Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Guys anyone know if Black fly lavae are available in Australia I'm on the Gold Coast?
Does anyone in Aussie have any experience with growing them?
Thanks

Normanjarvie, do you mean Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens)? If so, then you should be able to attract adult flies to a bait and then collect their eggs and start your own colony, as I am doing.

This fly originated in North America but we have native Soldier Flies, such as the Garden Soldier Fly (Exaireta spinigera) which is very similar, both in looks and useful functions, to the Black Soldier Fly.

For more info you could go to the Black Soldier Fly blog.

Hi PLJ Thanks for replying to my post yes I do mean Black soldier flys I lookes at a couple of the blogs but it appears they are situated in the states and I am in Australia QLD Gold Coast do you know if they are here or available here as well?

Hi PJL I re read your post and it looks like you may be in Aussie ? you talk about a trap where do I get one of those or can I make one?

Norman. You may want to look at the link PLJ posted. It may answer you question.

And yes 'deep in the bush north of Perth, WA, Oz' is in Australia. (All though we are pushing to break away).

Um who'll carry Aus if we broke away JeffJL?

Hopefully Francois sees this thread and posts some of his BSF composting pics they are pretty damn impressive.

I just made a bait from some kombucha scoby. I hope it works...

Hi Guys
Yes I have been watching the videos and it's very interesting as I have fish and chickens however I would like to know how to get some here in QLD?
I have a screened enclosure that I have been using for hydroponics however I don't need it now it's 1200x1200mm by 2.0m high would that be appropriate?
Thanks Norman

Everything I recall is that they are native around most of Australia. Once they get started in a BSF system they are pretty much self sustaining and are just kept out in the open. Just set up a system and wait.

That is rather random Ron. But, thanks to Google, I now know something I didn't before reading this thread. I can go to sleep satisfied.

How is that random? The bait is for BSF, they like sour fermented smells, it smells sour and fermented.

Rob bob from Ipswitch as posted a video on his BSF build. May still be to cold during winter but you could give it ago

I'm just back from my trip to Lombok, Indonesia where I was checking out wild bamboo and hoping to see some BSF.

BSF are native to North America but are now found in all continents other than Antarctica. We also have native soldier flies here in Australia, including the Garden Soldier Fly which is very similar.

In cooler parts of Australia the flies will need some help through winter if you want to keep them going year round in your own colony.

Ron is spot on about BSF being attracted to the smell of something fermenting. They are also very keen on the smell of coffee grounds and a simple bait could consist of a container of coffee grounds with some strips of corrugated cardboard attached above it. The flies seem to prefer laying their eggs in small cavities, such as in cardboard or corflute, near to the attractant or food source. They usually don't lay their eggs directly onto the food source, as a quick hatching blowfly would, since BSF eggs take four or more days to hatch and they would probably be consumed by the larvae of other flies in that time.