Fruit Flies For Fish, Anyone?

[tetrakid]

My fish love fruit flies, but I have given up raising flightless fruit flies due to the hassle and cost.

Now I feed them occasionally with normal fruit flies which I catch myself.

By leaving a piece of cut fruit in a container, fruit flies will soon come and settle on it. Then I stealthily approach and place an open cellophane bag over the container and the flies will fly up and be trapped in the cellophane bag. Only cellophane bag will work, as it is more rigid. The trapped flies are then knocked out by microwaving the bag for 30 sec. The motionless flies are then emptied onto the fish tank. Thus my fish can continue to enjoy fruit flies.

[tetrakid]

My fish love fruit flies, but I have given up raising flightless fruit flies due to the hassle and cost.

Now I feed them occasionally with normal fruit flies which I catch myself.

By leaving a piece of cut fruit in a container, fruit flies will soon come and settle on it. Then I stealthily approach and place an open cellophane bag over the container and the flies will fly up and be trapped in the cellophane bag. Only cellophane bag will work, as it is more rigid. The trapped flies are then knocked out by microwaving the bag for 30 sec. The motionless flies are then emptied onto the fish tank. Thus my fish can continue to enjoy fruit flies.

The reason I feed my fish fruit flies is that it is the only live food I find convenient. Tubifex is out for obvious reasons, Microfex is out due to the hassle involved. Thus, I went for cultivating flightless fruit flies, but after one try, I gave up due also to the hassle and cost involved. Only recently I discovered I could collect normal house fruit flies as mentioned above, it being a viable long-term solution to my live fish food problem. Most importantly, my fish love the fruit flies.

[tetrakid]

Wow this is a very unique method! I've never heard of anyone feeding their fish fruit flies. What type of fish are being fed fruit flies by you? I'm really curious.

- C. Smith

It's good to see someone responding to this thread, if only out of curiosity.

You see, I was looking for a way to give my fish some live food, in addition to the dry pellets. I keep goldfish, big angels, gouramis, tetras etc.
Since discovering I could feed them fruitflies, which they love, I have been feeding them with it.

I attract the fruitflies in a plastic bowl filled with a bit of stale fruit. When the flies are in the bowl, I simply place a cellophane bag over the bowl and trap the flies. Then I immediately knock the flies out in the microwave for half a minute. I then empty the flies into to the tank. Simple and effective.

[veridicaldream]

Ah I know.. still waiting for reply on my post. Just curious about why you feed flies. Isn't this risky as they might carry pesticide contaminant


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[Kohei]

You remind me of this guy who made mosquito traps to feed his bettas, i think your fruitfly method safer haha.

[tetrakid]

Ah I know.. still waiting for reply on my post. Just curious about why you feed flies. Isn't this risky as they might carry pesticide contaminant

But I don't see any post by you above in this thread. Maybe in another thread? Sometimes I do miss a post, though.

I feed my fish with fruit flies, which are different from houseflies. Fruitflies are those tiny creatures you sometimes see settling on your fruits left in the open. I certainly would not feed any housefly to my fish, as they also settle on faeces.

However, I do agree with you there is indeed some risk involved in contaminants you mentioned. But I reckon fruitflies treated with pesticides would not survive to seek out fruit. Thus, I should think the risk is minimal, if any. I consider Tubifex worms a much greater risk than fruitflies for obvious reasons most experienced aquarists are aware of.

[tetrakid]

You remind me of this guy who made mosquito traps to feed his bettas, i think your fruitfly method safer haha.

No, I never trap mosquitoes to feed my fish at all, as I go all out to eliminate any mosquito. I hate mosquitoes for their deadliness. Whenever I have a mosquito bite, I feel very angry about it as the itch is lasting, continuous and unbearable. The sickening itch remains no matter how much or how hard you scratch it. Hate is the word when it comes to mosquitoes. No way!

[fireblade]

for how long do you leave the piece of fruits exposed? won't the population be very little? Ever thought of making a trap to trap the lies? like just leave the fruit out there and then collect it at the end of the day with loads of fruit flies?

[fireblade]

this video is taken from my friend
he is cultivating wingless fruit flies..

[tetrakid]

for how long do you leave the piece of fruits exposed? won't the population be very little? Ever thought of making a trap to trap the lies? like just leave the fruit out there and then collect it at the end of the day with loads of fruit flies?

Yes you are right there. I leave my trap in the open overnight too. My trap has been working for me for quite a while now. Though the trapped amount of fruitflies is usually not as much as if one cultivates the flies with a cultivating medium, I find my method more convenient and cheap, and sufficient for my needs to provide a supplement in diet for my fishes. You see, my fishes are fed on pellets too as the main food, thus the fruitflies are purely supplemental.

There's a difference between the fruitflies I trap and the ones people cultivate. The latter are the wingless or flightless whereas the ones I catch will easily fly off if not handled properly. Also, cultivating them entails growing them from eggs to tiny maggots to adult, which obviously is a cumbersome process, not to mention the cost of the medium.

[fireblade]

care to show how your trap looks like?

[tetrakid]

care to show how your trap looks like?

Lol, there's nothing much to it really. It simply consists of a 1.5L soft drinks bottle which is cut near the top so that it becomes a tall jar. I then place orange peels which I have sucked out the juice, leaving the still juicy pulp on the peels. Since I take my oranges daily, I have a constant supply of peels.

But the big deal is actually how you get the fruitflies into a plastic bag. I use a big cellophane bag, as it has body and maintains a big space inside for the fruitflies to fly into. Ordinary plastic bags just wouldn't do, Carefully position the bag over the congregated fruitflies and then clasp the top of the jar with your hands, thus trapping all the fruitflies which fly into the bag. Then shake all the fruitflies into a corner of the bag and KO them (knock out) with strong flicks of the finger. The immobile fruitflies can then be poured into your fish tank. Fish love it!