# guess who loves to eat carpenter ants lol



## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

found out tonight in an attempt to both feed my fish something fun and also gross the wife out that my 4 inch barred midas really ... really likes to eat carpenter ants which as of lately have been everywhere at my house in the boonies, so for anyone looking for a giggle , they actually crunch really well underwater


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

My Sgt. Major damsels (big boys) love the flying male ants we had show up over the past week. Special treat.


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## cpool (Apr 30, 2010)

I know that ants contain some sort of acid in them that make them hard for fish to digest. So often it will be a few days before fish will eat again after eating ants. Just figured I would pass that along. They are not harmful for them to eat, but if your fish don't eat for a few days, don't worry to much about it.


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

this pig of a midas doesnt stop eating, lol he could use the break... , good tips though, if he had stopped eating i would have worried because thats what he does, eat and ... well wait to eat again..


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## hamsup (May 23, 2012)

my brother has a carpenter ant problem as well... too bad my guppies probably would run away from them.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

cpool said:


> I know that ants contain some sort of acid in them that make them hard for fish to digest. So often it will be a few days before fish will eat again after eating ants. Just figured I would pass that along. They are not harmful for them to eat, but if your fish don't eat for a few days, don't worry to much about it.


It's due to the hyrdochloric acid in a most digestive systems that doesn't cope well with the formic acid. I don't believe those big black carpenter's have this as a defense mechanism though, however I could be wrong.

Some ants even spray this acid as a defense. That's pretty crazy!


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## April (Apr 21, 2010)

I had carpenter ants before in the previous shop location. We bought. 500 crickets for my sons lizards. Woke up in the morning last of the crickets were being dragged away by ants to under the wall. They do kill them with their venom or acid then drag them off. 
They must've worked all night. An army marching back and forth..back and forth.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

April's right. I looked into it, and they are indeed a species that spray formic acid. They'll bite their prey with their mandibles and then spray them.

Crazy story too April.


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## sarcastickitten (May 26, 2012)

macframalama said:


> this pig of a midas doesnt stop eating, lol he could use the break... , good tips though, if he had stopped eating i would have worried because thats what he does, eat and ... well wait to eat again..


That sounds like my angels... does he beg you for food?? I swear my angels have the 'poor pitiful me" look down pat... end up just feeling so bad for them that I throw a bit more food in there for them...


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## Elle (Oct 25, 2010)

Ugh, carpenter ants are nasty. I feed the oscar any random bugs that the cats don't get...O's are insectivores in the wild, so I figure it's free and natural pest control - what's not to like? He certainly likes them. :bigsmile:

April, that story sounds like the insect version of Arachnophobia. Eeew!


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