The theme of feeding always causes a lot of controversy, each aquarist is confident in his way of feeding, in his knowledge in the field of better nutrition for his favorites. Moreover, for so much that sometimes battles are not comic. Let's try to understand all these scumbags using the advice and experience of the guru from aquarium studies and their followers. This article is the result of an analysis of the recommendations of several authors of books on aquarium studies and discussions at the forums of aquarists and fishermen. And so let's start. Breeders Petushkov (betta splendens) are usually well acquainted with their favorite treat for their wards and such is the familiar moth (mosquito larvae), as well as the equally famous tubular (representative of the type of ringworms of the Tubificidae family). Of course, there are other species: cilia and small-breasted worms, insect larvae, mollusks, which themselves feed on the organic substances of silt, decomposing remains of animals and plants - animal organisms that live at the bottom of reservoirs, live in the upper layer of precipitation, silt and are called zoobentos.
In addition to the above-mentioned cancer of artemia, tuberous eggs, etc., but as a rule, these feeds are used in the feeding of fry.
We will dwell in more detail on the first two.
M O T Y L Y
This is the most famous and fodder loved by fish. But few people wondered by the idea that the moth is different and is not divided into: fresh (alive), frozen and spoiled (dried). The moth to the look of which we are used to is the larvae of the dergun mosquito (Chironomus plumosus), it is extracted from reservoirs or like most of us in specialized markets or pet stores. I'll talk about the technology of moth mining a little later. Let us dwell on the assessment of its quality, both appearance and usefulness for your pets. Of great importance to the moth of this species is its color. A brightly red, and sometimes even oversaturated, burgundy moth will seem more appetizing to your pets than its paler soulmates and it's not about its aesthetic beauty, but its nutritional properties. The bright red color of the worm-like larva gives hemoglobin contained in its blood. After laying eggs with a female mosquito, larvae appear in standing or swampy, slowly flowing water bodies, in silted ditches, are abundant in estuaries (lemon moth). Larvae are kept in silt in a semi-submerged state for the purpose of breathing and feeding on organic suspension. Breaking out into the water column, the larvae move, quickly twisting into a ring and unbending, as if winding in the water, for which they are called a moth. Under favorable temperature conditions and abundance of food, the larvae reach 15-16 mm two weeks after leaving the eggs.
In terms of nutritional properties, the moth surpasses almost all live feed, but when fed abundantly, the fish are fat. Poisoning of fish with poor-quality moth is possible, so it is necessary to consume it only fresh and alive. High-quality live moth, if you touch its bunch with a finger, begins to actively move, while it has a bright red color and a characteristic slightly sharp smell. The stale moth becomes dark, sticks together and acquires the smell of spoiling meat.
It can be difficult for many to overcome the aversion to this moving bunch of worms, but sorry fish are used to eating, what they like, and not what is pleasant on the smell and aesthetically looks, and most importantly you like.
The opinion among some aquarists that to maintain the normal condition of fish, it is better to underfeed them than to feed them is wrong. Fish should receive enough quality food on time and be fed. Mikhailov V.A "Aquarium Feed and Food for Fish"
Cocks eat moth with great pleasure, well, personally with me. There is really one not pleasant moment, as I noticed and my conclusions are confirmed by the comments of other aquarists, the cocks do not have a pronounced threshold of saturation and can easily explain themselves, which in turn can provoke a disease and even the death of a pet. Therefore, it is still worth taking this fact into account and not trying to feed the entire supply of moth at a time. The cockerel does not put the camel into the throat.
There is another remark that will clearly cause a sea of controversy and picks, but it would not be fair for me to keep quiet about it. A number of specialists in every possible way do not recommend cutting a large moth for feeding small fish, the reason is the fact that when cutting from the moth, its most valuable part flows out - the liquid contained inside. The outer shell for feeding fish is the least valuable.
Now let's go back to my earlier remark about the type of moth. The moth is not only red, but also transparent - coretra.
The corethra is translucent, with a spindle-shaped body, has a clearly separate head with well-developed jaws. Reaches a length of 10-12mm. Usually lives in the water column, rarely sinks to the bottom; It lives in large deep lakes, small swamp and peat or humus and sludge-rich reservoirs, as well as in puddles. The corethra is kept in the water column thanks to swimming bubbles. She has two pairs of them: one of them lies directly behind the head, and the other - on the third segment of the body from the eye. Bubbles are curved in the form of arcs and contain gases emitted by the body. It moves, with side blows of the body, additionally helping itself with a caudal fin consisting of a whole bundle of hairs hanging downwards. The color and tint of the transparent body of the corethra depends on the nutritional base of the reservoir and can vary from greenish and yellow tint to dirty red. The corethra begins to pupate with the onset of heat, turning into a pupa, in which there are two ear-shaped appendages on the head, and the abdomen ends in a fin-like movement organ. This pupa is held near the surface of the water and drops deeper only if it is disturbed. The mosquito leaves it after 12 days and has a size of 6 mm. The koretra capture season begins with the onset of cold weather. Coretra is a predator, feeds on small crustaceans (daphnias, cyclops) and young larvae of other mosquito species, without raving as well as fish fry. The victim grabs the mouth apparatus. This should be taken into account, since a live corethra in the aquarium poses a danger to fish caviar and newly turned off young people. But, on the other hand, it itself serves as a good nutritional food for most adult fish. Corethra is one of the cleanest feeds. The risk of infecting fish with infectious or parasitic diseases is much lower than with many other living fodder organisms. Analysis showed that the corethra contains 9.8% dry matter, of which the protein 41.2%, fats 5.4%, ash 4.5%.
