Maggots??... and fly trap

[kadios]

Hi all!

One of my MW crashed but I still left it unattended. After some time, I found some small flies, similar in shape to fruit flies except it is black, trapped inside the box. Another observation was some white worms crawling inside the box, most probably the larva of the flies. These worms look really fat, may be a good meal for adult killies. The orange Australes Ronnie gave me are still too small to feed on them. Any person here interested to feed these worms to your killies? Let me know so that I can tell you where to get it. Otherwise, I will just throw it down the chute.

Cheers!

Kar Hwee

[RonWill]

Kar Hwee, those are not fruit flies but insects similar to those you'd sometimes find in filthy toilets. While I have no hesitation about feeding fruit fly larvae to fishes, I do have second thoughts about these unknown maggots.

Dunk that culture... not worth taking the risks IMHO, and if you need another MWC, swing by and pick up another starter.

[Debbbear]

Kar Hwee,
I feed fly larva to my adult killies after I wash them off,and they go crazy over them.
We have a hen layer farm,and for a change in diet for the killies, I break an egg on an old flat. The flies soon gather,then the juicy (creepy) maggots. I use rubber gloves to work with them. Oh, and a clothes pin on the nose!

[kadios]

Oh I see. I thought any culture will be fine as long as we flush them with water prior to feeding. Thanks for the tips! I will throw them away immediately. They do look disgusting! Thanks for the offer Ronnie, I still have my MW. Like you said, always keep 2 just in case the other crashes! =)

If only I have the space for them, I will definitely follow your tips on how to start the fruit flies culture. I do not think my neighbours will be delighted if I make the whole corridor stinks! Anyway, thanks for the tips! =)

Alternatively, I was thinking of using a banana skin to attract the fruit flies. But the problem lies in how to get them out of the container without them esacping so that they can be fed to my fishes.

Thanks again for all the enlightenment!

Cheers!

Kar Hwee

[RonWill]

Kar Hwee, do take care of your cultures from contamination and infestation because one of these days, I might ask you for starters. :wink:

Alternatively, I was thinking of using a banana skin to attract the fruit flies. But the problem lies in how to get them out of the container without them esacping so that they can be fed to my fishes.

Culturing vestigial drosophila or 'wingless' fruit flies, can be tricky and more expensive than it's worth. IMHO, a fly-trap works much better, faster and with more predictable results.

I've had lots of AWOL flies until I refined my trap... which I call 'Hotel California'* and if you refer to the illustration below, it should be self-explanatory.

All you need is a soda bottle, cut it in half and place fresh, ripe banana peels into the base. Sit the inverted top segment into the base and if you worry about the 2 segments coming apart, use a short lenght of masking tape and go around it. Put the trap in the shade and wait.

Bananas usually attract fruit flies and very occasionally, the bigger houseflies and removing them is not a problem.

When the 'hotel' has sufficient occupants, fit a take-away container or lid over it and shove the thing into the freezer. The cold will knock 'em out sufficiently for you to tap the bugs out.

If you don't want your girlfriend/wife/lady companion (whichever applicable :wink: ) to scream at you, rig up a lid with an air-tubing that can connect to a CO2 splitter and give 'em a blast. The CO2 sends the bugs into temporary comatose which makes harvesting** a breeze... ie. when flies don't fly around!

The CO2 method is cleaner, easier and you don't have to deal with condensation, where the wings get stuck to the bottles.

Your surface feeders will thank you for the snacks and although the trap isn't perfect by any means, feedback is always good.

FYI, this trap was adapted from a fish trap used on my clown loaches eons ago.

*a line from the song titled "Hotel California", "you can check in anytime you like, but you can never leave"

**for those who thinks that all bugs are 'dirty', there's always the tweezer :wink:

[RonWill]

I've moved this thread because 'clean' live foods for killies is on most hobbyists' mind and IMHO, such discussions should reside in 'Killies Arena'.

Title was also edited for easier thread search and there is a 'Search' button at the top of the page... in case anyone missed it :wink:

[mervin]

hi kar hwee,

this is how i "harvest" my fruit flies to feed my fishes.

1st, use any container with a cover, then place a piece of banana peel in it to attract the flies.

when you get flies, cover the container and shake it vigourously.
WOW LA !!! stunned flies for the picking !!!

cheers
mervin