The Prospect of Constructing a Fruitfly Breeder/Feeder
by
BigC
by
BigC
Has he finally flipped his lid!!!
I have been culturing wingless Drosphilia melanogaster now for quite while now. Whilst I have gazillions of flies I only really feed them when they die. Why you ask!...Simply because of that age old problem of escaping insects. This, believe me is an absolute bane and one which can give rise to heated discussions between me and my wife. :laugh:
So with thinking cap in hand I started to plan for a method which would allow me to utilise my fly stocks to a better advantage.
I needed to fashion something that would allow me to feed Fruitfly the way they were intended to be fed..."LIVE"
The project would have to meet the following certain criteria.
- The item (in whatever form) would have fit externally to an aquarium / vivarium.
- It would, perhaps possess double interconnected chambers, with sliding door.
- It needed to be ventilated
- It had to have some means of getting food/egg laying media in and out.
- The second feeding chamber would be semi submerged to prevent escapees.
This is what I have come up with thus far....
BigC's Fruitfly Feeding Station
As you can see from the above image it is an external unit, a prototype, made from odds and ends that I'm privy too. A work in progress if you like.
The first chamber (the breeding end) has a sliding drawer in which the food and egg laying media will be administered. The top of this section is open but covered by a scrap of muslin or cotton handkerchief held in place by an elastic band. There is a sliding door plate which links to the second chamber. (the feeding end) This can be removed once the flies reach saturation point within there initial home. The usual items such as breeding media and raffia can all be inserted into the first chamber via the top opening.
The second chamber is sealed, and it's base is submerged beneath the waterline. The fish will feed from this point. This is still untried, and as I say a work in progress but I hope there will be enough condensation within chamber two to allow the flies to slip down into the water without having to resort to drilling the top and inserting an air-valve to blow the insects down to their impending doom.
Here follows some more images of the unit in it's current state.
The only other unit I have seen to date involves the use of a lunchbox with a hole burnt into the centre of its base, media is placed into the box and this is floated in the aquarium. This takes up valuable surface area and the fish can jump into the box. So it too has its design faults.
First up I would like you all to tell me if this assignment contains viable potential.
I would now like to invite the good members of this forum to submit constructive comments and criticisms about this project, what you would change, modify or discard in a hope that I can fully develop this further. There are faults, some I'm aware of and some that may not be so obvious to me, perhaps the whole thing is a non-starter, this is where I need your help.
In it's current form, it is quite heavy (made from 4mm float glass). If the concept comes to some kind of fruition then it is hoped to have it made from plastic or perspex. I may even offer it to a shool for some lad to use as a project for an exam....who knows.
Has he flipped.....possibly Yes!
Thanks in advance
Regards
C