Flies

[RedStarFishy]

Recently, every time i open the South american cichlid tank, there has been a few flies. i thought they were maybe on the top, and just took note of it. however, today, when i opened the tank, there was four sitting under the hood and i am certain now they must be coming from the tank. we don't use bubbles, but the filters give off enough movement that i don't think the flies are coming from the aquarium water. i think the water is splashing on to the glass hood, is getting stale, and becomes a breed ground. i was wondering if anybody out there had any suggestions to stop these guys from growing. can i coat the hood with something like butter so the water won't stick? i really don't want to take off the hoods daily to clean them. thnaks!

 

[OohFeeshy]

Its probably to do with the moist environment under the hood. If you don't have fish that are likely to jump out, you could try taking the lid off for a few days. If you are worried about jumping fish, you could cover it in netting.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

actually, there are many varieties of fish which have developed methods of eating airborne insects...

just something to think about (...get more fish, get more fiiiiish...)

 

[bunjiweb]

Give your hood a clean, i had some flies nesting in my hood on my 50G, completly cleaned the hood and havent had the problem since.

Ben

 

[RedStarFishy]

(...get more fish, get more fiiiiish...)

that sounds like a good plan....

the hoods have been washed before, but i am not sure when it was last, so i guess everytime i do a water change i'll have to clean the hoods too. thanks, as long as they won't hurt the fish (ie diseases), it's all good.

 

[FoundMoney]

It's possible the flies are emerging from the water. A couple of times while changing water, I found damselfly nymphs in my old tank water. I suppose if I hadn't syphoned these out, they would have eventually turned to flies and would have been found flying above the water or on the hood. I suppose the eggs came in on a plant or something. What kind of flies were they?

 

[yvez9]

i had flies too. they mostly dried off on the lights though

also, try getting top feeders, like bettas or hatchet fish, they will cath them!

 

[RedStarFishy]

It's possible the flies are emerging from the water. A couple of times while changing water, I found damselfly nymphs in my old tank water. I suppose if I hadn't syphoned these out, they would have eventually turned to flies and would have been found flying above the water or on the hood. I suppose the eggs came in on a plant or something. What kind of flies were they?

Sorry for this to be so long getting back.

I don't know what flies they are, but they have moved to the piranha tank now. it is really gross because i can see the larva forms in the tops of the water (i assume the larva form, i'm not really good with bug details). I am just worried about two things, will they kill/weaken the fish somehow and can i get rid of them? its kinda disturbing watching my cats pounce every few seconds because there's another fly they see i will look up the damsel fly you mentioned and see if that's the beasts in the tank

 

[LoachLover]

hmmm, that's weird. I'd clean off the hood really good and hope they don't come back

 

[troutfly]

I doubt that they are "damsel flies," as an avid fly fisherman, I can tell you that Damsel larva swin around in the water and very sought after by fish that eat live food. They are long bodied with legs and "swimmers" on their abdomins and are about 1-1/2 cms long when they hatch.

Are you feeding you piranhas freah meat or live foods? The can just be normal everyday flies that live in the foods you are using. A good way to get rid of the flies is invest in some archer fish, they will eliminate your fly problems.

 

[RedStarFishy]

Are you feeding you piranhas freah meat or live foods? The can just be normal everyday flies that live in the foods you are using. A good way to get rid of the flies is invest in some archer fish, they will eliminate your fly problems.

before this happened, the piranhas were feed live feeders often (like 6 days a week), but recently my boyfriend doesn't want to buy feeders anymore so i feed the beasts with frozen krill, that's been thawed of course.

I wouldn't mind more fish, but in the piranha tank, they'd just be seen as food, right? i didn't think anything could go with them, espectiually seeing its been awhile since they've had live foods. this might sound odd, but if he started buying comets again, would they eat the bugs? sure, the piranhas will eat them, but usually it takes them a few days before all the fish are gone. so maybe, as long as he buys comet once a week it will control this fly problem? maybe that's a question i should ask in the coldwater forum.