Live food production?

[Noddy65]

Further to my previous post I thought it might be nice to start a thread on different peoples live food production...

Heres my contribution:
Microworms
Ive used 2 techniques.
The first was to microwave some Supermarket porridge (one cup porridge to one cup water) in a 2 litre ice cream container. Wait for the mix to cool, sprinkle some brewers or bread yeast on top and place a teaspooon or two of the microworm culture in there. The ice cream container lid has some holes melted in the top with a hot nail. This can last a few weeks before it goes off (and in off I mean rotten).
The second is to cut the crust off some whitebread, place in a 2 litre ice cream container as before, moisten slighlty and sprinkle with yeast as before. Then inoculate the culture. New bread can be added as production declines, interestingly this mix doesnt seem to go off as quickly as the porridge mix.

Mike

[fishgeek]

seems strange mike that you find your microwaved oats go rotten

microwaving them should reduce the bacterial load and prevent your culture from spoiling
i do this and only get sligt fungal problems/overgrowths when i am ot clen with the spooning of old culture into new media

i also harvest whiteworms/grindalworms and earthworms, these i started following guides as you will find all over the internet, i now have rubbish bins with soil and composting househod scrapes with white worm and earthworms going fine as back ups

you guys in aus will probably have more luck with grindals as they like the warmer weather

daphnia are really easy to culture, my first production was an old bathtub outside catching sun, water from tanks went into it whenever it needed extra and it caught sun so algal blooms
daphnia once in there went wild and fish subsequently feasted
again warmer weather may mean you guys will want the water covered by fly screen so that no mosquitoe's breeding in it, the fish will eat the larva though the adults will eat you
:wink:

am presemtly trying to get rotifers going as i find brine shrimp need too much attention

andrew

[parkap]

Howdy All,

At the moment I only do brine shrimp. Am keen to try mosquito larvae though. Steph's given me some easy tips, but so far I just can't pull my finger out to do anything about it. 8-)

I use a 100ltr tub for my grow out tank for the BBS. (Did anyone see the doco on SBS on Sunday night about the brine shrimp/artemia industry - very interesting.) I run four bottles to hatch the BBS, siphon them out each night and then redo for about 3-4 days in a row. This gives a very good populaton to grow out. I raise them for 2 weeks then feed them to the fish once or twice a week. The tub usually lasts for 4 weeks or so.

Then clean and restart.

p.

[Noddy65]

How do you guys set up your tubs etc.
Salt concentration, airation etc?
I like teh daphnia idea...might have to find as pot to hide a tub outside (the wife will go mental if she thinks the fish are moving outside now as well). Is there a minimum size tub?

Mike

[parkap]

For my BBS, I use 2kg of sea salt in the 100 ltr tub and 20 grams in my hatching bottles, ie. they're all about 1 ltr in size.

For aeration I have a four way gang valve with individual hoses going into each bottle. The flow rate is about in a mid-range, enought o ensure most of the eggs circulate. I tie the hoses around a single river pebble each to weight them down. In the grow out tub, I've got a single hose line set in the middle on the bottom. The flow rate is fairly high but that's alright in such a big tub.

p.

[parkap]

BTW, here's a great link on live food rearing. Look under the Feeding & Raising Rainbowfishes heading. (I can't remember who referred me onto this site - sorry.)

http://members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/Contents.htm

[Noddy65]

hehehehe...I think it was me?

Mike

[parkap]

Thanks Mike. Thought it might have been one of a few people from that other forum. But they seem to have deleted all links to external sites from old posts, so I couldn't find the original post even after about an hour or two or searching today.

p.

[Grae]

I collect mozzie rafts and hatch them inside the shed in sealed glass jars.
Live food and very small

Graeme

[fishgeek]

are you guys growing the brine shrip on?
i thought the egg was the nutritios we were trying to get into fish, and by growing them you are allowing the shrimp to use this nutrition


mike if you are going with daphnia outdoors any size container will work
a water butt is what i have now
we had to get rid of the old bathtub , pity that as the large surface area caught more sun and grew better algae

i tend to go for lower effort live foods
over here the daphnia grow really well through summer then dissappear for the colder weather to return the next summer

i tend now just to feed my brine shrimp decapsulated egg's mixed with some microworm

andrew

[sharn]

i must be the only person in history that cant get mozzie larve lol. i put two buckets out with dechlorinated water (half full, rain fill up the rest) about feb, i put one in the carport where i always get bitten if i go near it and one by the garden shed (also get bitten there too hehe). nothing, i put some yeast in there for something for them to eat (someone told me this) but now i just have some nice green buckets, great for daphnia though so im hoping to get a starter culture for them. will it be too cold thru winter for them? i can always bring em inside overnight.

only thing ive cultured so far is microworms, i dont have enough small fish so theyre coming out my ears (and the air holes in the container hehe). i use the porrige method but dont add yeast until the culture slows and i add bread to soak up moisture. i have them sitting on top of my tanks so theyre nice and warm (stinky though)

[Th0mas]

The damn smell is one of the reason I've given up on the microworm (the missus won't allow it).

Currently hatching BS egg, and feeding the BBS (not growing). The only problem is the cost - these eggs are so expensive.

Thomas.

[parkap]

Yeah I know the best time to feed BBS to fish is within 24 hours of hatching, but they're just too small - my fish tend to ignore them. Plus breeding them up to a good size makes it more interesting to watch as the fish hunt them down.

I only use it as a treat not as a major part of the diet.

p.

[fishgeek]

keeping the microworm cultures drier and cooler will slow production for when you do not need so much
i usually have a very dry cool spare around also cuts back on the smell

can you guys buy live food at lfs , if so just buy some daphnia and chuck them in those buckets , if your in norther parts of australia i am sure they would over winter, i'm in london and my water butt freeze's over during winter , even my summer is only about a bris vegas winter equivalent
what i have to put up with just to have these fish hey :wink:

andrew

[sharn]

dont move to NZ then hehe, you cant buy BBS anywhere that i know of or daphnia. they sell flies, mealworms and crickets that i know of but its very limited sadly.

thanks for the tip fishgeek, pretty simple now i think about it hehe, its nearly winter here now so hopefully they will slow down and ill move em to the spare room (which isnt warmed at all). thanks!

[Noddy65]

If your after mozzie larvae you have to put something in the water for the adults to land on, put a few sticks or something in there.

Mike

[sharn]

i was told this today lol after discussing it with a mate. DUH sharn, obviously i thought that mozzies sit on the water to lay, its coming to winter now though so i dont think much will happen but ill chuck something in and see if i get some. thanks noddy!

[Robdog]

Does anyone know if SLS has any live food???

[catfishbone]

I normally get live blackworms from SLS ...

andrie