Breeding mosquito fish
- Thread starter RisiganL.
- Start date
Wisteria would be fine in the summer. He should just move it inside.
How about willow moss? It's pretty much coldwater java moss.
click here.
Ok, so here is what I am planning to set up. A large as possible rubbermaid container (most likely a 30g) with 1-2 of gravel. On side will be planted with anacharis and possibly some water wisteria (if my parents are ok with bringing plants indoors). The other half of the that will be empty aside from some sticks and the sponge filter. I will have 10 females and 5 males. I also want to add some pond snails (very abundant in nearby ponds) to help as scavengers. Does everything sound good?
if you are limited to petsmart and petco just go in and get a sponge filter they are about the same.
If he's only trying to breed them for feeders, just floating plants would be the way to go, wisteria is ok but not really good for hiding and collecting fry. with hornwort or other native plant species, he is given a much better chance of the plants surviving temperature shifts in the area. the other nice thing about hornwort or other true floating plant is it's easy of lifting out of the water to scoop out whatever fish you want. duckweed or any other leafy plant will make it easier for the adult mosquitofish and external predators to eat the fry.
Piranha's suggestions would work ok if you were putting them in a tank and wanting to view them.
My mosquito fish populations never took off until I had lots of floating plants (pennywort and hornwort). the lower plants didnt really help the younger fish survive, with the exception of the jungle vals once they started growing over the surface of the water. but by far the best for breeding was hornwort as there are more places for the fry to hide
Walmart and Target, you can find 50g bins for around $20. Walmart has 4ft long shallow bins for $28 right now, I think 40g or something.
I have seen 55g rough neck rubbermaids for $20 at lowes and home depot. I really want the pond to be a light color (white, green, teal, clear) because in a gambusia blend into dark colors. Me and one of my friends collect gambusia as bait and when we put them in black buckets, they are really hard to find and catch. It seem most of the larger totes are either black or dark blue.
How often should I feed the gambusia? I think there will be some things for them to eat in the "pond" because of smalls bugs and inverts. I am setting the pond up a month or so before introducing fish so that mabye some critters will already be present when the fish come in.
I'd go as simple as possible. No substrate, hornwart, anacharis just thrown in and maybe some java moss. I use frogbit and hyacinth in my tubs during the summer and almost always take more fish out than I put in. Get the biggest bin you can afford. Mine are all 55 gallon drums cut in half or tubs that hold mineral licks for cattle. They are either white (drums) or black (mineral lick tubs). Doesn't matter, you aren't going to be able to see much of the fish anyway other than at night with a flashlight. I'd just feed flake food a few times a week. I wouldn't worry about a filter unless you are holding a large number of fish in the tub.
Would I need to powder the flakes for the fry? The the place I am planning to get them from we can put an entire slice of bread into the water and hundreds of them will come and rip the bread apart. I am hopeing the babies will be able to take unpowedered flakes or there is enough micro-organisms for them to eat.
