Mosquito Larvae 2010

[Nymox]

Thats cause you are thier father 8)

Lol thats one way of looking at it, Id put it down to being a smoker.

[DennisP]

Lol thats one way of looking at it, Id put it down to being a smoker.

The one and only positive of smoking. :lol:

[Caryl]

I have never 'cultured' live food. I just have a couple of old baths and half a mussel float outside which fill with rainwater. All sorts of wrigglers end up in there over summer months and I just net them out as required. Never feed them or nuffink

[Bilbo]

I did culture them once with ice cream containers. Just put old fish tank water and a piece of apple in a stocking in each one. The fruit should be just starting to turn bad and you could also add a tiny pinch of yeast to the water.

Leave in a warm spot for 2 days and then put the lid on for 2 more days for the young to hatch and start growing then pour the water through a fine net. The water can be reused and then just put the apple back in.

If you leave the lid on for more than 2 days then stand back or have fly spray.

[Caryl]

Maggots are fun to grow too and easy. Get a small bit of meat or pet food. Put it in one of those plastic containers with a clear lid (like they put salads in from the deli) and sit in the sun. Leave the lid off (this assumes you don't have pets or small kids who will eat it) for 24 hours to give the flies time to find it, then put the lid on, as it can pong a bit after a day or two

The maggots grow quickly and are easy to pick out. Good for fish who are too big to take notice of white worms.

[acara]

I simply leave a few buckets in the back garden from late winter onwards.They either fill with rain,or I use water from changes.Keep the level a couple of inches down.Throw in a few leaves.Thats all,just wait for the mossies to arrive,also plenty of bloodworms.To harvest,if I need lots I use a small net,if only a couple,a pippette.

Earthworms are extremely popular,and send the tank inhabitants into a frenzy if they get a whiff of it.I find the earthworm flake and pellets very good for colouring up fish,before shows,or for breeding.

Also culture whiteworms,fed with date expired flake food.And grindal worms,fed on Ready Brek.I'm about to have a crack at fairy shrimp,if it works,I'll get a more permanent set-up going for them.

Fish go mad for the live stuff,unfortunately my Betta channoides wont touch anything unless it wriggles,having some job trying to wean them on to dry foods.

[Zev]

Whhhhaaaa..... me Mum killed my daphnia when she sprayed the garden

Now I have to work out if I have to wash the bucket out and start again or if it would be safe to just reseed it... :-?

[SamH]

At least you had something, I've got nothing yet

[DennisP]

At least you had something, I've got nothing yet

Nor I.

[SamH]

Got me some mozzie larvae! happy2

This is the bucket with 3 or 4 bits of driftwood soaking in tank water.

The larvae themselves

And the egg raft waiting to hatch.

The larvae are a wee bit small to feed at the moment but I'm still stoked.

[Zev]

Just wait until your mum gets bitten again, then the bucket may disappear!

[SamH]

Just wait until your mum gets bitten again, then the bucket may disappear!

Wanna see a photo of my legs and feet? I spent 30mins outside with a mate the other night, mozzies love my blood

[SamH]

Here's a

of my PK eating some mozzie larvae that I just got round to uploading now. If you can't stand chiptune I'd suggest you mute it :nilly:

[Sophia]

I like the little guys outside the trap trying to bust in haha

[SamH]

I like the little guys outside the trap trying to bust in haha

Little gals

[Sophia]

always the hungriest in my tank

[Bilbo]

I went to a hardware store yesturday that had about 20 wine barrels for sale that had got full of rain water.

They were covered black with larvae and (after asking permission) I got enough to full and freeze half the cubes of an old bloodworm tray of washed and drained pure larvae. A second large bowl full of many hundreds more live ones for feeding over the next day or two as well.

I couldnt even imagine counting how many were there but I would have caught many many thousands and only tried 3 or 4 of the barrels.

[SamH]

Oh wow! That's awesome

Someone's not going to be paying for fish food this summer

[waterlogged]

i have just found a few big sand fly type bugs that have left alot of larvea in my tank. but only in the net breeder and my gbas aren't touching them lol so got to go fishing :facepalm:

[Kinbote]

What are the risks of spreading diseases to the tank by doing this? I'd considered it [while being swarmed by mosquitoes] but figured I'd need a clean source to be safe. And will bleeding heart tetras eat mosquito larvae or is it too big for them? I asked a woman at an LFS if they sold any live food for fish and she looked at me like I was a monster. :roll:

[SamH]

I asked a woman at an LFS if they had any live food for fish and she looked at me like I was a monster. :roll:

That's when you say "What? My neons enjoy a mouse every now and again" :lol:

I just used a bucket I fill from the tap in my own backyard. Just a bit of relatively safe driftwood and I've never gone wrong yet.

[DennisP]

I re set up this morning.

Water and driftwood. Didn't have much luck before, and then it got windy and blew bucket over.

Will post again with my success eventually.

[SamH]

You'll get there Dennis, keep trying! It's worth it IMO.

[DennisP]

Yehp. Takes no effort either.

Got bit like 5 times last night so I thought it'd be about time they start laying.

[SamH]

I got bit before I got larvae but yeah, they're there now :happy2: