Man's best friend this summer might be the mosquito fish

L.A. Times ^ | June 6, 2008 | blog

[Jeff Chandler]

They’ve been using mosquito fish in California for more than 40 years.

[chris_bdba]

I’ve never heard of these? Would they survive in a fresh water pond in SE Ohio? Where we bought land there are probably 10 ponds in a mile radius and the mosquitos can get pretty bad.

[fightinJAG]

There seems to be conflicting info on whether they are okay to introduce everywhere.

[ZOOKER]

Don't trust the CA government!

A year from now when (IF?) the new owners move into their bargain foreclosure home, it won't be a pool anymore.

It'll be HABITAT for the fish, a miniature wetland that the owner won't be allowed to disturb.

[The Electrician]

Interesting (and timely)... I had put a couple of tarps over some equipment stored in my yard (in CT) last winter, and just yesterday I noticed that there were a few rainwater puddles that had formed in the tarps - each one maybe one or two square feet in area, and perhaps one to three inches deep. On closer inspection, much to my dismay, I found dozens of wiggling, worm-like creatures swimming in each of those puddles, and even though I've never seen such things before, I immediately realized that they were mosquito larvae. I drained some of the puddles as much as I could (hoping that the drained water would evaporate quickly), poured some Clorox into the whatever was left (and today I bought some swimming-pool chlorine granules to toss in just in case) to try and kill the larvae. I also got some BT (IIRC) mosquito-killing 'donuts' for future use.

I have been planning to build a rainwater collection barrel system for watering my garden, and have seen some suggestions of using goldfish inside the barrels as a mosquito killer (the barrels will have screens which should keep the mosquitoes from laying eggs in the rainbarrel, but you can't be too careful). Maybe these mosquito fish would do the trick instead... (but I would have to be able to feed them in the absence of mosquito larvae, and wouldn't want to lose them through the drain hose (or if the barrel dried out)... So maybe the BT approach is the best...

[gnarledmaw]

I have no idea what all this gambusia foolishness is about. There are equally good if not better fish native to major (most?) portions of the US. Killifish of various sorts are native to Ohio. Check with your DNR about collection or maybe contacting a local killifish association might be a good place to start...

[Neidermeyer]

Couldn’t they just require the mortgage-holders to drain the pools?
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In California that would work ,,, in Florida you stand a very real chance of having the pool float up out of the ground like a boat... as a previous writer mentioned you can spread oil (a few ounces of that used oil you were going to recycle is fine) or you can buy some mosquito “donuts” ,, pesticide filled rings that float on the top... Simply draining the pool will lead to teenagers with skateboards showing up at all hours ...

[Neidermeyer]

Almost any small fish from your local retention pond or lake will eat mosquito larvae ,, you don’t need a specific breed of fish... I sometimes catch them to feed to my aquarium fish... it’s easy ,, take a gallon milk jug or 2 liter bottle ,, stuff some bread inside (just a small amount) ,, tie a string on and submerge in your pond.. I do this when walking the dog ,, at the end of the walk I pull it up and always have a large quantity of small “mosquito eating” fish...

[Tax-chick]

Very informative, thanks! I’m learning a lot about pools!

[Publius6961]

Couldn’t they just require the mortgage-holders to drain the pools?

No.