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Black soldier fly larvae | (Read 689 times) |
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paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 4459
missoula montana
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February 15, 2009, 01:39:43 PM |
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Fascinating stuff for feeding fish or chickens.
I think we were talking about something like this not too long ago.
Link
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Quittrack
Posts: 111
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February 16, 2009, 07:23:05 AM |
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I like this idea in that it would be a good source of food for, say, a tank full of bluegill perch... they'll be waiting there poised, ready for something to hit the water. And when it does... BAM! then wait for the next one.
The major problem with raising perch (or even catfish for that matter) in a tank is that they aren't very efficient converters of food to body mass, especially when overstocked.
But this looks promising. Take local restaurant waste (or home food waste if that's what it takes) and toss it into the container daily, the larvae mature and crawl up the ramp and plop right down with the hungry fish. I find this a better option than feeding fish redworms because they have continuing value as a vermi-composter, whereas the soldier fly larvae does not at that stage.
I had been looking at an option to self-feed fish fly larvae, but had not found a suitable way to keep the putrid decaying drainage from dripping into the pond or tank with the larvae. This idea uses the fly's natural life cycle against it to separate it from its former living conditions is pure genius, and if nothing else, this is going to be used to design my own home-brewed device.
Once the sludge gets too deep, I can shovel it out, mix with a lot of old hay or straw, and either compost in the typical manner, or feed to the worms, which should be able to break it down further.
Great find Paul
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paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 4459
missoula montana
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June 15, 2009, 08:56:41 AM |
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Isn't there a timer in the bottom right corner?
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paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 4459
missoula montana
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June 16, 2009, 08:31:57 AM |
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I think it is less than 24 hours.
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Quittrack
Posts: 111
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June 17, 2009, 07:31:56 AM |
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According to the author of the page on Paul's first post, they will generate enough heat in the winter time that they will still reduce waste, though they may not grow to maturity. I kinda think that a few vats of these plus some earthworms would reduce household waste (even toilet) to absolutely nothing. These little buggers will eat almost anything and do it very quickly.
Gotta love nature.
Things like this make me wonder sometimes if there are other insect, or lower creatures which can be farmed or raised for our benefit. Bees and earthworms are noteworthy, but there are billions of species of insects.
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Susan Monroe
Posts: 1093
Western WA
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June 25, 2009, 07:53:42 AM |
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Can these larvae co-habitate with earthworms? Some 'bugs' are predators.
And where would a person buy the larvae to get started?
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Quittrack
Posts: 111
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June 25, 2009, 08:18:48 AM |
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I emailed the author of the site that Paul referenced. He said that what's best is to let the residue build up and then scoop it out and feed it to earthworms after all the larvae have left. From the looks of things you could put an immense amount of kitchen scraps/restaurant waste into one of these and they would break it down to next to nothing.
He said there's a large amount of information that's been compiled about direct feeding these to carnivorous fish such as bass, trout, etc.
I once had a chunk of 16 inch PVC pipe that i stood up and used as a compost bin in my garden. I cleaned out the freezer of frostbitten meat and threw that in there. Three days later the pipe overflowed with larvae. Those that couldn't escape simply died and the earthworms ate them eventually.
This design makes most of your mass and nutrients leave the system through the larvae. Therefore as fish bait these will rob nutrients. In a closed loop system (like feed your fish or your chickens that you will eat) this is ideal.
I don't know about starter larvae, but the inventor said something about there being a hormone or something that the flies secrete that draw others of their species and scare off other fly species. If you read a lot from this guy's site you will note that there is a jar on the bottom that draws the liquid off of the bottom. This is the "tea" that's used to start other colonies.
Upon reading further, he also notes that only the black soldier flies seem to be able to climb out at prescribed the 30-35 degree angle. This would not allow other fly larvae to escape, and in fact trap them inside until they perished and became the next meal. Eventually (assuming that Black soldier flies are as plentiful and widespread as the inventor claims) they should colonize this sludge and take over, at which point the larvae will be strong enough to leave. Then you have your starter for the next colony. Neat huh?
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I wonder how much time elapsed over the course of that video? it says they eat chicken poo also??!!! maybe I need to start a black fly larvae business and use all poo from the chicken farms around here. 
