I also prefer mealworms and breed and hand-pick my own.
Crickets fed a high protein diet are known to die young. The "non-chipring kind" - are you sure they're just not immature? Crickets have to be pretty big before they'll sing.
I feed my insects chicken laying mash, which I buy at the farmer's supply. It is complete nutrition + substrate and it's not too high in protein. I also give them veggies/fruit for water.
Also I bet pound for pound fish food is quite expensive to feed bugs! Check your protein levels.
hth
fr0glet (ahaha you two and your married banter is too cute!)