This thread is for discussing the idea of self dispensing live food cultures. This can be a very effective way to create a nearly maintenance free tank, that is, if you can get it to function correctly. Post your ideas and share your knowledge.
Self Dispensing Live Food Cultures
Started by
Guest_Yeahson421_*
, Dec 18 2013 09:30 PM
12 replies to this topic
#2
Guest_Yeahson421_*
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Posted 18 December 2013 - 09:45 PM
An idea I've been playing with is wingless fruit flies behind a 3D background in a paludarium or in a well sealed canopy of a normal tank. A small funnel would encourage only a few at a time to leave the culture and enter the tank where they should be promptly eaten. The two problems I've found with this are A. The cultures can smell kind of yeasty and unpleasant and B. A culture container must be restarted every 3 weeks or so due to depletion of media or falling victim to frequent crashes.
#3
Guest_Orangespotted_*
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Posted 18 December 2013 - 10:48 PM
In before Erica posts about Blackworms and Brine Shrimps! 
Been debating raising live bloodworms in a similar way. Once the adults hatch, they fly away, only to get trapped under the aquarium hood. There are lots of cool things you could do I bet.
Been debating raising live bloodworms in a similar way. Once the adults hatch, they fly away, only to get trapped under the aquarium hood. There are lots of cool things you could do I bet.
#4
mattknepley
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Posted 19 December 2013 - 12:58 PM
I think you're on to something with your ff idea. It would be very easy to rig up a shelf to hold one of those plastic culture containers. I would suggest a different delivery mechanism than the funnel idea, though. I raised ffs for dart frogs for a while, and it never ceased to amaze me how such a stupid creature was capable of swarming en mass through the smallest opening in their containers. Never was it just one or two, it was one or two thousand. If it was me I start with a length of airline tube inserted an inch or so through the top of the culture lid and that ended up just a half a hair,s width from the surface of the water. That should slow the little buggers down. You'd also want to be sure that you had fish that were active surface feeders. Otherwise you'll have escapees. Ffs float, and the smallest current propels them a great distance across the water, up the side of the tank, and inevitably out to the world at large. Nothing slams the brakes on a cool hobby like a couple thousand flies crawling all over your house...
Matt Knepley
"No thanks, a third of a gopher would merely arouse my appetite..."
"No thanks, a third of a gopher would merely arouse my appetite..."
#5
Guest_Erica Lyons_*
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Posted 19 December 2013 - 01:19 PM
I guess I should share my in tank brine shrimp hatchery. I love this thing. Every four days when I'm adding fish flakes I add more eggs to the top of the hatchery, swish them around for a second, and done! Continuous brine shrimp for the tank. They swim out of the exit every few seconds.
#6
Guest_Erica Lyons_*
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Posted 19 December 2013 - 01:24 PM
I'm less of a fan of blackworms because although yes, they are self dispensing, they also often have leeches.
My betta being attacked by leeches in 2013:
The cloudy water is because the leeches burrow, and burrowing + pure clay kitty litter substrate is not a good combo. The algae on the front glass is because when I would reach my arm in to scrape it off, it would come out with a leech on it, there were so many of them. So I stopped cleaning the glass for a month. Eventually salt, but not fenbendazole ('Panacure') killed them.
Giant leech that came with the blackworms in 2010:
The leeches woudn't be a problem for most people but I keep mostly nano fish. A pygmy sunfish that's only 1 inch long is not going to be able to eat a one inch long leech. The neolamprologus multifasciatus ('blue eyed' or 'banded' shell dwellers or 'multis') are a bit larger and were able to eat the leeches right up, no problem. But because the pygmy sunfish couldn't, the leeches survived and bred in their tank and that's where the leech videos above come from. About three months after the 'yay, I bought blackworms for the pygmy sunfish!' video, a leech video follows.
