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I was trying to get some mosquito larvae from my backyard by putting a container full of water but until now, after a week, I don't see anything in the tank besides nasty stuff such as mold and other dead insects. (small flies, ants, etc)

The water I used was the water I vacuumed from my fish tank. I put some dead leaves and some uneaten peas and yet, I still see no mosquito larvae/egg rafts.

Am I doing something wrong? I'm sure that there are mosquitoes in my area. I've been bitten a lot of times. Any advice to help me cultivate mosquito larvae?

P.S. No West Nile Virus in my area, otherwise I wouldn't be typing right now and I'm almost certain that pesticides aren't sprayed in my area either. So worrying about the health of my fish isn't the point.

Finding live mosquito larva in your back yard can be a matter of luck (or not so lucky, if you don't want them). They seem to like the trays of plants, old trash cans and other unplanned for places best. What sort of fish do you have? You might have better luck with the freeze dried variety, but you will need to wash your hands carefully after adding them to a tank (some people have allergic reactions to them). Micro-crabs might be a better choice, depending on your fish.

I have 4 goldfish and I'm pretty sure they will like the larvae.

One day I was starring at my fish for no reason. A bug landed on the water and the fish went crazy. I'm almost certain that it got eaten whatever it was

two tanks is right .. the freeze dried are safer in that they wont introduce pathogen into a tank.. whenever you use live food you run the risk of making you fish sick...even if there no west nile in you area, extreme cuation should be used.
now with that said, i think location is important. Make sure your tray is located in a dark place, or atleast shadowy.. i.e. if you house cast a shadow to the left for most of the day that would be a good place to start..the reason being other bugs not just fish like to eat the eggs.. so mosquitos like to hide them not to mention the sun can cook anything even on a cool day. also check to see if you have a rim.. the water surface shouldn't be expose to the wind.. it can an should definately be open to the air, just not a breeze. it why can and tires are so popular.. little wind. good luck

Mozzie larvae hatch small, I'd have thought too small for goldfish. Are they nymphs?

The water needs to get a bit old and thick (not scummy or dirty, its tricky to explain) before the mozzies will come to nest. Give it a week or two. I think you'd be close on coming out of mozzie season anyway, wouldn't you?

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

It is the end of the mosquito season. Finally! I'm tired of being eaten alive and having to apply bug spray every 10mins. The cloud of mosquitos from my yard has gone and my container of water is pretty empty. I've never added anything to the water. Wouldn't that cause ammonia issues and kill the larvae? I just fill it and leave it. Algae grows within the first week and then mosquitos come.

Now it's gnat and fruit fly season. I can't get the darn things out of my house so I've baited the edge of the fish tanks and the little buggers get snatched up as soon as they get a drink or fall off the edge into the water. I haven't had to buy food for my fish all summer.

What?!?! End of mosquito season?! Are you serious? Every time I go to my backyard. I get a mosquito bite.

So it has been about 2 weeks and I see no mosquitoes. I placed two 3-gallon containers outside with different stuff inside of them. One turned green and has algae and everything. The other one is thick, cloudy and smells nasty. But in both of them the only thing I see are insects that used to be alive.

So... I'm going to place them somewhere under the shadows and where my neighbors cant see those buckets. I don't want them freaking out and calling 411. And this time I will just use water from my sink for one of the bucket. See if it will do the job.

Any more suggestions?

Probably not that useful in your neck of the woods, but adding a bit of vegemite can help. I'd guess it is the yeast part that does it, so maybe a very small amount of yeast to one?

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Try popping in some baker's yeast.

Start off with some live micro-organisms in the water. That should help attract mosquitoes, because they'll home in on the carbon dioxide that the yeasts emit when metabolising sugars (which is also what they home in on when looking for you for a blood meal!).

Oh, and mosquito larvae make superb fish food. Especially for surface feeding fish. If you have surface dwelling Killies, Hatchet Fishes or similar, they'll LOVE you for providing them with mosquito larvae. And give you the satisfaction of seeing masses of bloodthirsty mosquitoes meeting their doom before they can bite you.




Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002