I have a 750 gal pond containing goldfish, with waterlilies and oxygen weed. The gold fish reproduce, which means that there are some very tiny fish in the pond. The waterlilies have a lot of very small black eggs? or something similar on the leaves, and don't look healthy. I have been told that the black dots are evidence of "bugs". We never have adult mosquitos in our yard, yet I have been advised to introduce mosquito fish. I have never seen mosquito larvae in the pond, and am concerned that mosquito fish would eat the newly-hatched goldfish. Any suggestions? David Collins
Mosquito fish
- Thread starter collinsdavid
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I would think that the baby goldfish would eat any mosquito larvae in the pond so there should be no need for more fish. I know least killies would be too small to eat goldfish fry and people use them to deal with mosquitos.
mosquito larvae are easy to spot and those black eggs or whatever they are definitely are not mosquito larvae. I don't think mosquito fish or Least killies would eat the eggs or whatever they are if they are attached to the plant.
Least Killies are cool little fish however and I agree they will not be able to eat the Goldie fry.
Least Killies are cool little fish however and I agree they will not be able to eat the Goldie fry.
I agree with psyche. The mosquito fish-Gambusia- are fry eating machines and downright mean in disposition. Least Killies would do the job if you just have to have something else in there. The black spots could very well be frog eggs. I have tree frog tadpole literally by the thousands in my fish rearing pools. Watch for tadpole.
If they're frog eggs they should be in a glutinous substance. My impression was the eggs are dry and attached to leaves and out of the water?
Are the small black things on the tops of the water lily leaves? They could be aphids. My grandma had this happen regularly with her prized water lilies. She'd just spray them off with the garden hose and her goldfish would happily gobble up as many as they could.
I would strongly advise against gambusia. While I have found them to be highly efficient at mosquito control, they can be rather aggressive and nippy with voracious appetites. My grandma didn't mix them with her goldfish because they nip fins and will eat anything smaller than themselves.
I would strongly advise against gambusia. While I have found them to be highly efficient at mosquito control, they can be rather aggressive and nippy with voracious appetites. My grandma didn't mix them with her goldfish because they nip fins and will eat anything smaller than themselves.
gambusia are just nasty fish, and they will take over the pond. i would never put them into a pond that didn't have a couple of oscars in it.
almost any small fish will do as well as gambusia as far as suppressing mosquito larvae. you could use guppies/endlers, but in a couple of months you would have a guppy pond with a few goldfish in it.
as stated above, as long as you have juvenile goldfish you don't need to worry about it. however, unless you are constantly removing fish, eventually you will have enough adult goldfish that there will be no surviving eggs to produce them.
you might consider black mollies when you get to that point. they would be a nice color contrast to the goldfish, they like algae as well as insect larvae, and they are not as aggressive breeders as guppies.
almost any small fish will do as well as gambusia as far as suppressing mosquito larvae. you could use guppies/endlers, but in a couple of months you would have a guppy pond with a few goldfish in it.
as stated above, as long as you have juvenile goldfish you don't need to worry about it. however, unless you are constantly removing fish, eventually you will have enough adult goldfish that there will be no surviving eggs to produce them.
you might consider black mollies when you get to that point. they would be a nice color contrast to the goldfish, they like algae as well as insect larvae, and they are not as aggressive breeders as guppies.