Coretra is used by many aquarists to comprehensively feed most species of fish in combination with other types of feed. The frequency of feeding the fish with corethra is 2- 3 times a week.
You can feed fish to larvae of an ordinary mosquito of the genus Culex. The larvae of this mosquito are almost black in color, about 1 cm in size. They resemble a coretra in shape (only darker), float head down at the very surface of the puddles, touching the surface of the water with a respiratory tube located on the back of the body. With the slightest danger, they quickly sink to the bottom.
Given this, you need to catch them with a sharp haul. You can store them as well as a coretra.
It should be remembered that adult mosquitoes come out of mosquito larvae sooner or later, many of which bite, that is, they are bloodsucking (for example, representatives of the genera: Culex, Anopheles, Aedes, Mansonia). Some of them are malaria vectors.
Larvae of mushroom mosquitoes of the Mycetophilidae family are also good feed for fish. Flocks of these mosquitoes, laying eggs in mushrooms, often spin in places where mushrooms grow. Mushrooms need to be cut together with the legs, and not only the hat, otherwise the remains of the legs decompose, harm the mushroom. In one fungus of these white larvae, 10-13 mm long can be up to a thousand or more. They can be bred at home (in jars) on fresh or dry, pre-soaked, tubular mushrooms. The culture can be recharged every 15 days.
As fodder for fish in forest puddles, you can catch horseshoe-shaped mosquito larvae of the genus Dixa and wire-shaped yellow-green mosquito larvae (Bezzia, Culicoides).
So if you carefully consider the main types of moth, everything will not be as banal and just as it seemed at first glance .
HOE STORAGE.
There are several ways to keep a live moth in the refrigerator for a long period.
Design of bath or can for long-term storage of moth is offered.
It is necessary to make two baths from tin or plastic (a metal mug can be used) entering one another. A gap of 10-15 mm must remain between their bottoms. Holes 1.5-2 mm are made in the bottom of the upper bath. The hoe is poured into the upper bath and poured with water so that its level covers the holes of the bath. A live hoe crawls through them into the lower bath, and the dead remains in the upper one. When replacing water in 3-5 days from the water supply, the moth can live more than 2 months. If you use meltwater, the moth will remain all winter. The bath needs to be kept in the fridge.
It is also possible to save the moth in other ways, although essentially close to the described method. In a glass jar filled with half-clean snow, a moth is filled with an even layer. Then snow is added to it. A jar of moth is stored at the bottom of the refrigerator. Melted water is periodically (once every 2-3 days) drained and fresh snow is added. Dead larvae are thrown away. With this method, the moth is preserved for more than a month.
Attempts to use moss to store moth, which well retains moisture and air (oxygen), justified themselves. Moss should be laid flat on a saucer, moistened, covered with moths from above, which are immediately buried in moss. After removing the dead larvae left on the surface, put the saucer underground or in the lower compartment of the refrigerator.
For one to two weeks, the moth can be stored at home on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Larvae are scattered in an even layer onto a paper or clean paper wetted with water, and edges are turned. As the paper dries, it must be wetted. To keep the moth longer, it is recommended to periodically, once every three to four days, remove and remove the dead larvae.
Another method of storing the moth is simpler, it consists in the fact that the moth is stored in a wet rag. First, you need to wet the rag (make it wet, but in no case wet, otherwise the moth will quickly deteriorate). Then, a moth is placed in this rag, wrapped and removed in a cool place. As the rag dries, it must be moistened.
The following ways I emphasized from the materials of the magazine "Rybolov"
Moth can be stored well for a month without spending much time caring for it. In a regular wooden or plastic moth, you need to put a piece of moistened and slightly squeezed foam, and on it - cleaned from garbage moths. Porolon helps to maintain constant high humidity. The moth does not dry, but also does not pour water. Once a week, I moisten the foam. And I keep the moth on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.
(Method recommended by O. Kamai. Kalinin).
There are more interesting ways to save moth:
1. From large potatoes (better oblong shape) cut off the 1/4 part. Choose the middle of the potato, leaving walls 4-5 millimeters thick, and put moths there. Cut the "cork" from the cut part and close the potato with it. Store at temperature plus 3 - 5 ° С. In such a "box," the moth remains alive for a long time.
