Large minnows even larger (6"-8") golden shiners (GS) will not eat the adult whirligigs. Adult YP do not do a very good job eating them either primarily due to YP are generally deep water oriented, not surface feeders and the adult whirligig have fairly strong biting mouth parts that deter the smaller predators (<6"). Pick one up and handle it and see what I mean by biting mouth parts on these beetles. Adults fly so this is how they colonize new waters. Larger minnows and YP will eat the aquatic larval stages.
Thank you for your reply! I don't have an aversion to the bugs but my puppy tries to catch them instead of paying attention to retrieving training.
She will eventually outgrow this but their numbers are somewhat increasing and it's good to know something will eventually keep them in check. I'm not a fan of chemicals and I would never consider spraying them. I did wonder how they got there the first place, interesting to hear they fly and also bite.
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