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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

Come into my parlour......

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04 Aug 2010 19:40 - 04 Aug 2010 19:46 #1 by Puddlefish (Colin McCourt)
OK,
We all know that feeding Fruitfly can be a haphazard operation which more often than not ends up with a few escapees, (maybe a whole lot more :laugh:) this in-turn brings us into conflict with our unsympathetic spouses/parents. (pass the cotton wool)
Now speaking from experience these little buggers are hard to kill they are hard to drown and the only sure fire way is to subdue them in the cool temps of the fridge and then feed. But again once they come round they will head for the hills, especially if you have floating plant material.
I would like to hear from anyone who has kept Drosphillia in the past as to their feeding methods and especially would like to hear from any of you budding inventor/DIY buffs as to the construction of any contraptions to keep the fly in the tank and available as food for the fish.
All suggestions are welcome along with any illustrations.
Thinking caps on guys
I do have a few ideas of my own but I look forward to your offerings
Regards
C
Last edit: 04 Aug 2010 19:46 by Puddlefish (Colin McCourt).

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04 Aug 2010 19:45 - 04 Aug 2010 19:46 #2 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:Come into my parlour......
Ehm, Genetically modified wingless variant?

www.aquaticcommunity.com/fishfood/winglessfruitflies.php

Kev.
Last edit: 04 Aug 2010 19:46 by stretnik (stretnik).

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04 Aug 2010 19:47 - 04 Aug 2010 19:50 #3 by Puddlefish (Colin McCourt)
Vestigal winged they are Kev
Dont stop them going walkies though
Culturing them is not a problem making them available to the fish is.
Hence the call for novel ideas and variations on how to accomplish this
Regards
C
Last edit: 04 Aug 2010 19:50 by Puddlefish (Colin McCourt).

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04 Aug 2010 19:48 #4 by dar (darren curry)
you mention the fridge, wat about a light freezing or do you enjoy the thrill of the hunt, i used to love my african butterfly hunting blue bottles

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic

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04 Aug 2010 19:48 #5 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:Come into my parlour......
Vestigial/wingless, a Rose by any other name.

Kev.

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04 Aug 2010 19:52 - 04 Aug 2010 19:57 #6 by Puddlefish (Colin McCourt)
They must retain a certain amount of annimation, dar, or certain species of fish wont entertain.
Plus I was thinking more along the lines of feeding direct using some kind of contraption. Here's one I made earlier type of thing:laugh:
Regards
C
Last edit: 04 Aug 2010 19:57 by Puddlefish (Colin McCourt).

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04 Aug 2010 20:01 #7 by dar (darren curry)
ok i'm always one for offering wild ideas, wat about a perspex lid that sits inside the tank slightly above water level wit an access trap/slide door

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic

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04 Aug 2010 20:05 - 04 Aug 2010 20:07 #8 by Puddlefish (Colin McCourt)
Now we're getting somewhere, I had thought of something similar but the trap door is an idea in its self
Wild and wacky is what I'm looking at here. It may just be a suggestion that opens up an idea to simplify feeding this insect. 99% of aquarists are put off using this food source simply because of the awkwardness of feeding.
Regards
C
Last edit: 04 Aug 2010 20:07 by Puddlefish (Colin McCourt).

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04 Aug 2010 20:06 #9 by duzzy1 (Martin Kennedy)
wot about using the " smoking method " the same way as beekeepers do to subdue them and bring them to a relaxed state before feeding

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04 Aug 2010 20:08 - 04 Aug 2010 20:11 #10 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:Come into my parlour......
These buggers are very tiny Dar, any gap will be an escape route, around power cords, intake and output tubes, you name it and to make matters worse they will sprout normal wings given the high temperature of an Aquarium leading to flies rather than walks, I was trying to think of a barrier, Vaseline came to mind but being derivative of the Petro-chemical industry that's a no no, something organic perhaps?

Ideally a substance that could break the meniscus or surface tension to cause them to sink, I used to use ( now don't do a collective jump down my neck ) a drop of fine oil when I lived in the states to drown Mosquito larvae in Water butts out in the back yard. If there was a substance that would do that and not injure the occupants of the Aquarium you'd be onto a winner.

Kev.
Kev.
Last edit: 04 Aug 2010 20:11 by stretnik (stretnik).

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04 Aug 2010 20:11 - 04 Aug 2010 20:11 #11 by Puddlefish (Colin McCourt)
That's much the same as chilling or asphyxiation via mothball fumes.
I would like to feed as is, straight from the culture jar and retain all their movement to attract the fishes attention.
Last edit: 04 Aug 2010 20:11 by Puddlefish (Colin McCourt).

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04 Aug 2010 20:13 #12 by dar (darren curry)
wat about a bit of sponge to seal the gaps?

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic

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04 Aug 2010 20:13 #13 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:Come into my parlour......
Would it be possible to have a container that you could fill with the Flies and turn upside-down on the water and held by a clip, something like a Bloodworm feeder but in reverse?

Kev.

