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Hallo,
now I´ve already another question:
Can black mosquito larves be dangerous from a size on?Two days ago I fed relative large mosquito larves to my Spaerichtys, and one day after one of them died.
I mean I ´ve read someware that fish can stifle if the mosquitolarves come in their gill?
Thats also for the case I will have offspring – when its dangerous, I will not feed the larves …
I dont know about this – but … I would say, I definitely avoid those really big black mosquito larvaes, – they can be really really big and nasty.
But theres no problem with most sizes, but the really big one … I would be careful.
Of course it also depend on what fish you feed, – somehow a chokolate gourami should be able to handle it ??
I am always a bit cautious with my live food, – I know most people dont seem to worry, but I have experienced – as you – suspiciously connected death with feeding with mosquito larvaes, mostly the white ones, –
Maybe fish get carried away because they are so attractive and simply overeat… that might be a possibility too ??Hallo Helene,
Yes now I will be more cautious!
But it always really is difficult to learn the reason why a fish dies.
In my Spaerichtys selatanensis tank I had about ten Boraras brigittae.
And I wondered why the became fewer and fewer ….
Yesterday evening I noticed that one Borara in a good vagabond mood tried to swim up the bypass of my UV Clearer, against the water stream .. I just managed to let him slip again in the tank. And I made a filter sponge on the tube …. I think now I know where five of them had gone ….Regarding mosquito larvae:
I assume that you get the black ones from rain drums? So as gnats have no problems with contaminated water, you might bring a lot of microorganisms or even poisonous material in your tank with the larvae (i.e. in its stomachs).
And regarding glass worms: I just recently heard from ‘paro-colleague’ that after many of his fish died right after feeding glassworms, he did a test: he kept the larvae in his fridge for quite some time – but they didn’t hatch or even pupate at all. (From what I can see, wild-caught black and white larvae do this even in the fridge.). So he now assumes that to keep the packed glass worms alive and prevent pupation, some chemical might be added that could be toxic to our fish. (As I said: This is not my experience so far: I feed bought glass worms rather seldomly and only in small amounts and never realised any reaction with my fish. But maybe I just didn’t make the connection to this when a fish died some days after. Who knows?)
Yes, we know of two serious accidents with glassworms from the trade. One of our best Paro breeders in Germany lost nearly whole of his valuable stock – self caught pairs with a definite locality – by feeding them such food. Normally, he would have never done so without “washing” them before, but there was a breakdown of his self grown food cultures (it sometimes happens even to experts) and so he fed them at once. Next day nearly all of his fish were dead.
We have seen this in another case again.
Be well aware of this danger; the trade treats the small containers full of living and half-dead glassworms by adding several medicaments. The same holds for red mosquito larvae or tubifex; no food at all for Paros.
I have never seen any Paro come to death by a mosquito larvae too big; they try to swallow them, but if it proves to be too big, they leave them again. They can eat very big food, it’s astonishing.Hallo!
I fed just black mosquito larves from my balkony (out of a water bowl with nettles ..)
I don´t go myself outside catching live food. I also doesnt feed commercial live food…Hallo!
Now I have again a dead Spaerichtys osphromenoides (F1 I think), yesterday I fed black mosquito larves, this time they were still very small ….
Perhaps it was the now dead one who was very greedy for them …..And my Spaerichtys selatanensis (wild fang I think) eat everything and I just had one mobbing dead at the beginning …
But I´m thinking about no longer try with the black mosquitos ..
Oh oh …
It would seem unlike though to me that black mosquito larvaes should be ‘bad’ … I use them a lot in summer times too. I avoid the very big and nasty one, but otherwise dont worry about them.
You might have to consider also that chocolate gouramies are not very easy fish in any case. I have never had much success with them. If first one of them falls ill theres a risk the others will also be vulnerable.
I am sorry for you about loosing them, they are so fine fish, – but I have given up with them 🙁Hallo Helene,
I will see what will do the last three of them … I am astonished that my wild fang selatanensis would be more easy than the F1 osphromenoides ….
If they will disappear one after another, there will be left place for another Paro tank … :unsure:
Hallo,
I’ve another question: if I don’t have to throw away my black mosquito larves … How often do you change the water and the plants? Never, every week …? Because of the bacterias ….I am not sure I understand ?
When I catch the larvaes I either keep them in a container with ordinary water – and of course if I dont use them all I will change the water every day probably. I only keep them in small container, maybe a liter or so.
And if I keep them long enough 🙂 they will have gone by themselves 😛When I use them for food its of course without the water..
Oh .. I have a bowl with about half a liter water and old nettles … And when the water smells nice, the Mosquitos come to lay their eggships there … And when the larves are there, I catch them with a nauplii filter, wash them under running water and feed them …
Hello Dorothee,
Avoid bacteria “unknown” to the fish (no other new fish and plants and no water or decoration from other tanks).
I feed my selatanensis only with frozen blackworms and whiteworms and living artemia nauplia. The Sphaerichthys species eat dead food from the ground as well as from the surface, so it is no need to feed living blackworms.
Do not feed too much! Adults need only very small portions of food.
You can trigger the reproduction with blackworms. When I start feeding more frozen blackworms, they start mating/breeding.
Young Sphaerichthys need a lot of food. Do not feed to big things, because they can not breath with (for example) big larvae in the mouth.
Do not keep them too warm. Temperature around 25°C in enough. PH 5-6 and the water as soft as possible. Peat or other humic substances are not necessary.
Greetings
PatrickI just fed my “nagyi” with mosquito larvae for the first time, and they went crazy for them. I’ve never seen them move so fast, no other food I feed elicits such a dramatic response. Thankfully they came from reasonably clean water from my greenhouse, and I rinsed them in tank water before feeding so I hope they stay healthy.
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