ANTSTORE World of Ants

von **highered** » 18. Jul 2008 10:02

Yesterday I found a huge hover flie, about the size of a very big wasp. It must have been a queen. Anyway I've put her in a jam jar type set up with alittle sand/loam mix on the floor and keep it covered. She ate lots of sugar water yesterday. Does anyone know where hover flie queens lay their eggs? Thanks.

von **tail__** » 18. Jul 2008 10:19

Hover flies aren't wasps, but, well, flies, they don't make colonies, you found simply one of some large species

It can be either male or female. I don't know if and how they can be bred in house.

von **SteveUK28** » 18. Jul 2008 10:36

Why would you want to breed flies?

von **highered** » 18. Jul 2008 10:48

Why do some people breed ants? Anyway I was thinking of feeding any new flies to my ants.

von **miszt** » 18. Jul 2008 11:20

Hover flies are solitary, and they require a large are of terratory, often several meters accross, if you try to keep 2 males together in a tank, they will spend the whole time displaying to keep their area free, and eventually die of exhaustion

von **SteveUK28** » 18. Jul 2008 12:34

People keep ants as they are interesting little things.. Flies on the other hand.. well they are flies.. they fly and carry around bad germs.. mmm yeh no contest there.

von **tail__** » 18. Jul 2008 14:45

Actually hover flies eat nectar and unlike house flies they are very clean and nice.

von **SteveUK28** » 18. Jul 2008 15:22

lol.. still its a fly...

von **Phasmid** » 19. Jul 2008 20:00

The larvae of these big hover flies tend to feed on organic matter, dead or rotten most of the time. So a hover fly may still have landed on something nasty at some point to lay eggs or get a bit it protein. (depending on species, for example: quite a few species have the rat-tailed maggot, these live in polluted water thats got all sorts of dead things in it

). So if you want to breed them you will have to find species whos larvae feed on rotten plants, as i'm sure you wouldn't want a dead animal in a tank :wink:

.

von **highered** » 21. Jul 2008 12:30

Thanks for the responses guys but unfortuantely when I checked on her on Saturday she had died.

von **miszt** » 21. Jul 2008 12:52

they dont live long

von **damondeionno** » 21. Jul 2008 15:09

As far as I am aware, the majority of UK hoverflies feed on nectar as adults. The larvae feed on aphids.

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Huge hover flie found

Huge hover flie found

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