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The Fight
against Mosquitos
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For several
years, I have routinely used Mosquito Dunks in all my
outside water: simple and effective.... However, this year,
I noticed that in spite of the dunks, there were still
mosquitoes in my pond. I had to change control methods. But,
what? There were so many birds and animals that use my pond
for water - as well as my plants and fish. Chemicals were
out. But, with the Nile Virus running rampant, I had to
either stop the mosquitos or empty my pond....
Then, I found the Mosquito fish.....
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Gambusia affiniscan
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Spotted Mosquito
Fish are small guppy like fish that have large appetites and
can devour several hundred mosquito larvae per
day.
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I located a
supplier thru ebay and purchased a dozen to put in my 250
gallon pond. I received a bag containing 15 of all sizes in
a couple days. As they are small and dark - and my pond is
black plastic - they virtually disappeared into the depths.
However, the mosquitos soon disappeared as well! On sunny
afternoons, a few could be seen darting through shafts of
sunlight piercing the darkness of the pond... and quietly,
all summer, there were NO Mosquitos.
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Tragedy struck
over the 4th of July. While we were gone, a faulty pump
connection drained the pond down to only a couple inches of
water. We do not know how low or for how long as we returned
after a massive summer storm dumped volumes of rain, wind,
leaves, trees, etc. in the pond. It was quite a mess and we
lost a lot of koi... and did not see any mosquito fish
during the clean up. But, after a couple weeks, there were
small groups darting through the patches of sunlight again
AND NO Mosquitos.
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My Mosquito Fish
came from New Orleans and probably won't like Iowa winters
so we caught a group to winter in an aquarium indoors. They
eat flake food and seem quite content so far.
See how they faired...
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Gambasia
affiniscan reproduce rapidly and are unlike other fish -
they do not lay eggs; they bear live young. Each female can
produce three to four broods in her lifetime, and each brood
can vary from 40 to 100 young. Birth usually occurs during
the warm spring and summer months. The young are very active
and start to feed soon. It is important to provide cover for
the young as the mature Gambasia affinis will eat the young.
(Seemed quite happy in the water lettuce here.)
Spotted mosquito
fish have a much higher tolerence of PH and water temps than
guppies which need 68-86 degrees and 7-8.5 for PH. Uncle Sam
has been using these very fish since the 1940's for control
of mosquito larve. Spotted Mosquito Fish are very important
to the mosquito control program. They eat mosquito larvae as
fast as they hatch from the eggs laid in rafts on the
surface of the water. They require no feeding and care is
limited to protecting them from garden sprays and, chlorine
or other chemicals used to clean ponds.
While all this
sounds fantastic, there is a dark side. They are banned in
several parts of the world for wiping out the natural
wildlife. They are not a fish to be allowed out in the
wild!! In my pond, they are harmless as there is no place
for them to escape to even in the worst flooding. Please,
consider your surroundings before bringing them into your
pond!
For more
Information, Please visit:
Gambusia
Control Homepage
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