Live food collecting! Any tips?

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Haven't been culturing live food recently since not breeding yet, but happened to spot some mozzie larvae & (bloodworms?) in a bucket of sand I was about to rinse that far collected rainwater.

I put bloodworms on brackets with a question mark since I think it's some other type of worm... have found bloodworms in the pond before (but I don't take food from the pond, since there are nasties in there too, plus the goldfish in there can eat those!)

Close up, these are more segmented and catapillar like, more brownish than red, but the fish still go wild for them! And appear harmless, so have no hesitation feeding them. Lots of mozzie larvae too, plus one adult mozzie I caught when I brought the bucket in to harvest and clean the sand, lol.

My main concern/question was about these green egg things. Some are very large, seem too big to be eggs for the worms or mozzies... but there were also no plants in there, don't look like dragon or damselfly eggs, and they were a mix of intact and empty egg cases. Anyone know what they're from?


I did sift out the worst of the detritus, netted a load of worms, mozzie larvae and the eggs I couldn't avoid to the tanks, decided to risk it and have fish that will take care of the eggs, whatever they are, and didn't add to tanks with shrimp or fry, just in case, but the plecos sucked them up like bobo ball treats!

My long fin green dragons and white bristlenose were all over it, while pygmy cories and mixed tank all got a live food treat too.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Wish I had a better method for sifting out the live food I want to collect, does mean adding a fair amount of dirt and detritus to the tank even when I netted, rinsed, put into clean container and netted again to remove the worst of the muck and check for mini predators. But worth it! Since it's such a nice treat for them.

Just means all the tanks needed a quick sweep with the gravel vac the next day to pick up any muck the filters didn't catch.

Also the first time I've given my new betta, Levi, live food! He loves frozen bloodworms, ignored frozen mozzie larvae (I've harvested and frozen mozzie larvae a few times, but they were a bit small for him to notice, without that tell tale wiggle they do when live). Since he's now used to my touching the water with my fingertip when I'm about to feed him and coming to me for food, I still love the novelty of hand feeding one specific fish, instead of feeding groupings of fish or a tank as a whole...

But meant I needed to use tweezers to grab a worm or a mozzie larvae and drop them for him one at a time! A bit tricky, but wanted to pace him a bit and get to see what he goes wild for the most too, and let him feed from the surface/mid water, rather than add a load at once that he'd have to go to the bottom for. He likes his Bug Bites and treats of frozen bloodworms, but you can't beat being able to give live food when you can!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Speaking of dragonfly and damselfly larvae though, when I was clearing a load of excess plant from the pond I captured this dude accidentally, and popped him in the wild birds water bath to snap some pics, shows the size these things can get to! And why they're such an impressive little mini predator, and a risk to shrimp, fry and tiny fish.

I popped him back in the pond after, no worries. I don't want these guys in my tanks, but just part of the ecosystem in the pond.

 

[GaryE]

I am a big fan of dragon flies. Yesterday, I carried two kayaks to the edge of a lake (upper body effort) but knew my lower back wasn't in a mood to enjoy a paddle. So I sat on the edge and chilled while my wife and her friend kayaked the lake. I got to watch Canadian diaphanous killies, but the big red brown dragon flies were my main amusement. Those creatures are fantastic.

In tanks, less so, but in my experience, they have fed mainly on micro-organisms. I haven't ever lost many fry, and never an adult fish to them. Then again, @AdoraBelle Dearheart is on another continent, and my experiences and my friendly local beasts may be different.

I've been pretty cavalier with live foods over the years. I try not to overfeed mosquitoes because if the larvae make it to flying, you become their live food. Whatever else gets eaten. I don't collect from pools with fish though, as that's where the disease risks reside.

I imagine an environment like Australia would have radically different life (certainly different life cycles) than my northern hemisphere home. We can't just enjoy collecting food for the fishes in the same ways, depending on where we are. You have to learn a little about the creatures in the water.

 

[Back in the fold]

I try not to overfeed mosquitoes because if the larvae make it to flying, you become their live food.

I keep hearing this but I really don’t believe that anybody could feed enough live mosquito larvae that some would make it to the flying stage after being in an aquarium and then turn on you . Nope , don’t believe it for a minute .

 

[GaryE]

I keep hearing this but I really don’t believe that anybody could feed enough live mosquito larvae that some would make it to the flying stage after being in an aquarium and then turn on you . Nope , don’t believe it for a minute .

Bring garlic and a stake. Meet me at my fishroom tomorrow evening.

I've done it twice this year. The larvae survived in exactly the tanks fry survive in - lots of floating plants, duckweed, and low populations of adults. I cheerfully stepped into the fishroom, and they descended like Stukas.

 

[MattW]

I cheerfully stepped into the fishroom, and they descended like Stukas.

That's a great description of events

 

[Back in the fold]

Bring garlic and a stake. Meet me at my fishroom tomorrow evening.

I've done it twice this year. The larvae survived in exactly the tanks fry survive in - lots of floating plants, duckweed, and low populations of adults. I cheerfully stepped into the fishroom, and they descended like Stukas.

I stand corrected but now I’ve heard everything . In the floaters with few adults , Okay I’ll buy that . Who’d a thunk it .

 

[sharkweek178]

Wish I had a better method for sifting out the live food I want to collect, does mean adding a fair amount of dirt and detritus to the tank even when I netted, rinsed, put into clean container and netted again to remove the worst of the muck and check for mini predators. But worth it! Since it's such a nice treat for them.

My method for collecting mosquito larvae is a bit tedious but it works. My bins of water I collect mosquito larvae from get filthy. A ton of algae and detritus like leaves, sticks, dead bugs and an occasional slug. I swish a large brine shrimp net in the water and rinse it in a bucket of clean water. Well... clean until that, because that net catches a lot of that detritus. I do this several times. Then I take the bucket and use a turkey baster to catch the mosquito larvae and bloodworms and sort out of the dirty water and put them in a separate container. When I'm done, I throw the bucket of water on to the driveway, in case I missed any mosquito larvae.