thought of that.....well I guess it ould be relatively similar in principle to keeping worms?


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

Similar to keeping worms how?

In that they're kept in a container and fed?
To that degree, yeah, pretty similar I guess.

Other than that, I fail to see any similarities.

Put them in a container, feed them and give them water.
"Gutloading" means that you feed them a nutritious food so that their bellies are full of the "stuff" while your fish eat them.


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## 65galhex (Nov 5, 2008)

Piranha_man said:


> Similar to keeping worms how?
> 
> In that they're kept in a container and fed?
> To that degree, yeah, pretty similar I guess.
> ...


The idea behind it was my point....Good advice-Thanks!


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

i keep my crickets (i dont use them for fish though) in abucket that was from dog bones- anybody know those large red plastic milkbone buckets?) There about 4 gallons. Cheap to get and the crickets cant escape. Small footprint so you cant keep many, but i guess its good for small quantiites for fish.

I feed mine a mix of fish flake, dry milk, seaweed, crushed nuts,oats, wheat germ and a bunch of other stuff like that that i cant even remember. You can find tons of gutload recepies online. I give them water crystals to drink (pretty cheap if you buy them dry) I also throw in carrot, potatos or any other frruit or veggie peels depending on what im eating. So if im eating an apple i just cut a thin slice and give it to them and some to the meal worm colony. There easy to keep, but adults males will be loud. I buy them at medium size to avoid this-just dont keep them too long or they start to chirp.


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

65galhex said:


> Similar to keeping worms how?
> 
> In that they're kept in a container and fed?
> To that degree, yeah, pretty similar I guess.
> ...


The idea behind it was my point....Good advice-Thanks!
[/quote]

My pleasure!

Welcome to the site!


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## 65galhex (Nov 5, 2008)

thanks man


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