My betta being attacked by leeches in 2013:
The cloudy water is because the leeches burrow, and burrowing + pure clay kitty litter substrate is not a good combo. The algae on the front glass is because when I would reach my arm in to scrape it off, it would come out with a leech on it, there were so many of them. So I stopped cleaning the glass for a month. Eventually salt, but not fenbendazole ('Panacure') killed them.
Giant leech that came with the blackworms in 2010:
The leeches woudn't be a problem for most people but I keep mostly nano fish. A pygmy sunfish that's only 1 inch long is not going to be able to eat a one inch long leech. The neolamprologus multifasciatus ('blue eyed' or 'banded' shell dwellers or 'multis') are a bit larger and were able to eat the leeches right up, no problem. But because the pygmy sunfish couldn't, the leeches survived and bred in their tank and that's where the leech videos above come from. About three months after the 'yay, I bought blackworms for the pygmy sunfish!' video, a leech video follows.
#7
Guest_Erica Lyons_*
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Posted 19 December 2013 - 01:36 PM
Speaking of burrowing, there must be something about the way blackworms embed themselves in the ground that doesn't throw up a lot of dust. The time I had cloudy water was the time I had hundreds of leeches. The time I had less leeches but still tons of blackworms, the water wasn't cloudy. If a culture was pure blackworms, no leeches, I'd keep it. I've got no problems with the blackworms themselves. They're sorta cute.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nauZG5MANQM
http://gallery.nanfa...resize.jpg.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nauZG5MANQM
http://gallery.nanfa...resize.jpg.html
#8
Guest_Erica Lyons_*
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Posted 19 December 2013 - 01:39 PM
But the problem with any self dispensing food culture is that it doesn't tame fish. This is fine for naturally gregarious fish like shiners. But for pygmy sunfish, you have to actively train them to associate your face with food and to not follow their first instinct to flee at the first sign of you. That's why I like adding food to fish tanks; they learn to come forward when you walk near.
Compare the two videos of an in-tank-fed pygmy sunfish tank and a drop-food-in tank:
In-tank fed:
I'm far away, they're ignoring me.
Drop-food-in-daily tank:
I'm close up, they're looking at me expectantly. If I tried to get this close to the in-tank fed population, they'd flee.
Compare the two videos of an in-tank-fed pygmy sunfish tank and a drop-food-in tank:
In-tank fed:
I'm far away, they're ignoring me.
Drop-food-in-daily tank:
I'm close up, they're looking at me expectantly. If I tried to get this close to the in-tank fed population, they'd flee.
#9
Guest_gerald_*
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Posted 19 December 2013 - 05:51 PM
The reason this thread started was due to a question about whether darters kept at room temp would starve without food for 3 weeks (tank in dorm room, access not allowed during break). A self-dispensing live food feeder could be used just for times like this -- it doesn't need to be permanent.
But the problem with any self dispensing food culture is that it doesn't tame fish. This is fine for naturally gregarious fish like shiners. But for pygmy sunfish, you have to actively train them to associate your face with food ....
#10
Guest_Skipjack_*
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Posted 19 December 2013 - 06:44 PM
4 posts in a row. Wow.
#11
Guest_Erica Lyons_*
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Posted 19 December 2013 - 07:02 PM
Each post can only have two images. I talk mostly in pictures.
#12
Guest_Skipjack_*
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Posted 19 December 2013 - 07:31 PM
No, you talk equally in photos and words. 
#13
Michael Wolfe
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Posted 19 December 2013 - 11:25 PM
I don't want to totally hijack this thread, but I also don't want the misinformation out there.
There is not a 2 photo limit the photo limit if 10. There is a 2 video limit. I confirmed these things with a non-member login that I created and posted here...
http://forum.nanfa.o...oad-limit-test/
There is not a 2 photo limit the photo limit if 10. There is a 2 video limit. I confirmed these things with a non-member login that I created and posted here...
http://forum.nanfa.o...oad-limit-test/
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
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