Live Foods

[crimsontsavo]

Just thought I'd go out of my way to help all you poor defenseless newbie fish keepers like FreshMike.
LOL- j/k. Imma post some links to information on keeping/breeding/collecting live foods. Might be really helpful if you're in a pinch.

HTH"s!


Several Live Foods How to Raise,etc.

Good Link- Scroll down.

This looks REALLY promising. (havent read it yet) - Might have to read through to find info on Live Foods.

Collecting in a way you may have forgotten. Meadow Sweeping.

Pretty neat to read!

Very nice.

All sorts of live food culturing.

"From previous link"Adult Brine Shrimp
Uses:
Just about all fish under 5" long will readily eat brine shrimp.
Culturing:
Don't bother. The yields from the cultures are very low and it's easier to culture Daphnia and buy live brine shrimp in the pet shops.
Those who REALLY want to try to culture brine shrimp should get a large open top container (an aquarium, a garden tub, a baby wading pool), fill it with real or synthetic salt water and seed it with some green water and nutrients (fertilizer tabs or what have you) and wait for the water to turn yellow-green. Throw in some baby brine shrimp or live adult shrimp (available from the pet shop) and wait. Adding small amounts of brewers yeast, APR and other micro-foods will help promote the shrimp growth. It helps to put the culture in a brightly indirectly lit place to promote microalgae growth.

Yummy- Maggots!

Here's where I stopped searching.

Catch Fruit Flies. (these CAN fly!) Materials

small, cheap, empty, plastic juice container; 6-8 oz
parafilm OR masking tape OR duct tape
index card (5" x 7")
Mashed bananas, pumpkin, or any type of fruit OR
Oatmeal, water, grape juice

Set-up
Prepare some tasty food to lure the Drosophila into the container. Use either mashed fruit or an oatmeal (1/3), water (1/3), grape juice (1/3) mixture, and add about 2 inches of the food to the empty juice container. This is now a catcher-container!

Roll the index card into a funnel and fit it into the mouth of the catcher-container. Be sure that the bottom funnel hole is very small and that it does not touch the food in the catcher-container. If the funnel and the food touch, the flies will crawl in and get trapped in the moist food and drown. Wrap the mouth of the catcher-container and the funnel with parafilm to keep the funnel secure.

Place the catcher-containers wherever you have seen fruit flies: market places, garbage cans, kitchens, fruit storage areas, etc. Clear this project with store owners and check on your catcher-container every 24 hours. Warmer weather is best for collecting flies.

If you have links/questions/thoughts/techniques related to LIVE FOODS feel free to post them here!


Word of caution. I used to raise maggots for my blue birds- oneday the kids knocked the container over *I didnt see it*, the next morning I woke up to maggots (HUNDREDS of maggots) crawling all over my kitchen floor. KEEP THEM CONTAINED!
What's worse is I had a bad dream before I saw them. Woke up and freaked out, thought the Devil was after me,LOL! Maggots .

 

[Adrinal]

Live food, always fun... well there is the smell.
Thanks for the links.



as for your latter comments I have a link for you too.
Crimson's new home in the country!

 

[Welsh Zippy]

You poor thing!!!!

 

[babyfish]

I culture whiteworms, grindalworms and microworms all year round and from early april to the first frost I culture bloodworms, blackworms,daphnia and glass worms in a paddling pool in the garden . Haven't bought any livefood for years

 

[crimsontsavo]

Adrinal- that's my sisters place. *shhh* It's the familes secret.

 

[crimsontsavo]

I wanna start a culture of all of those Baby.

I have Green water/earthworms/tubifex/mosquito/and some other sort of "worm".
And all the other "unknowns" LOL.
Raise them all in my back yard.
Gonna get some more maggots soon too.

Where can you collect Vinegar eels? In the wild.

 

[babyfish]

crimsontsavo, if you go online in your country only look for a Biological Supply House, they supply live cultures to schools, colleges and laboratories and also private individuals.
Another way I have heard of(but not tried ) is to find a local scrumpy brewer and ask him for some of the lees from the bottom of thier brewing bins and leave it open to the air(after mixing in some water) this should get colonised by the eels

 

[crimsontsavo]

Thank you!