harvesting live foods

[EvilVOG]

I've begun draining my pool cover for the season, and i'm draining it through a net to capture the amazing variety of insect life that exists on my pool cover to feed to my fish... My only question is how do i separate the larvae/worms/etc. from the fluff they live in?

[Oldfishlady]

The way I do it....after I collect my critters.....I will use different size mesh nets and several small containers to rinse them in fresh water.

I transfer from largest mesh net to smallest in order to get some of the gunk I collected out-but I always will have some gunk-but it is kinda clean after all the fresh water rinses-but the water with the larva will be clear......

I then use an eyedropper to collect the larva to feed the fish-trying not to get any of the chunks of gunk.

When I collect the larva to start with-I try to avoid as much gunk as I can...I will allow the collection water to settle between scoops I make with my brine shrimp net.

With all the critters in the pool cover...I would pour it off in some buckets and let it settle first-then collect the larva as they surface with a net.

If you are feeding adult fish you can use a med-large mesh net to collect the larger larva and if you are feeding fry or small fish-use a brine shrimp net to get the really tiny larva.