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Re: [Killietalk] Roughage again!

More on food -

In my survey of feeding habits of North American fishes for a book, it seemed that 95% of US fish species, irrespecitve of size, used chironomid larvae (bloodworms) as their principal food source - even sturgeons. That's a lot more than I thought prior to doing this survey. The even higher rate for insects in general aligns with the nutritional data that show insects as the most nutritious of all foods, followed by certain crustaceans like several categories of shrimp. What do insects provide? The chitin is pretty useless because it is indigestible. Fish cannot eat insects without getting some plant material either adhering to the insects or contained within their guts, so there is your roughage, assuming "roughage" is even necessary. <In fact, "roughage" may be a corrective measure for people on inappropriate diets, so "roughage" becomes not a dietary need but a corrective or medicinal need for malnourished people.> Insects have a great deal of lipid (fat), including HUFAs. And of course they have a great deal of protein. In general, fish (all kinds) need about 50% protein and 50% fat in their diets, and 0% carbohydrate. FYI, there are many essential amino acids and lipids, but no essential carbohydrates. Bottom line - insects are the best fish food. Scheel noted that West African killies eat a lot of ants, but I don't recall if Brian Watters has reviewed notho food habits in the wild (I seem to have read something). The best insects you can feed are live, and that means fruit flies (and you can add cod liver oil to their food). Bloodworms are good, but are not a source of red pigment (its iron not carotenoid), and some people become sensitized to their proteins and get an allergic reaction to them. Years ago you could buy dried ant eggs as turtle food, but I don't think that's still on the market. - more - studies have shown that beef heart is one of the most nutritious of all foods (that surprised me). - Bob G.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Tyrone Genade" <tgenade at gmail_com>
To: "killifish discussion list" <killietalk at aka_org>
Sent: Friday, November 05, 2004 11:49 AM
Subject: Re: [Killietalk] Roughage again!


Hello

On Fri, 5 Nov 2004 11:19:33 -0500, Kenneth Combs <kcombs at mergerx_net> wrote:

One thing I've learned is generalizations about anything are not worth 

Generalizations are unscientific. 2 data points do not a trend make
but even so a trend is not the essential truth only a good guess. Good
guesses can be made based on anecdotal info as well as scientific
"knowledge". Too much white worm = bad. This is a good guess and
applies equally well to blood worm etc... very few organisms are
designed to obtain all their nutrients from one source. I do not think
white worms are a particular good source of vitamins neither.

I
wonder if this is because of the worms themselves or is it some "nuance"
with indoor culture?

I think it has a lot to do with what you feed them.

Many years ago here in Ohio I used to find a type of white worm always
sandwiched between layers of fallen leaves,

Leaves are mostly indigestable carbohydrates, aka, fibre = roughage.

I can see some "Blue water" fish like a tuna not needing "roughage"

Tuna are predators that eat little fishies.

Right food for the right critter.

--
Tyrone Genade
http://tgenade.freeshell.org
email: tgenade at freeshell_org; MSM: tgenade at hotmail_com
tel: +39-334-379-5654 (cell)
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