Mosquito Larvae Factory

[Ken B]

I have been raising daphnia in 2 different 30 gallon tanks and that has been successful. But I decided to go larger scale and raise them outdoors in a 100 gallon stock tank. I kept the 2 30's going of course. I filled the stock tank and added some daphnia and some green water for feed and let it rip! A few days later I see lots of daphnia but also lots of mosquito larvae. So I ran a fine net through the water and ended up with a large amount of mosquito larvae. Everybody in the fish house had a treat that day! Now, I net the larvae out every day. I will research and see how many days it takes the larvae to mature to flying mosquitos. But I think if I keep netting out as much as possible every day I will be doing a great two fold service. I will be keeping my fish in good healthy live food and I will be helping to keep down the mosquitos in my area. In the meantime though I don't see a good way to raise daphnia outdoors.

[tanksalot]

Mosquito larvae are super nutritious! I one had marble hatchetfish breed on daily mosquito larvae feedings. A guy from village tropical back in the day told me that he the only way to raise daphia in the summer heat and sun was to put them in the shade. He fed them with a few rabbit pellets twice a week.

[ptran]

I have been raising daphnia in 2 different 30 gallon tanks and that has been successful. But I decided to go larger scale and raise them outdoors in a 100 gallon stock tank. I kept the 2 30's going of course. I filled the stock tank and added some daphnia and some green water for feed and let it rip! A few days later I see lots of daphnia but also lots of mosquito larvae. So I ran a fine net through the water and ended up with a large amount of mosquito larvae. Everybody in the fish house had a treat that day! Now, I net the larvae out every day. I will research and see how many days it takes the larvae to mature to flying mosquitos. But I think if I keep netting out as much as possible every day I will be doing a great two fold service. I will be keeping my fish in good healthy live food and I will be helping to keep down the mosquitos in my area. In the meantime though I don't see a good way to raise daphnia outdoors.

Ken, Wish I live nearby to share some of your mosquito lava.

[Ken B]

Ken, Wish I live nearby to share some of your mosquito lava.

I wish you lived nearby too but mosquitoes are everywhere! Put a container of water out in your yard and you will have plenty of larvae. Just keep harvesting the larvae or you will be growing mosquitoes instead!

[ptran]

They usually spray mosquito in our area during rainy season with insecticides. Not sure if the fish is okay to consume that.