Are mosquito larvae safe?

[xxamyxx85]

I know, scary when u think of the amount of mosquitos being born every day. Also another interesting little fact, only female mosquitos bite you, they need blood for egg production and only need to mate once in their lifetime and can lay eggs more than once. The males only eat nectar and do not bite.

 

[FishFinatic77]

I have been collecting mosquito larvae for a while now, here are a few tips;

You don’t need a huge container, something like this or bigger will be fine,
View attachment 111015

View attachment 111021
The muck in the bottom is the broken down pellets.
you will need more than one container so you can have a steady supply and kill and remaining larvae easily! I find with a large tub, you will have to completely empty it when u spot the larvae changing to pupae or you will end up with lots of mosquitos.... and nobody wants that!

You can collect the egg rafts and store them for up to 8months, this is handy if you live somewhere where it gets cold through the winter because you can culture them indoors.
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Egg rafts.

The warmer the weather the faster they grow. I put out one main tub 3-4 litres with old tank water and either grass cuttings in old tights or fish pellets/flakes, I check tub every morning and whenever I spot an egg raft I will collect it and either place it in tub of fresh dechlorinated water with fish food (you only need a small amount of pellets/flakes for the whole cycle in one tub) and close the lid constantly from now (I close the lid so no eggs are laid in this tub and I know the stage of the mosquito cycle) Also by collecting rafts and placing in new water ensures u are not introducing anything else into the tank like dragonfly,damselfly , hydra etc. I keep the main tub out all summer and just top with old tank water and keep collecting the egg rafts. Just destroy the egg rafts u do t need. I will also collect the eggs towards the end of the summer and place on tissue paper for 4days and then store in a small pot until the summer ends and I start culturing indoors. You just add them to water and they hatch.

Have a few closed tubs going at a time of different stages so i have a constant supply. Keep them out of direct sunlight. I put my tubs under overhanging trees.

Once you see them turning to pupae just dump that tub out onto your lawn to kill them or drain the larvae through a net and freeze them in small amount of water, this is also great because if you don’t want to culture indoors you have a frozen supply through the winter should you need it. You can also pour boiling water into tub to kill them instantly and then just throw them away.

My Betta Zilla loves his larvae, he gets them everyday after his pellets and he goes nuts, I sometimes feed him a few at a time and other times I just dump them all in there so he can go on the hunt.

I really hope this helps and makes sense, I think I covered everything but all questions and advice welcome. I’m not sure on the laws here so I hope I don’t get a knock at the door later, however I am doing my community a huge favour, whatever Zilla doesn’t eat gets killed...... I’ve saved many people from getting bitten, I must have killed a few hundred thousand this month lol!!

I can’t wait to fill and stock my large tank and sit back to watch the feeding frenzy.

Thank you for all this information @xxamyxx85. I've never heard of drying the eggs before. That's a great idea!

 

[xxamyxx85]

Also if u find the rafts are not hatching after drying out, put them in the fridge for a few days to mimic winter temps then try again! Hope your little fishies enjoy.