Thanks Snrub. I will check my local tractor supply and another store that I need to stop in at (Family Farm and Home I think it is called?) There is a local farmers coop that I think has to order it but I'm checking.
yes, totally for fun for the kids. I'll use up my bag of 3.5mm steelhead food and then see what else is easy to get and affordable.
I don't mind giving the fish a treat and helping them from time to time but i really want to know what it takes to sustain naturally too. I'd like to see how the fish balance out the crayfish population for example...or the snails for that matter.
I'd love to hear from the many mechanical/inventor geniuses on this board how I could adapt a light and fan into something that would knock down the bugs at night as an alternate (and around here almost unlimited) source of protein. I think I can make a little rain shield/hood and get a light fixture in it but I'm wondering if I had a plastic filament going around like a weed whacker if it would be horizontal oriented motion below the light or above the light, or maybe vertical oriented motion, maybe a shaft with 2 vertical oriented monofilament propellers so that the bugs will be propelled down into the water on each side of the fan? I have access to computer cooling fans which might be adaptable to having some monofilaments added or the blades removed, etc.
Does anyone know if it is the light that attracts the bug or the heat or both? Is there a color light that is more important than the heat produced? that will determine what Watt bulb and how much heat the enclosure has to endure if I run it on a timer from dusk till dawn. I'm thinking of mounting it inside a upside down clear storage tote.
