Mosquitos have an annoying habit of growing quickly. At a certain point they
would compete with the fry for microfood... or threaten one's marriage.
On the other hand ... ;)
Eggs rafts deliver the tiniest of newly hatched mossie larvae. The rafts
look like little pieces of charcoal scatched out by a fingernail.
The newly hatched mossies must be smaller than newly hatched brine shrimp
and they are softer bodied. The rafts can be collected and dried or dropped
into the tank when needed. We leave them with fry (snails will probably eat
the rafts though) when we go away for the weekend. One has a week to net out
any over-achievers who avoid getting eaten.
Take a bucket and pull some grasses from the edge of the yard, garden or
someplace clean. (Not where herbicides are used) They are better than stuff
from the lawn mower which tends to be cut up more finely (and is messy).
Always wondered if there would be oil and other gunk from the mowers too.
That nutritious, vitamin rich, European import, the dandelion also works
well here.
Put the pullings into a bucket of water. Siphoning from a healthy tank is
fine. Clean, aged tap water might be a tad more disease free. Let the whole
mess percolate and ferment in a sunny, but out of the way spot. The smell
will attract mosquitoes who will lay eggs in good numbers. (As with some
American catfish baits, the more aromatic, the better.) Harvest them daily.
After a few days, it may be necessary to remove the veggie material. Pour
the mash through a fine meshed net (maybe just into another bucket). Gently
rinse the growing larvae until they aren't quite so strongly scented. I'm
sure you will have a rainbow tank for them.
Since mossies are air breathers the spawning soup can be very nutrient rich
without killing any off. (Don't try using anything that rich with daphnia,
although a cup of that broth in a barrel may be useful there.) So long as
they aren't cooked by too much sun, the bucket or two bucket combo will be s
urprisingly effective. Dump and start over if the veggies get too broken
down.
Some municipalities have rules about open water containers. Know what your
local laws are. Even if nobody legislates against raising mosquitos (and
yes, a lot of times it is easier to apologize than to get permission), there
are practical, civic and moral arguments for keeping that thing well
harvested.
A rationalization for the benefit of neighbors is that eggs laid there and
harvested don't get laid some place else where they can grow up. This
argument probably works better in temperate climates. And it is limited. I
am told that mosquitos from Iowa blow into northeastern Illinois. Maybe
we're doing somebody in Indiana a favor.
All the best!
Scott