Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

When I say "easy" I mean pretty much by accident.

Basically:
1 x black plastic compost cone (the common type, open bottom, narrower at the top, snug fitting lid).
Vermin barrier underneath made of bird cage wire (10mm square gaps) and thick shade cloth.

Under a shady tree, which may have helped larvae thrive in summer. Over the past several weeks they have gone from thriving to absolutely writhing. A few months back I would occasionally leave the lid off for half an our to give adult BSF a chance to lay. I haven't done this recently though. I put all manner of food scraps in. I initially also put quite a lot of twigs and prunings in, which might help with drainage and air supply.

I have never made any kind of harvesting ramp thingy, but from what I've read it would be very easily done without even modifying the compost cone itself. Just design something to place inside on top of the compost.

There are so many of them at the moment that you'd get plenty just by lifting the lid and scooping them out with a bucket.


There may be more variables that have helped make it so successful. I'll try to get back online to answer any questions.

Dazed, I used the same thing a couple of years ago except I put flyscreen over the top, put a couple of wooden stakes across the top to create a gap and placed lid on top of stakes. BlowFlies cant get in to lay in scraps and BSF fly under gap and lay on the flywire or on the sides of the pickets. Lavae and BSF everywhere and works a treat! I do have a special house for them now thanks to BYAP They amaze me as they are so friendly

Seamonkey, I did wonder whether someone else had done this before, accidentally or otherwise. I haven't been on the forum for yonks, so didn't know for sure.

I haven't actually fed any to my fish yet. Different location, 1 hr drive away and therefore very underutilised. I am out there about once a fortnight. Please, no calls to RSPCA just yet, the fish are fed daily (just not by me).

Is there any trick to transporting live larvae? It's just one hour, so I reckon an icecream container with a few airholes would do it.

They are fine to transport in a plastic container. I use an ice cream container when I take them to work. I dont feed mine to the fish, I just increase the population around my neighbourhood. Havnt had any luck getting them to generate at work and have been trying for months. Have been sprinkling them about the yard but only spotted one fly so far

Are BSF's a worldwide species? or are they limited to just a few geographical locations? Would they be found in the Caribbean, say Haiti for ex.?

nvm, yes they are a common species, and do VERY well in tropical.subtropical regions..GREAT!

I'll go browse some more later - got yard work to do right now - but can we get photos please? Seamonkey I don't quite get a picture in mind of how your system works - blowies can't get in the BSF can? I've seen blowies 'squirt' their maggots in under a glass lid on a saucepan...

Also, how big are BSF? I've been running a composter for a couple of months now and it's going well - there are tiny 'midge' sized flies in and around it when I open it - are they them or are BSF's housefly or bigger?

Do BSF's need meat? Or will veggie scraps (normal compost fare) do the job?

TIA for any info or photos/diagrams...

Hi Journeyman,

BSF= black soldier fly. Either one should get you started using Google.