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Method for Harvesting Midge Larvae


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#1 Guest_Rtifs_*

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Posted 04 May 2011 - 08:49 AM

Does anyone have a proven method of harvesting midge (chironomid) larvae from ponds? I fish frequently at a local pond and know it is full of them. I would like to harvest some for my fish at home. I’m not sure of a good way to collect them without dredging up a bunch of muck from the bottom - which they would have to then be filtered out of.

#2 Guest_mywan_*

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Posted 04 May 2011 - 10:14 AM

There are sicky traps and such, but why not grow your own such as mosquito larvae? Simply take 5 gallon or small mop bucket and put a screen over it while the water ages. This screen allows you to control when mosquitoes are allowed to lay eggs, so you can feed them to the fish before they mature. If you some some larvae with giant heads you have less than 2 days before you are the live food.

Here is one method I have never used but looks good.
http://www.petfish.n...eding/skeet.php

I used 5 gallon buckets with window screen when I was a kid. Take the window screen off for 3 days then replace it. Now all the eggs will be within 3 days of the same development time. The screen can also trap the adults if you wait too long and get flying mosquitoes. Then wait a week or two, depends on the species, until you have some a good batch of wigglers to feed the fish. If you keep track and wait till you see the big headed larvae (actually pupa) you know then know how long a development time you have to work with. Better to dump them early as weather can effect development rates. Different species will lay eggs preferentially in water with differing water conditions, and the food stock used in the link above I never bothered with. I just used a clean scoop of pond water. I then just dumped the water and all in the tank like part of the water change, it was the pond were my fish came from. Probably better to just pour the water in a strainer or large fine aquarium net and put that in the tank.

#3 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 04 May 2011 - 10:32 AM

I prefer to grow my own live food instead of harvesting it from the wild. That way whether or not the live food transmits diseases to my fish is under my control.

Also, the idea of harvesting or culturing a live food that later in its life morphed into a creature that either bit or flew seems like a bad idea to me. What happens if your fish don't eat every single one? Then you're stuck with a pest in your house that you put there.

Here is a list of alternative foods:
Microworms, blackworms, brine shrimp, daphnia, moina, rotifers, banana or earth worms from your local bait shop, an in-house colony of a small fish that breeds excessively, wingless fruit flies.

#4 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 04 May 2011 - 12:44 PM

Chironomids colonize temperature loggers we set out in cattle ponds for some of our amphibian work. Specifically they attach to the knots in the cord attaching floats to the logger. If you have ready access and landowner permission, maybe you could throw some knotted-up cotton rope (with floats) out into the pond and pull it in to harvest the bloodworms every few weeks.

Chaoborid larvae (glassworms or phantom midges) on the other hand are up in the water column and can be harvested with a net. You probably won't find many in a pond with fish, but a fish-free pond with lots of organic input should yield plenty.

#5 Guest_Rtifs_*

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Posted 04 May 2011 - 01:13 PM

Thanks for the replies. I tired mosquito cultivation last year, but the local mosquitoes aren’t very large. Waiting for them to put on some growth caused algae to grow in their dish and harvesting was a pain since they would hide in it. The fish did love them though. I figure it would be better to catch a non-biting insect that is a bit larger.

Newt, the pond I was thinking of is a city pond so I probably can’t leave rope in there for weeks at a time. But I just realized that my local community has some retention/flood control ponds (puddles really) just a few houses away. I could try it there.




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