Mosquito larvae?

[bobblehead27]

So my wife out out this hanging planter and forgot about it. Apparently there's no holes drilled into it for water to escape so I noticed algae growing in it and looked closer and saw these guys wiggling around in there.

My question is what could they be? Is there a situation where they could be harmful to my fish if I add them as food to my tank? I live in Houston.

 

[duanes]

Yes you can, I feed mosquito larvae daily from my rain barrels.
Great course of natural protein, and gives them a little exercise chasing them.
I usually strain them thru a net.

 

[bobblehead27]

Yes you can, I feed mosquito larvae daily from my rain barrels.
Great course of natural protein, and gives them a little exercise chasing them.
I usually strain them thru a net.

I'm just nervous that it might be something other than mosquito larvae. I don't want to add something crazy into there that will predate on my fish or bring disease.

 

[duanes]

Since its been hanging and not in contact with wild fish population carriers, chances are rather low, but yes there is always chance, albeit a slim one.

 

[bobblehead27]

Ok thank you. I will add a few and monitor closely. Thank You.

 

[TwoHedWlf]

Ok thank you. I will add a few and monitor closely. Thank You.

I'd just put them all in. There's basically 0 chance of them having a parasite. The only thing you might maaaaaybe need to worry about is if you have fry and throw a dragonfly nymph in, because they'll eat small fish. But they're big and pretty obviously different. So, don't throw anything that looks like a huge fish eating bug into your tank if you have fry.

That said, I don't see any mosquitos in your pic, I see a few pond snails but could just be round bits of debris.

 

[bobblehead27]

I'd just put them all in. There's basically 0 chance of them having a parasite. The only thing you might maaaaaybe need to worry about is if you have fry and throw a dragonfly nymph in, because they'll eat small fish. But they're big and pretty obviously different. So, don't throw anything that looks like a huge fish eating bug into your tank if you have fry.

That said, I don't see any mosquitos in your pic, I see a few pond snails but could just be round bits of debris.

Thanks I did end up putting as many as I could scoop with my net. The fish loved them. Next time I will try and figure a better way of separating them from the algae. It took way too long this time.
Although I am sure my Otto cats would love the algae which would be nice because I am scared they're not getting enough. I put spinach and cucumbers in but never see them touch it. I'm gunna try zucchini, but maybe they're just eating at night or something. I'm just nervous the algae will take over if I introduced any of it

 

[bobblehead27]

Since its been hanging and not in contact with wild fish population carriers, chances are rather low, but yes there is always chance, albeit a slim one.

Ok so now that all the mosquito larvae have been fed to my fish I went out to see if any more had been born and saw a bunch of these guys swimming around in there. I caught one for this pic and video, but no idea what it is.

The fish ate him up instantly.

 

[Akeno071]

The only thing you might maaaaaybe need to worry about is if you have fry and throw a dragonfly nymph in, because they'll eat small fish. But they're big and pretty obviously different. So, don't throw anything that looks like a huge fish eating bug into your tank if you have fry.

Those things are really cool.
Weird armoured pond tanks. Would love to have one, but don't really work like a normal fish in the sense.

 

[duanes]

This is the pupal stage, just before it becomes an adult, there is the egg, the larvae (wriggler) pupa, and adult.