Spawning Mops (Killies Etc)

[Pegasus]

Hi,

AJ made a comment in another post about Spawning Mops,

Well, I plan to have a go at breeding them, once I get some more

mops organised.

Don't know if I posted this here before on not, but here is an easy clean cheap method of making spawning mops that can be used for several species.

Makers of Backpacks, Horse Gear, Tents, Dive Gear, Camping shops, Cargo slings, and all number of things use webbing type straps on their products.

Most of these straps are nylon, and a hot blade is used to seal the ends. Companies throw vast amounts of short bits out as waste, but the stuff is cheap enough by the metre anyway, and is available in many places.

The ideal stuff is around 4mm thick, and around an inch (25.4mm) wide.

Cut across the strap and tease out the thread going across the strap. This is the WEFT thread, not the WARP thread which runs down the strap.

If it snags and won't unravel, try the other end. Once it starts to unravel you will be left with hundreds of fine wavy tassles, the length of which is up to you, as once the desired length is reached just stop unravelling.

Leave about an inch at the end unraveled so that the thing holds together.

The tassles can be brushed out to produce a very fine hair like mop, or left crinkly, whichever suits your needs.

Stapling the unraveled end to a piece of wood or cork (so that it floats) will allow the tassles to dangle in the water and make a perfect spawning mop that can be sterilized as needed for future use.

For those that like to do a bit of fishing for the big stuff, the same principle can be used to make some very choice lures, as the straps come in all colours, including fluorescent.

Just bind your hook into the tassles, add a bit of glitter, and it's fish for supper

Regards,

Bill (Pegasus)

[ajbroome]

Pegasus said...

> ... here is an easy clean cheap method of making spawning

> mops that can be used for several species.

I use the tried and true killifish method of using acrylic 'wool',

wrapping it many (20 or 30 or more) times around a book and

then slicing through the threads at one end of the book. The

lengths of wool is then tied at the other end with a short piece

of wool.

If a sinking mop is required then it's just fired into the tank, if

a floating mop is to be used then one of the ends of the short

'tie off' piece of wool can be clamped in a 35mm film canister.

I use dark coloured wool, usually blue.

There are some variations on the theme here:

http://ark.killi.net/yarn.htm

http://www.petfish.net/mop.htm

http://www.djramsey.com/tropfish/spawning_mops.htm

Andrew.