Ponds and Mosquitos

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T

trebor69

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 26, 2008
72
1
8
OH
Hi all

I just put a 100g pond in. It is nothing fancy just one of those preformed black plastic ones....just a puddle compared to many of the ones I was just looking at on here.

No big plans for expensive fish....probably just get a dozen small comets/feeders so theres some color swimmin around in there.

Anyway....no fish yet but I can sure see mosquito larvae all over the place. The last thing I wanna do is contribute to the mosquito population around here.

Will the comets feed on the larvae with any efficiency?

Or should I form another plan of attack?

Do any of you take specific measures against the little blood suckers?
 
yeah feeders/comets will eat the larvae without issue. but it seems you're lacking flow or surface disturbance for them to form in the first place. what's your filtration?
 
right now there is no filtration....and no fish

so far I have dug the hole....put sand in the bottom...put pond in level...back filled around it with sand and filled it with water. That was 3-4 days ago and already lots of larvae.

I have a waterfall attachment I am currently trying to devise a DIY filter that will conceal beneath the waterfall. So there will eventually be water flow/current.

The current/flow will be enough to discourage the skeeters?

as you can tell...Ive never had a 'pond' before.

I do have 15 tanks in the house though ranging in size from 125 to 75s and 20s....so plently of cycled filter material for basically an instant pond filter I hope.
 
What has worked well for us in our stock tanks are mosquito fish. Our tanks house turtles and no real filtration beside water haycinth. I have yet to have mosquito issues at home, and right now is about that time, we have problems with mosquitos.
 
If the waterfall keeps the whole surface moving, then it will effectively discourage mosquitos. Mosquito larvae breathe air through a siphon; the water's surface must be still for them to get a good connection to the atmosphere. Once your waterfall is going the existing larvae will drown, and female mosquitos will not want to lay their eggs on the moving water.

Almost any small fish will happily eat mosquito larvae. Mosquitofish (Gambusia sp.) do a fine job, but your comets will as well. Shiners, fathead minnows (including rosy reds), small sunfish, topminnows, and bitterling also work.

If you need a temporary control while you set up your filter, you can use a "mosquito dunk", a floating piece of material that contains the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis, which is a deadly pathogen to mosquitos and some other flies but is harmless to all other organisms.
 
I prefer guppies over mosquito fish. My last mosquito fish harassed every fish I have and these are not your typical community fish. Guppies luckily breed a lot and a lot will survive with comets if your pond has plenty of tough plants for them to hide amongst.
 
I would get some water movement asap take your pump hook it to some pvc (sont have to seal it yet) and have the outlet so that it disturbes the waters surface. That should drown the larvae and take care of the problem, then you can think about adding fish in later whe your filter is setup.
 
sweet

thx peeps !


Ive been seeing these large mutant mosquitos....about 2-3 times bigger than the 'normal' ones with black n orange legs

I hate skeeters!!!
 
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