A successful aquarium

[MKern]

For the past couple of years I have been dreaming of developing my own aquarium, full of aquatic insects. I was going to do it last year but I have been too busy, and barely get enough time to fish. I have the idea of what I want to do, and the set-up in mind, but recently I though of a problem...
What to mayflies, caddis, stoneflies eat? Is it planton, alge or something else? I don't want to get the critters home and they suddenly die.
Any advice....?

 

[Heritage-Angler]

MKern - Whatever you do, just make sure you put a tight fitting lid on it. Don't ask me how I learned this. :-o .....Ed

 

[SlumpBuster]

I'll try and keep my aquatic entomology lesson short here, but aquatic insects fall into a few diffrent types of catagories while eating. Many including a lot of mayflies and stoneflies are detritovours feeding on downed leaves that are in the stream and colonized by bacteria and fungi. These are mainly found in headwater streams. Other insects feed on organic matter that float through the stream. many caddis do this using thier spinnerets to make little nets to collect the floating matter. Others feed on organic matter on the stream bottoms, overs scrape algae off rocks, and some like your large stoneflies are predators. So to put it all together have a varitiy of food types algae will grow itself and get some leaves out of a stream to put in the tank. have a varity of insects and the tank should flourish. i also plan on doing the same thing adding one or two small trout to the mix. my own ecosystem. if you plan this to don't mix species brown trout destroy brookies in a tank. hope this helped ya out

 

[ptdropper]

I've kept fresh water aquariums for many years now, and even tried to keep some mayflies and caddisflies in there every once in a while. Things to really understand:
1. Balance of light and temperature. For the trout stream environment, you'll need some way to keep the water cool, and at the same time provide intense lighting to get the plankton, plants,algea, etc alive. Those low level organisms are dependant upon abundant light.
2. Chemistry, this is the key for any aquarium. Right now I'm keeping an aquarium of about 80-100 guppies in a 29 gallon tank. Now, anyone with experience in aquariums would say this is far too many fish. BUT, I have an abundant supply of light (aquarium plant grade flourescent bulb, a thick bed of pea gravel 3 inches deep, and a super abundant growth of aquatic plants. The plants do a wonderful job of filtering out wastes from the fish, in addition to the power filter which keeps the water clean as well. I also have an air pump which keeps the water moving and keeps adding CO2 and O2 to the water. Plants in an aquarium need an abundance of CO2 and light along with good water chemistry. Keep the bottom of the food chain happy, and the rest of that aquarium will thrive.
I recommend setting up the plants and algae from a stream in your tank and get that part established for several weeks. Then add bugs and fish later. My 2 cents.

 

[Chaz]

They eat plankton, algae, and each other. The water will have to be well oxygenated, probably better then your average pump, and it probably should appear to be flowing, many insects and invertibrates like the flowing water best, though some like the still areas. You may have to refrigerate the water to keep it cool enough for trout stream insects if that is your intent.