The following information includes descriptions of fish and bits on fishkeeping, including keeping and breeding livefoods. Some of these descriptions came from posts on the JAWS message board. if they did, there is due credit given to JAWS and the poster. links will be given to the post itself, because i will probably edit some things and i want you to have the chance to see exactly what was posted, if you really want to. i post as karasugoi, in case your interested in what i said there. some things i will garner from books and from my own knowlege. for information taken from books or magazines, i will site them fully in my bibliography which i have links to.
let me know if you have anything to add to the information below. also, many of these entries will have pictures to go along with them. there are also some pictures available that won't have entries just yet, you can check them out in the Encyclopedia Index. For a listing of the fish, text, and images, go to the index.
To figure out how many gallons your tank is--first measure it's width, length, and height. then, if you measured by inches, convert that to feet. ex: your tank is 12x24x12 in inches, in feet thats 1x2x1. Then multiply them. 1 X 2 X 1 = 2. Then multiply the result by 7.48. you'll get something like 14.96. round that up to 15 gallons. Or you can just to here and fill in some blanks for the volume to be calculated.
If you are just interested in keeping some crickets alive, place them in a container in a dark and cool place. make sure they get air. you can use critter keepers or a small tank. use egg cartons for them to crawl in and feed cricket food, oatmeal, or catfood. also, put in some apples every few days for moisture or keep a cloth damp for them.
For breeding, check out the following reply to a question i asked on JAWS about keeping livefoods.
post by Keith
I've raised crickets for my chameleons before.
I've never fed the larvae to fish before though.
Sounds like a great idea. I would suggest that
you feed the adults and larvae fish food seeing
that the young are void of nutrition.
All you need is a large plastic container with
good screen on top. Eggcrate is very important,
without that the crickets will trample eachother
to death. Small bowl for food. For water they'll
need a damp sponge, open water won't work because
...well...they're stupid and like to drown
themselves.
Add 200 large crickets to the container mentioned
above. Place the container in a warm place (75-80
degrees), if they get too cold they die. After
about 1 hour "the smell" comes. I can't describe
"the smell", but repugnent comes to mind. after
about 1 1/2 weeks you'll have little smelly
cricket maggots in a nasty-mud-like-goo-mess.
Have fun
If I remember correctly they live for eight weeks.
you can gather your own earthworms but you should clean them out by keeping them in a bed of damp grass for a couple of days before offering them to your animal. this way, they eliminate any rotting vegitation in their bodies, which can hurt your pet.
the following where responses to fishstick's question about culturing earthworms.
Posted by barndog
:Fish ole bean, here ya go. Get yourself a wooden box, say, 1 foot by 2 feet. With a lid, so they
don't dry out. Put a couple of holes in the bottom, covered with mesh for drainage. Put some peat
moss in, and dampen it well. You must keep the moss damp, but not wet. Don't let it dry out either.
Now, hit the bait store for a couple boxes of worms, and add em to the box. Feed them with
cornmeal sprinkled on top (also heard of folks using bread crumbs). Feed them every few days.
Make sure you keep the box at a comfortable temp, too much heat or cold will kill them. Have fun,
man!
barndog
posted by amp. OK, I'm lazy. I didn't go with the wood box and peat moss. I got a wash tub, (anything you can
spread dirt out in is fine) some clean dirt from the organic plant place and put the dirt in the tub. I
added a few worms, (if you cut the worm in half, you'll have two worms. They're like starfish and
lizard tails, they grow back) and let nature take its course. Feed 'em cornmeal or grits.
can be bought from bait stores, but do not buy died ones. you can attract your own by leaving meat out in a covered bowl. flies will lay eggs in it which soon hatch into maggots. harvest them quickly, lifting them out with tweezers, or they will soon pupate and be useless.
clean maggots by keeping them in a tub of bran for at least three days. the maggots will ingest the bran and the putrid meat will pass through them so they are harmless.
mealworms can be bought at stores. raising your own is easy.
get a large critter keeper or a five to ten gallon tank and cover the bottom with about four inches of chicken meal (chicken meal provides more calcium than oatmeal, which is commonly used). put the mealworms in. put in slices of apple for moisture and replace when dried. the mealworms will turn to beetle in a couple of weeks. if you don't want them to turn to beetles and breed, then keep them in a cool place. if you want them to breed, they will lay eggs in which hatch in about six weeks. larvae can be fed at all stages.
