Free guppy food? catching and feeding

I went to check on my pond test project and stumbled across a gold mine of free guppy food in the form of mosquito larvae, does anyone know how nutritious they are and if there are any pros and cons to feeding them to guppy?

 

All I know is that my fish (bettas, angels and tetras) LOVE them. They also saved a rescue angel's life because he was so far gone I couldn't get him to eat. The wiggling of the larvae sparked his interest and he was able to heal.

It's the most natural food in the world for fish so it can't be too nutritionally incomplete!

 

I would track how much you feed and make sure they are all gone...you don't want them morphing into adult mosquitoes in your house

 

Also to be sure you're not overfeeding. Mosquito larvae are so amazingly delicious (apparently) that fish will eat until they burst

 

All I know is that my fish (bettas, angels and tetras) LOVE them. They also saved a rescue angel's life because he was so far gone I couldn't get him to eat. The wiggling of the larvae sparked his interest and he was able to heal.

It's the most natural food in the world for fish so it can't be too nutritionally incomplete!

ahh that's good news I have been looking for a real easy low effort way of getting live food for them

I would track how much you feed and make sure they are all gone...you don't want them morphing into adult mosquitoes in your house

lol yes I have thought of that there was just so much that I had to leave for a second day, hoping to get them all or most for tomorrows feeding

 

I "farm" mosquito larvae by putting out buckets of water to stagnate. Egg rafts are usually laid the first night in the buckets. It takes a couple of days at least to get to a decent size. I take a small container and fill it with water and a drop of Prime. Then I take a fish net, swipe through the buckets, and turn the net inside out into the small container of fresh water and swish it around. That way the larvae have a chance to be "rinsed" before I feed them to the fish. I also use a baby medicine dropper to pull the larvae out of the container and feed them to the fish

Eddy thinks they're the greatest!

 

I "farm" mosquito larvae by putting out buckets of water to stagnate. Egg rafts are usually laid the first night in the buckets. It takes a couple of days at least to get to a decent size. I take a small container and fill it with water and a drop of Prime. Then I take a fish net, swipe through the buckets, and turn the net inside out into the small container of fresh water and swish it around. That way the larvae have a chance to be "rinsed" before I feed them to the fish. I also use a baby medicine dropper to pull the larvae out of the container and feed them to the fish

Eddy thinks they're the greatest!

I think I will try that as well because eventually I'll be putting guppies into that tank/pond arkie1 lol they will totally devour any mosquito that gets in there

 

Just make sure that standing water is legal In your area.

 

Same. It is better knowing that the mosquitoes are laying their eggs in your bucket of water in which you will dispose of the larvae than having the mosquitoes lay eggs in your neighbor's bucket or somewhere else where the larvae might survive and become mosquitoes. The State usually doesn't check your house for standing water but if they do you are doing a favour by lowering the mosquito population since your feeding the larvae to your fish. They might think your weird but you just have to explain.

 

Just make sure that standing water is legal In your area.

lol technically its not legal unless you have fish in it or it is treated and covered to keep mosquitoes out.
I wasn't expecting my tank pond thing to get mosquitoes this soon but I will get them all out by tomorrow "the large ones that will turn soon" and add fish to the pond soon to completely wipe them out.

When I begin to do mosquito larvae farming I will keep in mind that their larvae gestation period is 7 to 10 days and harvest multiple times before that to ensure none will transform into adult mosquitoes.

Same. It is better knowing that the mosquitoes are laying their eggs in your bucket of water in which you will dispose of the larvae than having the mosquitoes lay eggs in your neighbor's bucket or somewhere else where the larvae might survive and become mosquitoes. The State usually doesn't check your house for standing water but if they do you are doing a favour by lowering the mosquito population since your feeding the larvae to your fish. They might think your weird but you just have to explain.

lol once every few years someone will pop in to check around and if they find any accidentally kept there might be a fine or a warning, lol I wouldn't like to imagine the price on the fine one would have to pay if they found someone intentionally breeding them here.
When I begin farming I will do it in such a way to completely filter out all the larvae with each harvest

 

My angels especially the like the ones that have begun to pupate. They look juicier than the hairy larvae

 

My angels especially the like the ones that have begun to pupate. They look juicier than the hairy larvae

This is also part of what I wanted to find out about the nutrition factor of it.
lol unless someone here posts factual knowledge of it with some links or something then I will have to do the actual work of searching it out myself
If it was a adult mosquito that fed on a human I know it would have protein from the blood but what exactly is it made up of as a larvae?

 

You could harvest the big ones or do a scoop but adding a mesh like window screens will help prevent any mosquitoes. You could also look and see if you find any of the larvaes balled up. The balled up one are the ones that will hatch to a mosquito within 2-3 days. If you do harvest all of them just dump the water on the lawn or use a fine mesh and pour the water through the mesh.

 

It's a living creature so it must contain protein. You can probably get a good idea of the nutritional value by looking at a package of frozen bloodworms.

Have you ever looked into insects as food for humans? They're one of the most efficient producers of protein that you can raise