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04 Aug 2010 20:15 - 04 Aug 2010 20:17 #14 by Puddlefish (Colin McCourt)

Would it be possible to have a container that you could fill with the Flies and turn upside-down on the water and held by a clip, something like a Bloodworm feeder but in reverse?


Now your getting into my level of thinking....it would have to be secured
Inverted funnel & tubing maybe straight from the culture jar perhaps what are your thoughts
Last edit: 04 Aug 2010 20:17 by Puddlefish (Colin McCourt).

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04 Aug 2010 20:18 - 04 Aug 2010 20:19 #15 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:Come into my parlour......
All that keeps coming to mind is an upturned sieve that would hang with it's rim just below the Water or even a fine mesh live-bearer trap up-side-down would work.


Any uneaten Flies could be drowned by pushing the Trap below the water.

Kev.
Last edit: 04 Aug 2010 20:19 by stretnik (stretnik).

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04 Aug 2010 20:18 #16 by dar (darren curry)
just on the level i was thinking Kev, wat about my lid idea but in sort of a slight dome shape where as all gaps are under water

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic

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04 Aug 2010 20:20 #17 by Puddlefish (Colin McCourt)
All interesting thoughts Kev worthy of adaptation
Keeping it unobtrusive as poss and being able to keep the aquarium lid tightly closed is another consideration.
Regards
C

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04 Aug 2010 20:22 #18 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:Come into my parlour......
Colin's your Man Dar, depends on the space available above the Waterline.

Kev.

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04 Aug 2010 20:23 - 04 Aug 2010 20:26 #19 by Puddlefish (Colin McCourt)
Kind of bell jar...dar...another interesting thought, but being solid may keep too much air in the container and render the flies unassailable to the fish.
Something incorporating the netting from a breeding trap sounds good...Kev
Regards
C
Last edit: 04 Aug 2010 20:26 by Puddlefish (Colin McCourt).

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04 Aug 2010 20:27 #20 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:Come into my parlour......
If you could modify one of those plastic Breeder traps that have the floatation traps by cutting down with a Dremmel etc, and make a smaller version, you would need a small piece of thin acrylic to act as a sliding trap so clipping in place wouldn't be necessary as it would float. technically the breeder would be up-side-down.

Kev.

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04 Aug 2010 20:32 - 04 Aug 2010 20:41 #21 by dar (darren curry)
ok back 2 square one get the perspex lid cut it a cm shorter overlap an inch piece around the edge that way you only have the overlap in the water and a few mm for the flies

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic
Last edit: 04 Aug 2010 20:41 by dar (darren curry).

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04 Aug 2010 20:33 #22 by Puddlefish (Colin McCourt)
I see where your comming from Kev its a jolly good idea, realistically, taking this idea on-board I'd have to go smaller and possibly provide a couple of feeding stations due to antisocial behaviour of male Killifish, but this line of thought is in the mix, any other views on a kind of linkage to the culture jars (semi automated feeding)
Regards
C

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04 Aug 2010 20:38 #23 by Ma (mm mm)
A large upside down breeding net with a flap for putting them in, only way out would be to swim under it?
No experience on this, just impulsive rambling:)


Mark

Location D.11

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07 Aug 2010 13:15 #24 by Andrew (Andrew Taaffe)
Could this work ?

wap.ebay.co.uk/Pages/ViewItem.aspx?aid=140435204838&emvcc=0

Or maybe an open-ended container held against the tank side by say an algae magnet, with one end below the water surface and the other covered by a rubber lid, then at least you could pierce a hole in the rubber for popping more food in and it would self-close

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07 Aug 2010 14:06 #25 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
Puddlefish....so has someone been having a go at you for stray flies landing in their coffee?
I get that.

For PDFs, if I can't get vestigial (or whatever rose anyone wants to call them) flies, then I chill the flies and tip them onto the damp surface......it takes them a bit of time ot recover and fly-off: the frogs nab them before the flies realise where they are.

For killies, I have found that the fish will get the flies if trapped between water and lid.
But, may a piece of banana near the water level will temp the flies to that area....any killifish worth its ability to escape a bad-fitting tank will easily grab the flies as they land on the banana.

In the good old days of genetics labs, we would use an anaesthetic on the flies to select the best for breeding.

OR, how about making some mutants that have no legs, small wings and can swim. B)

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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07 Aug 2010 14:10 #26 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:Come into my parlour......
Could they still be called Fruit "Flies" ?

Kev.

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07 Aug 2010 14:36 - 07 Aug 2010 14:37 #27 by Puddlefish (Colin McCourt)
LMAO there Ian,
No,to the escapee part of the question, I always take the flies outside when working and only one or two escape there.
I wanted to get the creative juices of the forum flowing by offering various methods and DIY thingy ma jigs to administer the insect to the fish.
I have floating plants in all tanks so its rather easy for them to hop, skip and jump around.
The bell jar net affair seems to be the best call so far with the option to submerge and release trapped air at the same time.
I have stunned them with some crystals akin to mothballs before but that stuff is rank.
Any more input on this before I retire to the shed at the bottom of the garden and open me tool box.
Regards
C
Last edit: 07 Aug 2010 14:37 by Puddlefish (Colin McCourt).

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