Can I feed live mosquito larvae to a betta?

[kimberly]

Just found a bunch of mosquito larvae in some standing water outside. As I was getting ready to dump them out I thought about feeding them to my betta. I feed him dried bloodwoms which are the same thing. My yard has not been fertilized or had weedkiller on it in the two years we have lived here. I wondered if Dock would like a live treat rather than the pellet food and once-in-a-while treat of dried bloodworms.

Thanks,
Kimberly

 

[thanew]

i'd say yes.. but im sure there will be a lot of objections to my opinion.

they eat them in nature so why not feed them it now ? as long as there are no chemicals in that water its fine.

but im sure there will be a lot of "what ifs coming up"

 

[mr86mister]

not me!!! i have friends that feed the larvae to their bettas, the only stupid part is they put shallow bowls on their deck....and when there is larvae they feed it to the betta(but they also techincally help breed mosquitos...those dips) anyways, i see no problem with it...as long as its just rain or tap water

 

[BillD]

Absolutely feed them to your betta, they are an excellent food. People who carefully propogate mosquito larvae, probably reduce the mosquito population in their neighborhood. When you provide a receptacle for them to lay their eggs, you know where they are, and they end up as fish food rather than adult mosquitos.

 

[krap101]

well... i tried that earlier in the year. it was going great for about 2 weeks. a lil later i took a net to bring some in.. and like 20 mosquitos fly out.

 

[Toirtis]

Sure...I can't think of a nicer thing to do to mosquito larvae.

 

[fishyrican]

Sure...I can't think of a nicer thing to do to mosquito larvae.

Hear, Hear!!

That's exactly what I do. It also helps trigger predator responses in fish as they chase the larvae, although it is a brief chase, if any.

 

[krap101]

well most of my fish are bottom/middle dwellers, so i needa turn on a bubble wand to get the larvae low enough

 

[fishyrican]

When the larvae are spooked, they instinctively head for the bottom and stay there until they need to return to the surface to breathe.

 

[malkore]

My biggest concern would be pesticides or other airborne contaminents on the larvae. That's the difference between 'carefully propagating larvae in a controlled environment' and 'goin down to the river to get some bugs'.