Attract Black Soldier Fly

[aqua]

nice to have this forum with u guys from malaysia. we have same mission to breed this BSF in malaysia region. but, since i was new in this knowledge concerning about raising BSF. could any body share with me, to attact this BSF?could i get ur BSF larvae since i' just made my BSF bucket using fruit waste and peelings for attract bsf. but, no sign of bsf came and attracted..can any body help me to solve this problem? i'm from kuala lumpur..
hope, could change the problematic environment by using this little BSF maggot into green world and also remove the housefly breed site ..tq.

[DaveOponic]

nice to have this forum with u guys from malaysia. we have same mission to breed this BSF in malaysia region. but, since i was new in this knowledge concerning about raising BSF. could any body share with me, to attact this BSF?could i get ur BSF larvae since i' just made my BSF bucket using fruit waste and peelings for attract bsf. but, no sign of bsf came and attracted..can any body help me to solve this problem? i'm from kuala lumpur..
hope, could change the problematic environment by using this little BSF maggot into green world and also remove the housefly breed site ..tq.

Have just looked at this thread and see that you are in the neighbourhood. I am an Aussie (Qld.) based in Brunei and have been doing AP here for about three years and before that Hydroponics. I also make compost tumblers that I sell to expats and locals.

One of my customers once complained that the compost tumbler was smelly, so I went over and checked it out. Their maid had been in charge and had just filled it full of papaya scraps and other kitchen waste without any other organic material. It stunk to high heaven and was half full with BSF larvae. This was a couple of years ago before I knew about BSF. Since then I have noticed some BSF in my own 2 compost tumblers and have thought about making a biopod, however none of my fish (Tilapia, Koi, Barra, Borneo suckers) have ever shown any interest in eating the BSF larvae. I have seen the larvae for sale in Aquarium shops here and they tell me that fish love them. Maybe my fish are just too well fed.

I would be interested to hear how AP is doing in Bali also. I was a former volunteer in Central Java and my wife is from C. Java. I reckon AP could have a great impact at village level in Indonesia with simple systems, eg. barrelponics.


Dave

[asan]

Hello guys,

Currently i'm getting approx. 15-25 BSF grubs daily.. which is more than sufficient for my aqua fish... i'll try to explain how i did it.. i would say from day one, it would take about 1 week to get some BSF grubs.

First, I've revamped my BSF composter tub/bucket. I'm using 2 paint tubs (plastic), with different sizes. The small one (5 litre) and a big one (17 litre). The small one will be placed inside the big tub. Cover the big tub from water/rain and placed it somewhere shady/not to hot and make some small about 3/4" holes at the sides (top part), to allow holes for adult bsf entrance. The inside of the big tub shall be dry and I also put in some coconut fibres to keep it so. The small tub is where the "waste" is. I iniatilly put some "spoilt rice" and also poured in some milk and some fish food (pellet) too. Its not necessary to cover the small tub, because everything is inside the big tub. Another thing, its important to put the setup on some water barrier so as not to allow ants coming in. Only when BSF colony is established (1 week) then ants and flies won't be around.When the BSF larva gets matured, it will climb out from the small tub sides and will fall into the base of dry big tub....ready for harvest.

Some important points..

1. initially, before rotting of the waste... all sorts of flies will come, and you can hardly notice when does the BSF adult came..
2. once BSF colony established, add in more waste in small amounts..fruits will accumulate lots of liquid...(you can pour the liquid out)... at this stage no flies nor ants dare to enter..so you can basically put in any kind of waste..i've tried putting in left overs from the dining table, mango fruit leftovers, teabags, coffee, spoilt rice etc..
3. i managed to control the smell with the above method... small tub inside "covered big tub"...
4. I also observed that these BSF grubs can climb vertically, if there is some dampness.. The inside tub is normally wet due to condensation. Hence the grubs can easily crawl vertically, and nose dived to the bottom of big tub.
5. I store matured grubs using Jam/Mayonese glass bottles.. poke some needle pinholes on the plastic cap, to allow breathing air for the grubs. Also mix some coconut fibres to the grubs, to keep things dry.


Thanks.

[hasni]

hello asan
im from kl too..and now,im really interested to get this BSF larvae for my project.is it any chance i can buy the larvae from you?

[GaryD]

Hi Hasni,

I'm not sure if Asnan is around anymore.....haven't heard much out of him for some time.

Gary

[Madodel]

This is my first Worm BSFL bin combo I used to attract BSFL:

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[Madodel]

This is my first Worm BSFL bin combo I used to attract BSFL:



I edited the link

[kingjam]

Have just looked at this thread and see that you are in the neighbourhood. I am an Aussie (Qld.) based in Brunei and have been doing AP here for about three years and before that Hydroponics. I also make compost tumblers that I sell to expats and locals.

One of my customers once complained that the compost tumbler was smelly, so I went over and checked it out. Their maid had been in charge and had just filled it full of papaya scraps and other kitchen waste without any other organic material. It stunk to high heaven and was half full with BSF larvae. This was a couple of years ago before I knew about BSF. Since then I have noticed some BSF in my own 2 compost tumblers and have thought about making a biopod, however none of my fish (Tilapia, Koi, Barra, Borneo suckers) have ever shown any interest in eating the BSF larvae. I have seen the larvae for sale in Aquarium shops here and they tell me that fish love them. Maybe my fish are just too well fed.

I would be interested to hear how AP is doing in Bali also. I was a former volunteer in Central Java and my wife is from C. Java. I reckon AP could have a great impact at village level in Indonesia with simple systems, eg. barrelponics.
Dave

Dave,
I also have noticed my tilapia won't eat the BFS. I have watched them take it into their mouths then spit it out. I saw a clip in which the guy cut up the larvae and fed it to his fish. They didn't seem to mind them at all. I tried cutting them too but the fish were hiding so I don't know if they ate them or not. As you said, perhaps they are too well fed.
Kingjam.

[GaryD]

Hi Kingjam,

I also have noticed my tilapia won't eat the BFS. I have watched them take it into their mouths then spit it out.

Not all fish will take to BSF.

I saw a clip in which the guy cut up the larvae and fed it to his fish. They didn't seem to mind them at all.

Quite often, fish (and other types of micro-livestock) may need to be trained to eat a particular type of food.

BSF have a very high fat content so they will only ever be useful as part of a full diet. The other issue that we found with them was that their tough outer skins were indigestible and they made a mess of our fish tank and just added to the amount of solids that our system had to cope with.

While not all fish will eat BSF, I've never met a chicken that wouldn't fight to get them.

Gary