bsf fish food

[sanford]

hi does anyone know how i can start a bsf bin. i have the bin but should i get some larvae and they will turn to flies and breed or can i obtain some eggs. also where can the larvae or eggs be purchased?

thanks

[vermiman]

hi does anyone know how i can start a bsf bin. i have the bin but should i get some larvae and they will turn to flies and breed or can i obtain some eggs. also where can the larvae or eggs be purchased?

thanks

Do you have BSF naturally in your area? If so you can just seed your bin with some good smelly BSFL food and the females should arrive and lay their eggs. If it is not yet warm enough in your area you may need to wait until the BSF emerge from the pupae and begin to breed.

[davidstcldfl]

Hi sanford, we have a memeber here, that goes by bsfman. He's shared some good info...go to this link...
Cultivating BSFL for feed (http://www.diyaquaponics.com/forum/showthread.php?1123-cultivating-BSFL-for-feed)

[keith_r]

not sure where you are located, but you can probably get them from a pet shop, sold as "phoenix worms"
i don't think you could get enough to really establish a colony without buying quite a few...

[sanford]

hi guys thanks for the info. i live in south florida i think there are bsf here. will check out recommended posts. thanks alot

[vermiman]

hi guys thanks for the info. i live in south florida i think there are bsf here. will check out recommended posts. thanks alot

In southern Florida you should be able to start a BSFL colony rather quickly. Here in Arkansas, they sometimes don't start emerging until April. Hopefully this year they will start a little earlier due to our unseasonable warm weather.

[bsfman]

hi guys thanks for the info. i live in south florida i think there are bsf here. will check out recommended posts. thanks alot

sanford, I'm in Cape Coral and have been seeing BSF egglaying for several weeks now. You should have no problem attracting a colony.

[davidstcldfl]

Hi sanford. I wanted to make sure you saw this great info bsfman shared in regards to attacting bsf.....

One of the best attractants is soured cracked corn. Snag a bag at your local feed store, fill a bucket up with it to about the 4 gallon level, dump a cup or two of sugar in it and fill it with water to just above the level of the corn. The corn will soak up the water and the sugar stimulates microbial growth. Snap the bucket lid on and set it in a warm place (full sun is okay). After a few days, you'll have a semi-funky slowly bubbling bucket of BSF candy! Salt your bin with the cracked corn bait and they should find it soon. Typical time from setting bait to observing BSF larvae in the bin? About 19-21 days.

The egglaying females are particularly attracted to bait that has hatchling larvae in it, so once you get eggs that have hatched out, your colony growth will really take off due to the additional egglaying the hatchlings attract!

[vermiman]

Hi sanford. I wanted to make sure you saw this great info bsfman shared in regards to attacting bsf.....

One of the best attractants is soured cracked corn. Snag a bag at your local feed store, fill a bucket up with it to about the 4 gallon level, dump a cup or two of sugar in it and fill it with water to just above the level of the corn. The corn will soak up the water and the sugar stimulates microbial growth. Snap the bucket lid on and set it in a warm place (full sun is okay). After a few days, you'll have a semi-funky slowly bubbling bucket of BSF candy! Salt your bin with the cracked corn bait and they should find it soon. Typical time from setting bait to observing BSF larvae in the bin? About 19-21 days.

The egglaying females are particularly attracted to bait that has hatchling larvae in it, so once you get eggs that have hatched out, your colony growth will really take off due to the additional egglaying the hatchlings attract!





I've also used soaked rabbit food to attract them. It seems to work a little better than rabbit manure. But once the you have larvae there, the larvae themselves will attract them. I always tend to get a large population of house fly larva before the BSFL take over the area.