2. Rinse large raw potatoes and cut into three parts. In the middle part, choose the flesh, without disturbing the peels, the wall thickness is 5 millimeters. The resulting hole will be a place to store the moth. At the top of the potato make several holes for air access. At the bottom, make a small cut for stability. It is better to keep on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator or in another cool place. For a month, the moth is well preserved. Potatoes contain a large amount of starch and water, so with this storage method, larvae are easily separated from each other.
(Method recommended by Yu.Sokolov from Kostram)
For many years, I kept the moth in a capron stockade, doubled, in a drain tank. The top of the stockade is pressed by the cover. In this form, the hoe is stored for a long time, but eventually darkens due to the touch of the walls of the tank. This prompted me to place the larvae in a flat plastic box of white color. On one side in the box I drill holes for circulating water, and on the outside I put a capron stockade on it, which I press with a lid. Larvae retain mobility, in color - light red. It is slightly smaller in size than usual, apparently due to the lack of feed. You can store moth in this way in summer and winter, but in summer it spoils faster, since the water temperature in the tank is slightly higher than in winter.
(Method recommended by K. VELICHKO, Krivoy Rog)
The combined moth is made of two soapstakes with a flat bottom.
One of them neatly cuts the bottom, makes a grill from it with the help of a drill to sort the moth and fastens it in the middle of the remaining walls of the soap mill. I use only the upper cover from the second soap bar. In this way, a container with a removable bottom and a cover is obtained, divided into two parts by a sorting grid.
I put the moth in the lower half, rinse it through the grate under a stream of cold water, drain the rest of the water, cover it, turn the moth upside down and put it in the refrigerator. The live hoe passes through the holes in the grid from the upper to the lower compartment. Only dead larvae remain on the grate. The next day, I remove the moth from the refrigerator, remove the upper cover and set it under a stream of water for a few seconds. At the same time, the moth is washed in the lower part and the dead larvae are washed off the surface of the lattice.
I drain the rest of the water, I close the moth, turn upside down again and put it in the refrigerator.
The procedure takes 20-30 seconds. I repeat it in 1-2 days.
(The method is recommended by Yu. Popov in Voronezh)
After washing the sludge, particles of red leaves, tree twigs, etc. remain in the ladle. I put them in a wooden box, put a moth there, cover them with holes. I put the box in the cellar. With this method, the moth is preserved for several months.
(The method is recommended by S. Gladilov with. Podgornoye, Voronezh region.)
I keep the moth in a small box with two shelves, on which two baths with liquid sludge are placed. I put the box on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. I remove the moth from the sludge with a sachet for aquarium fish, rinse under a stream of water. Then I add silt to the bath.
Two baths are needed to store small and large moth. Accordingly, I apply different packs. Il is procuring for the future. I dry it and store it in bags.
(The method is recommended by O. Pozhidaev in Zelenograd)
If there is no way to keep the moth alive, it is frozen, while it loses its attractiveness for fish, but practically does not lose its nutritional properties.
MOTH FISHING
To catch a moth, you need to know the places of its accumulation, although in a small amount it is found in almost all reservoirs. The moth is mined as follows: a scoop with a long handle or a bucket on a rope is exhausted from the bottom of the reservoir. In small portions, the silt is placed in a screen with a fine mesh. Rotary movements wash out the sludge, after which there is a moth, garbage, large particles of soil, plants in the sieve. Then the grate is taken out of the water for a while, so that the moth is a little skewed, and then lowered again into the water. Dried moth pops up to the surface, from where it is collected by hag. The final cleaning of the moth from garbage is carried out in a sieve with a large mesh. The moth is laid out in a grate, which is placed above the pelvis with water, so that the bottom of the grate barely touches the water. Feeling the water, the hoe quickly crawls through the net into the pelvis, then it is placed in a canvas rag and squeezed out. This should be followed by an active, three to five-day washing in flowing water, during which the intestines of the moth should be free from substances harmful to aquarium fish.
This article is not a dogma, everyone may have a different more productive view of such a variety of live food as Moth. I will be pleased with your comments, edits and criticism of this post.
Author of Maxom article
Discussion of the article in the forum
Sources:
http://kond-sergei.narod.ru/motil.htm
http://tourism.karelia.ru/motyl.html
http://fishermenfrompinsk.narod.ru/Index2-2/motil.htm
http://4fishing.ru/lovlya_rekah/nasadki … motyl.html
http://fishparad.narod.ru/delikat/motyl.html
http://www.akvalife.info/akva/korm/motil.htm
http://darfish.oriontv.net/motl.htm
"Aquarium: Feed and nutrition of fish" MIKHAILOV V.A.
L.I. Medvedev "Aquarium"
M. Bailey, P. Burgress "Golden Book of the Aquarist"
N.F. Zolotnitsky "Amateur Aquarium"
V.A. Mirnov "Advice to a novice aquarist"
Moth - how to save longer?