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Bwhiskered
03-27-2010, 10:38 AM
Has anyone collected live food to feed your fish? I have many times. The spring is best as the little flooded woodland pools are now or soon will be full of Fairy Shrimp and the big Black Mosquito Larva. They can be fed live or frozen in ice cube trays to be used at a later date. Great way to save money and your fish will all benefit.
Rush2112
03-27-2010, 12:09 PM
Charlie
What are fairy shrimp?
Did you ever see tiny round black or reddish creatures in these ponds? They look like little water bugs buzzing around. Any idea what they are?
Did you find any daphnia?
jimmy chonga
03-27-2010, 01:23 PM
I have always wondered this myself, my father told me stories back in the day about how he used to feed his tin foil barbs live earthworms.

I'm heading up to muskoka next weekend for easter, was going to grab a bunch of rocks, maybe I should be bug hunting too, what should I be looking for exactly?
CanadaPleco
03-27-2010, 02:01 PM
I have always wondered this myself, my father told me stories back in the day about how he used to feed his tin foil barbs live earthworms.

I'm heading up to muskoka next weekend for easter, was going to grab a bunch of rocks, maybe I should be bug hunting too, what should I be looking for exactly?

Not much up north yet in the way of bugs. Still too cold, was -16 the other night.
Bwhiskered
03-27-2010, 02:30 PM
The spring live food season can start as early as late March. It all depends on the weather and temperatures in the area where you live.
Fairy shrimp are an orange to red shrimp that can grow up to 3/4" long and look like brine shrimp. Check out shallow woodland ponds that dry up in summer. That is where you find shrimp and mosquito larva. Daphnia usually comes a bit later and is found in permanent ponds that don't freeze solid. The ponds they come from don't have fish. They can be brown or green and die out when the pond gets too warm. I kept a tub of them going in the shade most of last summer. You may also catch Glass Fly Larva in permanent ponds. They look like glass and can be up to an inch long. They turn into a fly like mosquito that does not bite. A search on the web should show pictures of all this live food.