Best way to catch flies in tat?

For the discussion of any creepy crawlies that may have taken up residence in your tank, including mites. Please note that isopods have their own forum.
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Kermie16
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Best way to catch flies in tat?

Post by Kermie16 » Sun Aug 19, 2018 12:10 pm

I was just staring in the tat and I noticed a little fly just a bit bigger than a fruit fly so I’m thinking it’s a gnat landed on my little iso Tupperware I have in the tat What is the best way to trap these guys? I have in the past used sticky traps used for plants and I just ordered another set but are there any other options that I can try until the sticky traps on sticks come in next couple of days? And, just an FYI, I would take the sticky trap sticks out towards the evening when the hermies are most active and also try to put them hanging from the toppers rather than in the sub I don’t want any hermies or marties (our isopods) to be harmed!


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Re: Best way to catch flies in tat?

Post by GotButterflies » Sun Aug 19, 2018 4:57 pm

You can get a water bottle and put a little bit of vinegar in it :) they are attracted to vinegar. This way they fly in, and drown in the vinegar. I would keep a water bottle like this outside of the tat as well. Make sure your hermits can't tip it over.
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Re: Best way to catch flies in tat?

Post by Kermie16 » Sun Aug 19, 2018 5:51 pm

GotButterflies wrote:You can get a water bottle and put a little bit of vinegar in it :) they are attracted to vinegar. This way they fly in, and drown in the vinegar. I would keep a water bottle like this outside of the tat as well. Make sure your hermits can't tip it over.
Perfect! Thank you! Does it matter what kind of vinegar?


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Re: Best way to catch flies in tat?

Post by GotButterflies » Sun Aug 19, 2018 9:12 pm

Yw! I don’t think it does! :)


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Re: Best way to catch flies in tat?

Post by iofushi » Thu Aug 23, 2018 12:20 pm

in my house, atleast outside of the tank, we use cider vinegar and dawn dish soap. vinegar attracts, dish soap is sticky, so they get stuck and drown in it. not sure if this is safe in their tank with the soap, but i have maybe 2 or 3 gnats in the hermie tank so i dont worry much. the isopod breeding tank, that's another story since i left an apple in there when i went away for a couple days, but apparently 3 spiders moved in and are having a grand old time sniping the gnats as they fly around haha.
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Re: Best way to catch flies in tat?

Post by Kermie16 » Sat Aug 25, 2018 9:11 pm

iofushi wrote:in my house, atleast outside of the tank, we use cider vinegar and dawn dish soap. vinegar attracts, dish soap is sticky, so they get stuck and drown in it. not sure if this is safe in their tank with the soap, but i have maybe 2 or 3 gnats in the hermie tank so i dont worry much. the isopod breeding tank, that's another story since i left an apple in there when i went away for a couple days, but apparently 3 spiders moved in and are having a grand old time sniping the gnats as they fly around haha.
Ha! Sounds like a spider party! Lol! So I ended putting cider vinegar with a drop of dish detergent in a small water bottle - small enough that the hermies can’t get to it and I put it in the corner of the moss pit on the second level. I kept it in there for about a week but didn’t see the gang anywhere so very possible it flew out of the tank. I don’t know why but in the summer we have a lot of gnats in our home and yet I am very unsuccessful at trapping them with the vinegar method. Either way, I am glad they are no longer in the tank:) Thanks for you help!!


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Re: Best way to catch flies in tat?

Post by GotButterflies » Sun Aug 26, 2018 9:11 am

Putting dawn in it has never worked for me. Just the vinegar works :)


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Re: Best way to catch flies in tat?

Post by wodesorel » Sun Aug 26, 2018 10:07 am

The drop of dish soap in the mix breaks the surface tension and makes it easier for them to drown.
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Re: Best way to catch flies in tat?

Post by hprmom » Wed Sep 26, 2018 8:34 am

Hi @kermie16 ! Glad to see your hermies and marties are still going strong! I’ve given up on catching gnats, they’ve been a nuisance in my house all summer, there are more outside the ‘tat than in! And they’re so small and “floaty”, any attempt to smack them in the air just blows them out of reach! I left vinegar water with a drop of soap in the kitchen for days and they were too wilt to take the bait. They usually disappear from the tank within a day or two of removing old food.


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Re: Best way to catch flies in tat?

Post by CrabbyCuteness » Wed Sep 26, 2018 10:20 am

YES. ACV and dish soap have been a lifesaver for my household. The knats and fruit flys get very intense in the summer and won't leave us alone!
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Re: Best way to catch flies in tat?

Post by Hermiesguardian » Wed Sep 26, 2018 12:06 pm

CrabbyCuteness wrote:YES. ACV and dish soap have been a lifesaver for my household. The knats and fruit flys get very intense in the summer and won't leave us alone!


We have them in our bedroom. There's not even any food in there. And they're breeding in the tats. I've been placing fruit and veggie traps but I think they're onto it.
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Re: Best way to catch flies in tat?

Post by Hermiesguardian » Sat Sep 29, 2018 2:38 pm

GotButterflies wrote:Putting dawn in it has never worked for me. Just the vinegar works :)


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I've tried piece of apple and red pepper. Didn't work. Tried vinegar. Nothing. Trying now red wine vinegar with a drop of dawn. So far nothing. Every night they lay eggs apparently because there's larvea. I guess I just really have to take out the food every morning.
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Re: Best way to catch flies in tat?

Post by Kermie16 » Sun Sep 30, 2018 4:48 pm

Hermiesguardian wrote:
GotButterflies wrote:Putting dawn in it has never worked for me. Just the vinegar works :)


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I've tried piece of apple and red pepper. Didn't work. Tried vinegar. Nothing. Trying now red wine vinegar with a drop of dawn. So far nothing. Every night they lay eggs apparently because there's larvea. I guess I just really have to take out the food every morning.
Oh wow! That’s tough! I actually keep a Dynatrap in the my living room to help control flies and gnats. I have never been successful trapping gnats with the vinegar and drop of dish soap. But I did put a small water bottle in my tat with the ACV with dish soap to see if it would help. I also put in during the day one of those sticky plant sticks and made it stand upright by weaving it into the vines in my tank. I put a few around the outside of the tat too and all combined seemed to help. None of our hermies are up moving around during the day nor do they like the vine so I felt pretty safe putting the sticky trap in during the day and taking it out in the late afternoon before the hermies became active.


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