Mosquito Larva for Bettas?

[buggyboutbettas]

I've heard (read) that mosquito larva is the bettas natural food and that it is probably the best thing you can give them. However, everyone that has said that also said that they've never tried it themselves (because they don't live near a pond, etc. that would have them or that they don't know how to collect the larva).
I have a pond in our backyard that ALWAYS gets mosquito larva in it in the summer. We never use pesticides in our gardens so I usually catch as much larva as possible and boil em or smash em or find some other way to kill the nasty vermin. Anyways, I wondered that if I cleaned the larva real good in clean water, I could feed them to my betta and future bettas for some nice snacks in the summer. hehehe. Hey, maybe my bettas could help keep the West Nile Virus down. whata ya think?
I just want to make sure that I'm not endagering my bettas by feeding it to them. Do you guys think that this would be a good idea?

 

[HeatherSweetness]

I've heard of people who feed their fish mosquito larvae,actually tetramin (?) bloodworm gel is mostly skeeter larvae,comes in little packets that I buy. Just make sure they eat them all,don't want no skeeters popping up in the house.

 

[buggyboutbettas]

Thanks Heather.
I'm also gonna check with the Department of Agriculture to make sure that West Nile can't be transfered from larva to bettas. that would be bad

 

[buggyboutbettas]

any more opinions?

 

[wuvmybetta]

I wouldn't do it. I DO feed them frozen bloodworms that are sterilized. Taking them from the wild could very well introduce parasites and bacteria, just think...the mosquitos get the blood from somewhere to feed the worms, you could be feeding your fish the blood of all your neighbors (and yourself, and your pets!)

 

[buggyboutbettas]

first off, mosquito larva don't eat/suck blood and therefor my concern has nothing to do with blood or diseases transmited my blood (mosquito larva eat algae and protozoans). What I am wondering is if cleaning the larva nice and thourough will remove almost everything detrimental to my betta and tank or not.
It might be valuable to know that the pond is small and has a plastic liner and we drain and clean it thouroughly every spring (it is an ornamental pond).
Knowing this, would your answer change?

 

[iloveyou]

but, the blood of the parents would be passed down to the larvea aswell... so if the mother mosquito had west nile, the larvae would also have west nile.. maybe try one clean one to a betta by itself.... just in case something happens, youll at least have the problem only in 1 of your bettas/tanks/bowls whatever u keep them in

 

[wuvmybetta]

My answer won't change but you seem pretty certain of it, so go for it

 

[Lenna]

I was going to do this too. There shouldn't be a problem, I asked one of my lecturers who specialises in arboviruses if they could be transmitted to fish. Arboviruses like West Nile are passed in the mosquitos salivary glands, not their blood or reproductive organs, therefore aren't present in the larvae. They should be pretty safe to feed to your fish.

 

[iloveyou]

ok forget what i said . .

 

[HeatherSweetness]

I didn't even think about that West Nile stuff. ) Good research,Lenna.

 

[jumpman]

Am in a different country, so a bit diffucult to compare I guess, but have fed my fish mosi larvae without any problems before, had a bucket with daphnia in the summer left outside, and mosquitos laid in there too. Just fished them out, rinsed well, and then fed live. My betta at the time loved them!!

jump

 

[Idolz]

Musquitoes STEAL!!! our blood to feed the larva. But if you find a way of sterilizing the larva, then your betta will have a good feed this summer... This year is supposed to be real thick w/ skeeters.

I think that there is a very small chance of coming across a skeeter w/ that virus anyway. Im not 100% sure.

 

[buggyboutbettas]

My answer won't change but you seem pretty certain of it, so go for it

I'm not certain at all. I just knew that your answer didn't have any value to the debate because the blood doesn't transfer the larva. ) no offense....I say things that I don't really know much about too.

Thank you, Lenna. I thought that that was how it worked but wasn't very sure.

Musquitoes STEAL!!! our blood to feed the larva. But if you find a way of sterilizing the larva, then your betta will have a good feed this summer... This year is supposed to be real thick w/ skeeters.

As I said before "mosquito larva eat algae and protozoans" not blood! I did some research last night and that's what I found.

I think that there is a very small chance of coming across a skeeter w/ that virus anyway. Im not 100% sure.

I live in Colorado. Lot's of people and animals got west nile last year and some died (i don't know the actually numbers but it is a real danger in some places in Colorado).

Anyways, it's seems that we've come upon the fact--thanks to Lenna---that "West Nile cannot be transfered through mosquito larva".
That fact leads me to ask one more question; In your opinion, do you think that if I wash the larva well that it is safe to give to my bettas? think in terms of bacteria and parasites here, not viruses.

Thanks for all your guys' help and comments!

 

[MerryCat]

I wouldn't be too worried about west nile and stuff, but if the mosquite larvae had any parasites, internal or otherwise, that could be transferred to your fish. Does anyone know if the larvae can get internal parasites? External ones you could probably wash off. Or maybe if you froze the larvae after you collected them, that would kill off any parasites too.