Live mosquito larvae?

[Fiona]

Hello Group,

I've just joined your online community, and I have a question about live food. Is it acceptable to feed platys live mosquito larvae? We had a rainstorm a few days ago, and today in various pools of water I see lots of them scooting about. I would prefer harvesting from outdoors rather than buying live food from a pet store.

Fiona

[Brhino]

it's acceptable so long as the larva aren't coming from a polluted environment. If the pools with the larva with them are in areas that fertilizers or pesticides have been used, or if they're right near a roadway, you may not want use them.

[Rue]

Yes, you can feed the larvae to your fish. But remember, wild food can be an issue. It can carry parasites or other toxins.

Pet store food is careflly reared (at least it should be), and therefore safer.

[Nick_Pavlovski]

I give my mosquito larvae a bath in tap water for a couple of hours before feeding to the fish, changing the water every half-hour or so. It wouldn't get rid of bacteria/viruses but can help limit the larvae introducing too much other unwanted rubbish into the tank