So I live in south eastern mi and this time of year we get lots and lots of fish flys, I found a few in my torts cage this am maybe 6 or so, I didn't see him eat them and I clean his tank every morning I'm home (4 days a week) my question is, if he does happen to eat some how bad is it? I assume in the wild they eat a bug every now and then so I would think it'd be safe, in short of covering his tank with screen which would block out light there's nothing I can really do. His cage now is wooden with chicken wire on top
Fish flys !!!!!! Are they safe to eat?
- Thread starter swatsx
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Like you said, in the wild they probably eat lots of bugs daily grazing and same as grazing in ones yard. I wouldn't worry about it.
What is a fish fly? Nevermind, I looked it up… Wow. Never seen that before...
What species of tortoise?
A few bugs now and then should not hurt any tortoise species.
What species of tortoise?
A few bugs now and then should not hurt any tortoise species.
Actually they are different. I looked them up cuz never heard of them and I'm from Michigan. They are different. May flies live for one day as a "fly" fish flies for 7 days as a "fly" and they are bigger then the May fly.
I saw a documentary about these on television. They're quite a nuisance when they swarm! I doubt they'll cause your tort any harm... picking them out of the enclosure just joins the list of the other places you need to get rid of them from.
Speedy-1
Well-Known Member
They are ugly little critters , but will probably only add a bit of extra protein to your torts diet ! 
Mayflies are Ephemeroptera. But in many areas they are called fishflies - because the dying bodies smell like dead fish.
Fishflies are Megaloptera (formerly in the Neuroptera...but they keep changing and complicating the systematics lately, hard to keep up).
So...they may be different, or not, depending on how the common names are used locally.
Neither is actually a fly.
