Live Foods from the Wild Part III – How to Collect Wild Foods

1. Live Foods from the WildPart III – How to Collect Wild Foods A presentation for The Angelfish Society February 20, 2011 by Tamar Stephens

2. About this presentation This is Part III in a series of presentations on live foods from the wild. Previous presentations in this series: • Part I Nutritional value of wild foods. (Sept. 19, 2010) • Part II Where to find wild foods. (Oct. 17, 2010) (Previous presentations can be found at http://www.theangelfishsociety.org/PresentationsTASNew.html) The rest of this series will cover: • Part IV: Types of wild foods • Part V: How to culture wild foods

3. In this presentation • Various equipment that can be used for collecting wild foods • Transporting collected organisms home alive • Some health and safety precautions

4. Recap of where to find wild foods Recall from Part II of this series that most wild foods are found in aquatic habitats, primarily calm water bodies, including: • Ponds • Puddles • Lakes • Sloughs • Rivers and streams in calmer areas along vegetated banks Noyes Slough, Fairbanks, Alaska. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey)

5. Types of equipment

6. Containers You will need wide mouth jars or other types of containers to hold live food that you harvest from the wild. You can save up used jars, use wide mouth canning jars, round or rectangular glass or plastic containers, or just about any type of container with a lid. Glass containers are easiest to clean and sanitize, but take care if you use glass containers because they can break if dropped.

7. Brushes Small, soft artist or paint brushes can be used to collect small organisms, such as worms or masses of protozoa from the undersides of leaves and rocks. Gently wipe the area to gather organisms, then dip the brush in a jar of water and swirl gently to shake them loose into the water.

8. Eyedroppers, basters, etc. Various sizes of droppers can be used for many purposes: • collecting organisms, • sorting them when you get home, • transferring them to other containers, and • for feeding fish.

9. Nets and sieves Various nets and sieves can be used for collecting, as well as transferring to other containers when you return home. You can buy nets with various mesh sizes. You can also make your own by sewing cheesecloth or nylon hosiery around a loop of wire hangar. For collecting it is best to make the net deep, and to make it balloon out to allow plenty of surface area to allow water to flow through. A long enough net can be folded as it is removed from the water to keep captured critters from escaping.

10. Traps Various types of traps can be devised. A simple type of trap is to position a net in the water, staked in place so the current flows through it. When you disturb vegetation or rocks just upstream, the organisms are swept by the current into the trap.

11. Protective clothing You need to protect yourself while you are doing your collecting. • Wear a hat or cap for protection from the sun • Wear rubber boots if you expect to be wading in shallow water • Rubber gloves can help protect your hands from a variety of possible problems, including scrapes on rough rocks, insect bites, leeches, etc. • Mosquito repellant. If you are going to be collecting in a mosquito-ridden area, put on your mosquito repellant before you leave home. Take care not to introduce it into your collection water.

12. Transporting collected organisms home alive

13. Ice chest or tote If you have filled a variety of containers on your collecting trip, you will need something to carry them in. As you collect, you want to make sure you don’t leave your containers in the direct sunlight. A plastic tote or an ice chest can be used to hold your collection jars and to keep them out of the direct sunlight. Bring something to wrap the containers in or to pad the spaces between them so they don’t get damaged. Use bubble wrap, crumpled newspaper, clean rags, etc.

14. Avoid overcrowding Don’t try to put too many organisms in a single jar. Overcrowding will lead to using up the dissolved oxygen very quickly.

15. Keep it short Try to work quickly and efficiently so you can get the organisms home as soon as possible after collecting them.

16. Keep it cool Overheating will result in depletion of oxygen and death of collected organisms. You can keep them cool and shaded in the ice chest. You can also bring ice or blue ice along in the ice chest to cool your collected items. This will help preserve dissolved oxygen, will lower the metabolic rates of the collected organisms and make it more likely that you will get them home alive.

17. A few health precautions

18. Giardia lamblia Giardiasis is an infection of the small intestine caused by a microscopic organism (protozoa), Giardia lamblia. Be aware that many streams and ponds are now infected with Giardia, so you want to make sure you don’t drink the water. Wash your hands well before you handle food or touch your face. You will also want to take care with your collected items to avoid potential contamination of your aquariums. Other microorganisms may be present in the water that can harm your health, such as E. coli.

19. Pollution Be aware that many streams and ponds near urban areas may have pollutants that could harm your fish. Irresponsible people dump assorted trash and other wastes into water bodies, including used oil, disposable diapers, old car batteries, and other items that may pollute the water. If you have any doubts about a possible collection area, then don’t risk yourself or your fish.

20. Use good safety precautions Be careful about wading into a stream or pond. People may have disposed of sharp pieces of metal, broken glass, or other items that can injure you. Watch out for algae-covered slippery rocks to avoid slipping and falling. Depending on where you go, you may need to watch out for wildlife, such as moose protecting their young, or bears. Photo from http://redriverpak.wordpress.com/2010/05/07/the-prairie-dog-incident-of-2006/

21. Final thoughts • I hope you enjoyed this presentation, and that it gave you some ideas for how to prepare for a trip to collect wild foods. • The next presentation in this series will talk about how to identify different organisms that you find during your collection trips.

22. The End Now back to the chat room for discussion!