starting a bug farm

[Surly Ghillie]

give me a ring Gary, i'll talk you through it. your main problem is EVERYTHING eats EVERYTHING, and you need to be careful bout what you try and mix together. If you happen to have a lake and river at the bottom of the garden you can continually replenish with new specimens (bugs in season).
0337011511

[Virgildonatifan]

give me a ring Gary, i'll talk you through it. your main problem is EVERYTHING eats EVERYTHING, and you need to be careful bout what you try and mix together. If you happen to have a lake and river at the bottom of the garden you can continually replenish with new specimens (bugs in season).
0337011511

Oh yes! Just witnessed my dragonfly nymph catching a vlei kurper for supper. Mean little guys. I have taken photos but the quality isn't that great, hope you guys can make it out.

The last photo is to show the aftermath. The nymph had been eating on him for a couple of minutes and this is to show what was left over after one nymph got hold.

Currently I have 3 dragonfly nymphs and 4 (initially 5) small kurpers. All of them caught from the dam at Eikendal.

Personally, I find this very interesting and since we're talking about a bug farm, I thought I'd post this here.

[garyatstealth]

give me a ring Gary, i'll talk you through it. your main problem is EVERYTHING eats EVERYTHING, and you need to be careful bout what you try and mix together. If you happen to have a lake and river at the bottom of the garden you can continually replenish with new specimens (bugs in season).
0337011511

Thanks for the offer, however i am hoping to start this as a hobby in hobbitland
so any suggested reading will be appreciated.

[BuzzLiteBeer]

Oh yes! Just witnessed my dragonfly nymph catching a vlei kurper for supper. Mean little guys. I have taken photos but the quality isn't that great, hope you guys can make it out.

The last photo is to show the aftermath. The nymph had been eating on him for a couple of minutes and this is to show what was left over after one nymph got hold.

Currently I have 3 dragonfly nymphs and 4 (initially 5) small kurpers. All of them caught from the dam at Eikendal.

Personally, I find this very interesting and since we're talking about a bug farm, I thought I'd post this here.

Very interesting. How about posting a step-by-step setup for idiots guide here. I want to start something similar for my son's Grade 4 class. I have a small fish tank with all the bits that go with it. What's next?

[Virgildonatifan]

Very interesting. How about posting a step-by-step setup for idiots guide here. I want to start something similar for my son's Grade 4 class. I have a small fish tank with all the bits that go with it. What's next?

Well, it's as basic as you want it to be. All you need to start is the tank, filter and substrate and de-chlorinated water. Set the tank up with water and add the filter. If you have dechlorinater, add it to the water otherwise let the the water cycle for a day or two.

After the water is ready, you can add 1 or 2 very cheap fish. The reason for this is that your tank needs to start it's own life cycle, the most important part, the bacteria. If you haven't cultivated the bacteria and add a bunch of fish, the ammonia will build up and kill everything. The bacteria basically feed of the ammonia aka fish waste. To ensure a well cultivated bacteria population, look for a fine substrate. Not too fine as it can clog up the filter.

After the bacteria have established, you can start adding fish. Do not over populate and do not add mix small and big fish, as anything that can fit into their mouths will be eaten. Good starter fish are guppies, swordtails, mollies. They can tolerate a lot, especially bad water conditions, like pH, kH, etc.
Lastly, do a (20% of the total volume) water change once a week with decloranated water and don't over feed.

[Virgildonatifan]

Here's a website you can look at. Very helpful.

www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk

I'll add more as soon as I get back to my computer.

Oh, and don't worry about a tank that you think will be too small. Just don't over populate. Do a search for nano tanks, you will be amazed!

[BuzzLiteBeer]

Thanks for the info. However, I was referring specifically to keeping aquatic bugs. ( no fish in the tank)

[Virgildonatifan]

Thanks for the info. However, I was referring specifically to keeping aquatic bugs. ( no fish in the tank)

Oh sorry. Bugs would be less maintenance than fish are, except if you want to add live plants. That's a whole different setup and needs a bit more detail and attention when you start adding aquatic plants, especially keeping pH, kH, nitrates, etc. at specific levels. But for the bugs alone, the setup stays the same.

What kind of aquatic bugs do you have in mind?

Damsels get eaten by everything, so they are a good food source. You can add them and add plants for a hideout or you can add plastic plants but out of my experience, the plastics usually bring on algae growth. But then again I only used them once, so if they don't show algae after sometime, then you can keep that as a hideout for your damsels.

Dragonfly nymphs will eat basically anything, it would be a good idea if you added 1 or 2 fish as food source for them, otherwise if you can get a hold of tadpoles then you can use them to feed the dragonfly nymphs.

If you do consider adding live plants, send me a PM and I can send you names of good starter plants and everything else that is needed to keep them healthy and growing. It is a nice addition and as soon as your water starts stabilizing, you don't have to do as many waterchanges and it doesn't need that much attention any more.

You can also consider adding drift wood but be sure to put it in boiling water for sometime. This just helps to kill off anything that lives inside and it doesn't change the water colour as much as it would have if you didn't boil it, which is a dark yellow colour.

If you are going for the dragonflies and damsels, you don't need a water heater. I personally would recommend not adding one, as colder water slows down their growth rate and if your lucky, you can keep them a lot longer before they become adults.

And keep the tank away from direct sunlight as this would cause a major growth in algae.

[BuzzLiteBeer]

Thanks, you've covered most of my questions. I have a little stream near my home and I wanted to replicate the environment in a tank. (It contains mosquito fish , platannas and crabs also.) There are lots of damsel and dragonfly nymphs. The plan was to use tadpoles to feed the dragonfly nymphs.

[AdrianPowrie]

Buzz, Dont forget the SBS pics of the setting up of the tank!
I for one am pretty interested to see this project get of the ground!