Guppies sometimes do eat ants but as the owner of the tank you should never feed them ants as “fish food”. The reason for this is, ants produce lots of acids when they are attacked and some of these can be dangerous for smaller fish like guppies.
In the natural world guppies are “omnivores” which means they consume plants and animal both. But this does not mean you must feed them ants as a regular diet.
If you want to feed them live food then several alternatives are available. In the natural world sometimes it happens that ants falls into the pool or water body where guppies may consume an ant or two. Most ants secrete “formic acid” from their body and several other chemicals that can harm a sensitive guppy fish.
Many times it has been observed that if you purposefully feed an ant to a guppy he will consume it and immediately spit it out because of many reasons such as
- Bad taste
- Acid secretion
- The ant is too big for the guppy.
Since guppies are omnivores they can consume insect eggs, mosquito larvae. etc. Guppies are very well known to destroy mosquito larvae and in many countries government agencies encourage guppy farming to control mosquito formations that can spread deadly disease like malaria and dengue.
Since guppies are omnivores, eating and consuming insects is not new to them, but this has to be taken as a general rule and not turn it into a habit for a homely based fish tank.
When guppies are in the natural world what they find as food cannot be controlled, but in a home fish tank as a tank owner it is in your hands as to what to feed guppies and when to feed them.
Can a Guppy die by eating ants?
There is not a definite answer to this. It all depends on from where you got that guppy in your tank. If the guppy you have in your tank was living in the natural world before, like in a pod or a lake then most probably it is used to consume live food like mosquito larvae, eggs of other insects and in such cases consuming an ant won’t make much difference if it an occasional event.
Even fish have an immunity system working continuously that helps them digest food and stay healthy. If the guppy you have in your tank is under stress then it’s going to have weak immune system and in such cases consuming an ant can have an adverse effect on it’s health.
Another factor is not all ants are equal and can secret a variety of chemicals when their life gets threatened. That’s why it is better not to turn feeding ants as a habit and cannot be a replacement for fish food.
What is the best diet for guppies?
The best live food for guppies can be
- Brine shrimp (Freeze dried)
- Tubifex Worms
- Bloodworms
- Mosquito larvae
- Ants of all types are not recommended
The best plant base food for guppies
- Algae
- Spirulina biomos
Ants is not fish diet
Feeding your fish should not be a regular fish diet. Many people decide to get rid of house ants by catching them and feeding them to fish. But many or all types of ants secret formic acid that can harm your fish health.
Guppies are delicate and tiny fish and formic acid of varying degrees and concentrations can affect fish. Many times it is possible that a guppy will try to consume fish but spit it out immediately because of it’s bad taste or the formic acid secretion when the ant gets attacked.
The very basic observation to note here is that guppies are “omnivores” which mean they consume both plant and animal based food. But in most cases guppies can consume insect eggs such as mosquito larvae etc.
Consuming an entire live animal is very difficult because to that guppies will need to first crush the animal body in it’s mouth into tiny pieces so that it is easy to swallow and later digest.
Guppies have very tiny teeth on the upper jaw and in the throat. These are termed as “pharyngeal teeth” and these are not enough to crush ants of various sizes.
Ants also differ in sizes and bigger ants like a black garden ant can be difficult for a guppy to chew and crush into pieces. On the other hand the ant himself will also try to defend and counterattack to save it’s life which can cause internal damage to the guppy. Animals do have a very strong instinct to survive in the wild and attacking something that will potentially harm their own life is less likely to happen.
What if an ant accidentally falls into fish tank?
If an ant either black or red falls directly into fish tank then probably guppies will try to attack him considering fish food. Many ants will not directly drown when they fall on the water surface, but if guppies are really aggressive they can suck him in mouth thinking it’s normal food.
What happens next is really important because obviously the ant will try to save itself by attacking the guppy and depending upon the size of the ant it can even harm guppy by biting with fangs.
Most ants red or black secret formic acid when they are attacked by other animals and also when they bite a prey for killing. This formic acid can have an adverse effect on guppies if their immunity is already weak. In most home base fish tanks maintaining immunity of fish is not an easy task because it requires careful attention and very strict maintenance schedule.
Depending upon from where the guppies have been bought in your fish tank it is possible that some of the guppies are already aware of such ants, tiny insects, insect eggs already present or falling in the pond or lake where they came from. In such cases some of the guppies will be happy to consume an ant or two occasionally but it is recommended that for home based and well maintained tank ants should not be used as a regular fish food diet.
Remove uneaten ant body from the tank
If your guppy spits out the ant without eating or consuming it then it falls down into the tank into pieces and starts to decay. This can be really dangerous because the decaying body will convert into toxic gases and is extremely harmful. During your regular cleaning schedule you must suck out this and other visible solid waste such as decaying leaves, plants, animal debris, fish poop using a siphon tube and maintain healthy levels of dissolved gases.
If you really need a healthy tank and your fish to be happy, then your most urgent priority should be to create habitat that boosts fish immunity all the time.