bug tank

Damnit, Connor,
you've got me convinced I need to spend some time staring at a bug tank.
I'll run into town tomorrow and shop for a tank .... I hope to find a small
Plexiglas one I can travel with in my trailer. I have sampling nets, and a
fair amount of experience using them, so I think I can catch the bugs. I
worry about keeping them alive, after capture and getting them home, but I
bet I manage. In the fishing season, I usually camp in one spot for a
couple weeks at a time, and that appears to be about the expected life, of a
bug tank ... so it should work out OK if I sample a local river when I get
there I'll be ready to dump the contents about the time I want to move on.

Baetis are starting to hatch locally now and will be my first intended
captives .... maybe some midges, of course, .... and Rhithrogena are a real
possibility to be near hatching stage here in NorCal .. Brachycentrus soon

Hehe, I feel like a kid expecting a new toy, as I think about it ....


If you have any bug tank links or suggestions ..... I'm all ears ...ah, eyes
I guess on UseNet

"Larry L" wrote in message
...
Damnit, Connor,
you've got me convinced I need to spend some time staring at a bug tank.
I'll run into town tomorrow and shop for a tank .... I hope to find a
small
Plexiglas one I can travel with in my trailer. I have sampling nets, and
a
fair amount of experience using them, so I think I can catch the bugs. I
worry about keeping them alive, after capture and getting them home, but I
bet I manage. In the fishing season, I usually camp in one spot for a
couple weeks at a time, and that appears to be about the expected life, of
a
bug tank ... so it should work out OK if I sample a local river when I get
there I'll be ready to dump the contents about the time I want to move on.

Baetis are starting to hatch locally now and will be my first intended
captives .... maybe some midges, of course, .... and Rhithrogena are a
real
possibility to be near hatching stage here in NorCal .. Brachycentrus soon

Hehe, I feel like a kid expecting a new toy, as I think about it ....


If you have any bug tank links or suggestions ..... I'm all ears ...ah,
eyes
I guess on UseNet
-----------------
Oh God No, not another thing I can get into. I will be watching this
thread. I do love gadgets and keeping a bug tank for observation and
learning about the little creatures is right up my alley.

Chris

A bug tank does sound like fun. My friend and neighbor
and potter (potted too, occasionally) Rick did this
a few years ago. He found (rather quickly) that aquatic
trout stream insects need lots of oxygen and cool water
temperatures, else they die in a few days.

Aquarium bubblers are cheap and easy to install.
Refridgerating the water by some thermostatically
controlled mechansism is not so straightforward.
Rick eventually gave up on the project.



--
/* Sandy Pittendrigh --oO0
** http://montana-rubberboats.com
**
*/

Salmo Bytes wrote in news:UZCdncw-
:


A bug tank does sound like fun. My friend and neighbor
and potter (potted too, occasionally) Rick did this
a few years ago. He found (rather quickly) that aquatic
trout stream insects need lots of oxygen and cool water
temperatures, else they die in a few days.

Aquarium bubblers are cheap and easy to install.
Refridgerating the water by some thermostatically
controlled mechansism is not so straightforward.
Rick eventually gave up on the project.




Actually, aquarium chillers are about as straightforward to use as filters,
but they ain't cheap. Small ones run about $400. You can also build your
own (http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/dyi...donchiller.htm)

Scott

"Salmo Bytes" wrote


A bug tank does sound like fun.

I bought a little tank and am taking it to Montahoming with me. I have
grave doubts about keeping things alive in a travel trailer situation, but
I'll catch some buggies and try.

Nothing has improved my fly fishing as much as tying, and nothing has
improved the fishing success of my tying as studying the bugs, and nothing
has improved the value of that study as much as catching the real things,
books and even good photos have very real limitations in this area.

Larry L wrote:
"Salmo Bytes" wrote


A bug tank does sound like fun.


I bought a little tank and am taking it to Montahoming with me.

You're not coming to Idaho?

I have
grave doubts about keeping things alive in a travel trailer situation, but
I'll catch some buggies and try.

Without refrigeration you're going to have bug soup.

Nothing has improved my fly fishing as much as tying, and nothing has
improved the fishing success of my tying as studying the bugs, and nothing
has improved the value of that study as much as catching the real things,
books and even good photos have very real limitations in this area.

Scooping up nymphs is fun. I'm struck by how little the artificial
resemble the naturals. 99% of the mayfly nymphs I find look kind of like
Pheasant Tails and Hare's Ears, but even those patterns aren't all that
close. It's amazing that fish are so gullible and, I suppose, lucky for us.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

"rw" wrote



You're not coming to Idaho?



'aho' is dead center in Montahoming and is the state where I spend the most
time.

Close to your home, I'm currently planning to spend mid-Sept 'till 'too damn
cold' at Silver/ Big Wood again this Fall. I guess I'll wait until well
after the Dalai Lama thing, however. I've never fished the South Fork of
the Snake and am told that it is prime, for the wading angler, in the Fall
.... I may go there instead.

Larry L wrote:

... I have
grave doubts about keeping things alive in a travel trailer situation, but
I'll catch some buggies and try.

Collecting aquatic insects is illegal in some places, like
Yellowstone for instance. Be sure to check Montahoming law
so you don't get busted.

--
Ken Fortenberry

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote

Collecting aquatic insects is illegal in some places, like
Yellowstone for instance. Be sure to check Montahoming law
so you don't get busted.

Good point, Ken

"Larry L" wrote in message
...
SNIP
If you have any bug tank links or suggestions ..... I'm all ears ...ah,
eyes
I guess on UseNet



Try these;
http://www.microscopy-uk.net/mag/ind...ll/insect.html

http://www.troutnut.com/equipment/index.php

http://www.troutnut.com/movies.php

http://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Entom...ts/mascots.htm

A deluxe version!!!
http://www.carrycreek.com/mainFrame.htm

http://www.hometrainingtools.com/cat...be-insjar.html


Actually, you don´t need anything complex at all. Just a small tank. For a
while I used large square jam-jars with a piece of fine net over the top.Get
some gravel etc from the stream, and a plant. ( The plant provides oxygen).
Put this in your tank, and allow to settle. Add your insects, and observe! A
large magnifying glass is a good idea. It does hot have to be very powerful.

Depending on which insects you want to observe, you will need to put silt or
mud below the gravel. Use water from the stream where you collected the
insects. Don´t try to keep too many at once! Many aquatic insects are
predatory, so be careful what you put in the tank!

It really is quite easy, and you don´t really need any of the above links.

TL
MC