What do I need to keep diving beetles?
Large diving beetles (>1 inch) need at least a five gallon tank. It is not necessary to provide them with any sort of dry land. As long as the beetles cannot climb onto a dry solid surface, it is not necessary to have a lid on your enclosure. I recommend a fountain-style filter. Sponge-type filters get torn to pieces. Live and fake plants are a plus! Diving beetles appreciate rocks to grab on to and caves to hide in.
Can I keep diving beetles with fish?
Absolutely. As long as your fish are healthy, diving beetles will not attempt to eat them. At least in my experience. I kept four large diving beetles with gouramis, danios, black-skirt tetras, bettas, and suckerfish (plecostomus) and never had any problems. A big plus is that if a fish does get sick and die, it will be devoured by your beetles in less than one minute, providing them with a free meal, and providing you with some entertainment! They are so thorough at eating every morsel, that I didn't even notice I was missing one tetra until I counted my tetra population three weeks later. I do not recommend keeping large aquatic snails with your beetles.
What do I feed diving beetles?
Just about anything. I fed my beetles crab cakes and dried krill. They don't really like shrimp pellets. They also enjoy earthworms, leftover meat, and dead fish. One to two crab cakes (or dried krill) per beetle is sufficient food for one day. They should be fed every day. If you need to go away for a weekend and cannot feed your beetles, they will be fine until you get back. Just don't skip too many meals.
Can I keep more than one diving beetle?
Yes. I kept three males and one female. They do fight over food though. Two beetles will pull at the same piece of food until it breaks in half. After that, it's relatively tame.
Can I handle my diving beetles?
I don't recommend it. They will bite. Use a fish net to take them out if necessary.
Where do I find diving beetles?
During warm weather and after a heavy rain, you can usually find tons of diving beetles on the UF tennis courts on Hull Road. Go late at night (around midnight) after it rains. They are attracted to the bright lights.
You can also get them the hard way, by catching them. There are two ponds by the Harn Museum on Hull Road. I have seen large diving beetles in both ponds, but they are more abundant in the pond with vegetation (you will know what I mean when you see the ponds, one is nearly lifeless). You can use a fish net and scoop them at the surface when they come up for air, or you can use an D-shaped aquatic net and find them by scooping up pond muck. I don't usually find many large beetles in this manner, but you will probably find a lot of smaller predaceous diving beetles this way.
More questions? See a typo? Contact the webmaster.
