Automatically harvesting insects for fish food in real time from the local environment.... hmmm shall we?

[Daniel E Murphy]

In another thread Steve was talking about how he hangs a solar powered light above his fish tank to get the moths for his catfish and I replied with how I have also been hanging an electric florescent bug killer above the fish tank for the same reason.  Does anyone have any other ideas on how to "farm" insects to feed the fish?  Insects are so plentiful :)  

[James Steven (Steve) Bird]

Hi Dan-

Good to see other people taking advantage of all those free bugs! Soldier fly larvae are a good source of protein and grow well in most locations. Living in a jungle we are lucky in that we have large amounts of termites, ants, beetles, etc. that can be used for fish food. If you do a search for Microponics there's a good site in Oz that has a lot on raising bugs for food.

Cheers
Steve
www.GoodEarthAgriculture.org

[Daniel E Murphy]

I will look into it. I am more interested in harvesting insects already in the local environment as opposed to trying to specifically raise them. It has the added bonus of keeping your environment more bug free. I like your idea of combining solar power, wind and light to attract and knock them down free of charge ;) I wish i had the time to do the feasibility studies. This could actually be a good product idea were it to converge into a single unit and marketed that way.

James Steven (Steve) Bird said:

Hi Dan-

Good to see other people taking advantage of all those free bugs! Soldier fly larvae are a good source of protein and grow well in most locations. Living in a jungle we are lucky in that we have large amounts of termites, ants, beetles, etc. that can be used for fish food. If you do a search for Microponics there's a good site in Oz that has a lot on raising bugs for food.

Cheers
Steve
www.GoodEarthAgriculture.org

[Alfio Contarino]

Hi Daniel,

Here are some that I'm looking at using my self to catch bug... 

 

http://www.onlinetoys.com.au/Bug-Catcher-pr-17016.html

http://butterflywebsite.com/butterflytraps.cfm

http://www.diytrade.com/china/4/products/3976172/Insect_trap.html

 

Hope it helps...

[Christina Hersey]

I know this is an old thread, but I'm new to the forum so I thought I'd add to it.  I've read that you can make a fly trap by cutting small holes into a plastic soda bottle.  Put some water in the bottom and something for bait.  I've heard that cat food works, and so does fruit juice and commercial fly bait.  The flies will fly in and drown.  The dead flies will attract more flies and soon you have a whole bottle full of dead flies.  I imagine you could just dump that straight into the fish tank.

[Carey Ma]

I understand what you are trying to do but I think you all are playing with fire. Besides, anyone catching/ killing pollinators should be shot in my book! Use your brains people.

[George T]

It's sort of a gross process but these traps and non-toxic bait work like you wouldn't believe.  I've fed the flies to chickens but not to fish yet.  It comes with only one bait so you may as well buy more.  I tried homemade bait only once and had no success.  It starts off slowly but on the 3rd/4th day, the flies really swarm to it.  Good luck.

http://www.horse.com/item/victor-fly-trap-magnet-1-gal/BUA12/

Christina Hersey said:

I know this is an old thread, but I'm new to the forum so I thought I'd add to it.  I've read that you can make a fly trap by cutting small holes into a plastic soda bottle. 

[Carey Ma]

Fly?....Hell no!...I'll raise maggots though. My problem with using wild stock is fear of contamination. You name it, they'll bring it. It might be a bother, but I still prefer to raise my own and have confidence when I eat. For in the long run, I eat what they eat.

[Daniel E Murphy]

Turning on lighting over a fish reservoir at night will attract insects and inevitably they fall in the water.  Fish love it.

[Carey Ma]

I'have no more comments Mr Murphy...good luck and I hope all turns out well.

[George T]

Your maggots are uncontaminated?

Carey Ma said:

Fly?....Hell no!...I'll raise maggots though. My problem with using wild stock is fear of contamination. You name it, they'll bring it. It might be a bother, but I still prefer to raise my own and have confidence when I eat. For in the long run, I eat what they eat.

[John Jay]

aes has an overpriced  light tube with a bulb of the correct spectrum, that attracts bugs,, a spinning piece of fish line wacks the curious insects and they fall to the mouths of waiting fishes

[Christina Hersey]

My grandfather uses that method at his lakes to great effect.