Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Culex pipiens.

Hello.

For my Yellow-perch larvae next spring, I will put thousands of Mosquito eggs raft (Culex pipiens)




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I sure hope the YP hatch before the mosquitos!

How was your yellow perch crop for you this year 2024?

Hello.

Another great year, but this year I made new experience, unlike the fly larvae that the Perch fry do not accept, I made an installation to attract the Culex to come and lay their eggs.

I collect rafts of eggs all summer, it's so simple, I give them these mosquitoes in addition to the pellets.

I see a nice difference, they are more active they hunt and seem to be in better condition.
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Hello.

To give you an idea of the quantity that I can give to my fry.

A raft can contain about 150 eggs and more, so if I put 100 rafts it is 15000 larvae that I give to my fry every time.
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I've been looking at some of your previous posts Azteca. Very interesting stuff you are working on. How many fry for the 100 rafts if you had to guess?

Hello.

This summer I had about 600-700 Yellow-perch fry in my little pond.

I had 10 tanks for the spawning of Culex, every 3-4 days I collect the rafts and put them in the small pond and this during the whole summer, so it makes much more than 100 rafts, the eggs hatch in 3-4 days depending on the temperature.

That's a lot of mosquito larvae.
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I try to kill every one of those blood sucking things, so no way would I ever try to raise them for feed.

Hello.

Who told you that I raise them, you say that you want to kill them so how many do you think my Perch fry killed (ate) mosquitoes last year..

My tanks are like a trap, otherwise they will go and lay eggs elsewhere and then my fry will not be able to eat them.

Is there a nicer way to kill them.
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"I made an installation to attract the Culex to come and lay their eggs." If that isn't raising them, then I don't know what the definition of raising them is. I have acres and acres of woods that floods in the Spring and the mosquitoes use that wet area as a breeding ground.

Every mosquito egg raft that is laid to be collected and then fed to fish is a good use of creative thinking to help manage pests.

Hello.

So if I understand, if I put a trap to catch mice an I give them to the cat, I breed mice.
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Only if you keep the mice alive, let them breed and then feed the babies to the cat.

Thanks.

azteca,
I feel that the comments from the other members may come across a little harsh or have a little sting to them which I don't believe was intended. I want you to know that I think your idea is fabulous and that you should keep doing it.

Creating your own source of natural food that your YP love to eat and that makes them act healthy, vigorous and happy is a good thing! I don't see it as being any different than the forum members who were given encouragement to create soldier fly larva and feed them to their fish. The process of making lots of soldier fly larvae for sure also meant that there would be many more flies attracted to the location and some may argue that attracting and feeding a big fly population is not so nice for the humans around these members who prefer to have less bugs around their house.

I think your experiment is very neat and I'd like you to feel comfortable coming back here and reporting your progress.

Thanks CC, I agree, I just wouldn't use that particular species of insect is all. Not when they cause me so much grief.

Azteca Considering the population of mosquitos you have in your region, it seems like a logical way to assist in controlling the population.

Instead of letting them breed where ever they choose, (out of control) you are creating an attractive breeding environment then using their hatch to support your YP. Seems like a win win to me!

Great idea!

Mr. Lusk told me he used to make rafts with hardware cloth and put the remains of CC he cleaned on them to attract flies then the larvae fall in the water to feed fish. Seems like a very similar concept to me.

More reading about the common house mosquito.
https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/aquatic/culex_pipiens.html

Once you collect the egg rafts, how do you hold them to keep the eggs viable for hatching at a later time? Can the egg rafts dry out?