Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

This morning, I read that these larvae will self-harvest if their bed is designed appopriately......which is just as well because it's a pain harvesting them by hand in 35 degrees C.

Now, I have to go and read up how I keep this lot alive until I have a chance to feed them out to my fish.

Were they in your worm farm Gary?

Edit: Just read back one page - compost bin - okay. That's them alright - hopefully they will come back to my worm farm now I have taken the barriers off.

Strange how one tends to develop less sensitivity to the "ewwwww, gross!" factor. Seeing that mound of larvae in your hands makes me want to do that. Must feel pretty funky. (My girlfriend would flip...note: don't bring up maggots and larvae as potential fish feed over dinner with your girlfriend.
"But what is so gross about life, honey? They are part of the great chain too...."
I've desensitized her to worms. "But what's the difference?"

I wish I wasn't so far north. BSF don't appear to survive our climate. I can check during the summer, but I found a source of the larvae here in Alberta so I don't think I'll be so patient.
Hayden

Excellent Gary! Thanks for the photos. You are now our front guard. Only person I know of with BSF larvae in captivity. Please keep us informed. It is a new frontier for BAP!

Hi,

I got the larvae from our compost bin which contains largely kitchen wastes (and mainly raw and cooked vegetable scraps). We don't put meat or fish scraps in the compost bin, so the whole thing is fairly benign....no smell other than a very slight earth odour.

As for the "feel"...they are dry to the touch and are probably more like meal worms (with which I had them confused) than maggots.

The reading that I've done so far suggests that these creatures have a very real place in backyard food production.

Hayden.....check this out......it's about rearing BSF larvae in cold places...
http://www.esrla.com/winter/frame.htm

Gary

Hayden - we must just be lucky here in Queensland - we have BSF breeding in captivity without even trying. They cerrtainly don't have the same ich factor as normal maggots - I think you hit it on the head Gary that the difference in texture makes a difference in that regard.

Yeah I caught that one.
I would definitely need to keep the colony indoors. The greenhouse stays around 18 at the lowest, so it would work fine.
There was no data for below -3C so I would assume an insulated shed or sunroom with supplementary heat would be required for our -30C weather. I would need to figure out a way to have the larvae rearing bin separate from the adult colony, mainly to conserve greenhouse floor space for plant production. Perhaps I could create a small movable bin with a bait for the females to lay eggs in cardboard next to it. I could then seed the larvae bin in a separate room. It wouldn't take a huge amount of space for a small setup, but on a bigger scale more rearing surface area would be needed.

Hayden

You rock GD!

All they need is a not-to-steep ramp and they will crawl out when they are ready to turn into flies. The ramp could lead to a bucket or right into the fish tank!

The only thing that concerned me was the wording used when referencing the study of the taste of fish fed the maggots. Said something like 'was acceptable to consumers'. Sounds like the person said - 'I guess I'd eat it if I had to'

Perhaps the fish wasn't properly purged before harvest.

Or maybe they were just fussy

or maybe it was poorly worded. Only experience will tell, preferably comparison between fish fed on different diets. On the weekend I was talking to a guy who grew Jades commecially for a while. He and his wife reinforced how delicious the fish are to eat. His wife told me they are nicer than reef fish.

maybe she doesnt like saltwater fish?????????????????????????????????...huge difference..... i dont like saltwater fish much but love freshwater ones

VB words like that are generically used.

but i get your drift

But, I'm sure we'll ALL lurve eating OUR fish better than ANY other fish EVER!