Mosquito larvae

[corylover5]

I'm trying to get mosquito larvae for my fish to eat. I have a container with about a little more than a liter of water in it. I filled it with half rainwater and half water from one of my fish tanks. It has a large rock at the bottom of it and some dried leaves to make stained water. It has a few twigs half way out of the water too. There is some algae growing in the container as well. I have kept the container in a shaded area under a large bush. It has been there for over a week now with no larvae. I check 3 times a day but I can't seem to get any larvae in it. Is there something I'm doing wrong? Thanks in advance.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I have never actually tried to do this.

When I find mosquito larvae, it’s usually by accident. Mosquitos lay their larvae in stagnant water. If the water in your container isn’t stagnant, you will get no larvae.

@Colin_T has given advice on how to obtain mosquito larvae, and how to “grow” your own in the past. I have just forgotten how. Maybe he can shed some light on the subject.

 

[corylover5]

I have never actually tried to do this.

When I find mosquito larvae, it’s usually by accident. Mosquitos lay their larvae in stagnant water. If the water in your container isn’t stagnant, you will get no larvae.

@Colin_T has given advice on how to obtain mosquito larvae, and how to “grow” your own in the past. I have just forgotten how. Maybe he can shed some light on the subject.

The water is stagnant

 

[fish48]

you don't need twigs or leave just stagnant water it can take a week or two to get them established

 

[Retired Viking]

I have filled 2 plastic containers and left them on my back deck after about a week the water started turning a little green and I now have some larvae.

 

[fish48]

I have have mosquito larvae everywhere i speed things up when it comes to breeding them a culture I started last week you can see some of the mosquito rafts and thousands of baby mosquito larvae that has hatched out in the last 48 -hours

 

[corylover5]

That's a lot of mosquito larvae!

 

[Colin_T]

It's illegal to grow mosquitoes in most places around the world because they spread disease. However, if you have a bucket of water outside under a tree and a few leaves drop in it, mozzies will lay eggs that hatch out and turn into mozzie larvae. These should be scooped out and fed to the fish so they don't turn into adults.

Mozzies will lay eggs on straight tap water, aquarium water or sea water and don't care how deep it is, as long as it's calm. The egg rafts look like fine black dust on the surface of the water. They prefer dark shaded areas with water (under plants or in trays under pot plants).

If you don't have mozzie larvae after a few weeks it probably means there aren't many mozzies in your area and you are lucky, or unlucky depending on whether you want them

 

[fish48]

that's not even half of what's in that bucket lol

 

[corylover5]

It's illegal to grow mosquitoes in most places around the world because they spread disease.

If it's illegal here to raise Mosquito larvae then I will make sure to dump out the water. I will just check flowerpots and any areas in my yard that could have standing water and if I find larvae I will feed them to my fish.

 

[Salty&Onion]

I believe mozzies will need to have their season, like now. I have seen one in my house
Weird stuff..

 

[AbbeysDad]

When I first told my wife that my outdoor bins were intended to collect mosquito larvae, she was upset. But then I explained to her that for every mosquito larvae that I collect for fish food, it means dozens, maybe hundreds of fewer mosquitoes in the neighborhood. (see Free Live Fish Food).
If after a week or so (in summer weather) there's no sign of larvae, maybe move the bin to a new location.

 

[Colin_T]

If it's illegal here to raise Mosquito larvae then I will make sure to dump out the water. I will just check flowerpots and any areas in my yard that could have standing water and if I find larvae I will feed them to my fish.

I wouldn't dump the water out because other insects will drink the water. And if you scoop out any larvae before they hatch, you will actually be helping to control their numbers by preventing them from producing adults.

 

[corylover5]

I wouldn't dump the water out because other insects will drink the water. And if you scoop out any larvae before they hatch, you will actually be helping to control their numbers by preventing them from producing adults.

I will leave the water outside then. Thank you. I'm wondering if we don't have many mosquitoes right now since I haven't seen any lately.

 

[Retired Viking]

I just went out side t0 collect some live larvae to feed my poor tetra after changing their tank over to sand and look what was in the water bin that I was using to collect larvae a frog, looks like he had a good time eating all the larvae he could. I was still able to collect some from my other bins.