I've had this thought for a long time now. I live in western PA, but grew up in the very rural central PA and was raised a fly-fisherman. I've flyfished for trout all over the US for the last 16 years, and consider myself an experienced flyfisherman. Cross that with my love for aquaria, and you've got a recipe for disaster.
In flyfishing, you learn quickly the insects of the water. To find the food for the day, you only need to start turning over rocks underwater. These insects have fairly short life spans and their sole purpose in life is to reproduce. They require very little in terms of space. They hatch, the larva float to the surface, the ones that aren't eaten hatch and climb onto a limb to dry their wings, then fly around courting and mate. They then lay their eggs on the water and the eggs sink to attach to rocks where the whole cycle starts over again.
I have often thought about raising them as feeders. You can collect them by the hundreds, and they only require perfect water and some light to reproduce. I think they could be easily raised and some are quite large. Stoneflies for example reach about 2 inches in length. Some mayflies are close to a half inch long. Ultimately, it would be interesting to have an ecosystem with them, but they require cooler water conditions than the water we keep for tropical fish. So they would have to be raised as food only. All the freshwater fish in PA live off of these so they must be a good source of protien.
Feeding them is the best part. The mayflies DO NOT eat! Their sole purpose in life is to reproduce. The stoneflies do eat algae and detritus in the nymph stage and can live on algae and leaf buds in the adult stage. SO, raising these insects would cost next to nothing. Keeping the water clean and cool is the only trick.
The setup I was shooting for is a 20gal with a screened in top "flight" area with some MH lighting.
I wrote this because I'm going to attempt this, and was curious if anyone else has or has thought of it before. Also to get thoughts from you guys. So lets hear them.
In flyfishing, you learn quickly the insects of the water. To find the food for the day, you only need to start turning over rocks underwater. These insects have fairly short life spans and their sole purpose in life is to reproduce. They require very little in terms of space. They hatch, the larva float to the surface, the ones that aren't eaten hatch and climb onto a limb to dry their wings, then fly around courting and mate. They then lay their eggs on the water and the eggs sink to attach to rocks where the whole cycle starts over again.
I have often thought about raising them as feeders. You can collect them by the hundreds, and they only require perfect water and some light to reproduce. I think they could be easily raised and some are quite large. Stoneflies for example reach about 2 inches in length. Some mayflies are close to a half inch long. Ultimately, it would be interesting to have an ecosystem with them, but they require cooler water conditions than the water we keep for tropical fish. So they would have to be raised as food only. All the freshwater fish in PA live off of these so they must be a good source of protien.
Feeding them is the best part. The mayflies DO NOT eat! Their sole purpose in life is to reproduce. The stoneflies do eat algae and detritus in the nymph stage and can live on algae and leaf buds in the adult stage. SO, raising these insects would cost next to nothing. Keeping the water clean and cool is the only trick.
The setup I was shooting for is a 20gal with a screened in top "flight" area with some MH lighting.
I wrote this because I'm going to attempt this, and was curious if anyone else has or has thought of it before. Also to get thoughts from you guys. So lets hear them.
