Filter

      Foods for Reptiles, Turtles & Fish

      A lot of what sits on our food shelf was a fish, reptile or turtle food long before invert keepers picked it up, and some customers buy it for exactly those animals. This page gathers the foods that suit reptiles, aquatic turtles and terrapins, and aquarium and pond fish: dried insects, whole dried fish and shrimp, freeze-dried daphnia, flakes, wafers, floating sticks and gel diets you mix at home. For reptiles and turtles they are extras and treats on top of a complete diet; for fish, the flakes and wafers can carry more of the everyday feeding.

      Reptiles

      Insect-eating lizards that will take food that isn't moving, bearded dragons among them, often eat dried calciworms as an extra. Black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) carry many times the calcium of mealworms, and a few minutes in warm water softens them. If your reptile eats live insects, Repashy Bug Burger feeds and waters crickets, roaches and mealworms from one tub, so they are well fed when they go in. For live help inside the vivarium, see our guide to a clean-up crew for bearded dragons.

      Turtles and terrapins

      A complete turtle pellet is the everyday food, with greens for the species that eat plants. On top of that, whole dried shrimp, daphnia, silkworm pupae, calciworms and dried fish such as sprats and anchovies are the treats most aquatic turtles take eagerly. Break the larger pieces up for young animals, and keep treats to a small share of what goes into the water.

      Aquarium and pond fish

      Flakes and floating sticks feed at the surface; sinking wafers and Repashy Bottom Scratcher reach corydoras, plecos, loaches and freshwater shrimp on the bottom; daphnia and freeze-dried peas add variety. Feed what your fish clear in a couple of minutes and lift out anything left.

      Guides

      Two guides go further: what daphnia is and which animals eat it, and calciworms against mealworms, with the calcium numbers behind the comparison.

      Questions keepers ask

      Can turtles eat dried shrimp?

      Yes, as a treat. Whole dried shrimp are a favourite with most aquatic turtles and terrapins, but they are not a complete diet, so keep a turtle pellet as the staple and offer shrimp on top.

      Are dried calciworms good for reptiles?

      They are a useful extra for reptiles that accept dried food: unlike mealworms, black soldier fly larvae have a positive calcium-to-phosphorus ratio. Most insect-eating reptiles still prefer live prey, so treat them as a supplement.

      Can I feed these foods to chickens?

      No. UK feed rules restrict the animal protein farmed birds can be given, and that includes backyard hens, so we do not sell our dried insects, shrimp or fish for poultry.

      Can garden birds have calciworms?

      Yes, in small amounts from a dish or bird table. Soak them in spring and summer, when adults may carry them to chicks, and clear any left by dusk: hedgehog rescues advise against calciworms and mealworms for hedgehogs.

      The rest of our food shelf, chosen for isopods, millipedes, springtails and roaches, is in invertebrate food and supplements.

      18 products
      Black Repashy SuperFoods Bug Burger label graphic showing crickets and roaches around a yellow gel slab.
      Repashy SuperFoods Bug Burger
      from £10.00
      Dried calciworms packed close together, ridged larvae in mixed yellow, tan and grey brown.
      Dried Calciworms (Black Soldier Fly Larvae)
      from £1.75
      Sold Out
      A heap of small dried shrimp in pale gold and brown on a white surface, mostly broken shells and loose heads.
      Dried Shrimp for Turtles, Fish & Inverts 100g
      £3.00
      A heap of dried daphnia flakes on a white surface, fine brown grains with a dark clump at the centre.
      Dried Daphnia 100g
      £4.75
      Dried silkworm pupae filling the frame, glossy ridged shells in shades of brown on white.
      Dried Silkworm Pupae 100g
      £3.25
      A heaped pile of dried sprats, silver and tan bodies with pale round eyes, filling the frame.
      Dried Large Sprats 100g
      £3.00
      A pile of dried small fish, anchovies, with visible eyes and golden-brown bodies, arranged on a dark grey background.
      Dried Anchovies for Turtles & Inverts 100g
      £3.50
      Black Repashy Superfoods label showing a spotted plecostomus and the words Bottom Scratcher, Invertivore Gel Premix.
      Repashy SuperFoods Bottom Scratcher - Invertivore Gel Premix
      from £15.00
      A pile of round, textured green tablets or discs scattered on a plain grey background.
      Pleco Wafers 100g
      £3.50
      A scattered pile of dark charcoal grey Oak and Algae wafers, each disc speckled with pale flecks, on white.
      Oak & Algae Wafers
      from £3.00
      A scattered heap of round olive-brown algae wafers on white, one lying apart at the top.
      Spirulina Algae Wafers 100g
      £2.25
      A scattering of tropical fish flakes in red, yellow, olive and brown on a white surface.
      Tropical Fish Flakes 100g
      £3.25
      A mound of mixed fish food flakes in yellow, salmon pink and grey-green on a white surface.
      Ultra Tropical Fish Flakes 100g
      £4.75
      Khaki green vegetable flakes filling the frame, thin dry pieces with torn ragged edges.
      Vegetable Flakes with Spirulina 100g
      £3.25
      Thin dark green-grey spirulina flakes layered over a white surface, each piece ragged-edged.
      Spirulina Forte Flakes 100g
      £4.00
      Small round brown insect granules filling the frame, each pellet rough and matt in texture.
      Insect Granules 100g
      £3.75
      A heap of pond sticks filling the frame, cream, red and green pellets with a rough crumbly surface.
      Pond Sticks Mix 100g
      £1.25
      Freeze-dried garden peas in a loose scattered pile on a pale grey surface, pale green and dusty looking.
      Freeze-Dried Garden Peas
      from £2.50

      Blog posts

      View all
      An orange Armadillidium nasatum on a white fibrous pad
      Armadillidium nasatum Care Guide: The Nosey Pill-Woodlouse
      A Crazy Horse isopod on pale bark, dark grey-brown at the head, white to cream across the middle and slate-grey at the tail
      Crazy Horse Isopod Care Guide (Cubaris sp.)
      A purple-brown Penguin isopod on a slab of cork bark, each segment edged paler
      Penguin Isopod Care Guide: The White Side Cubaris