I put an umbrella sedge in a large low bucket of water to get it ready to plant in the bog garden. It has rained a lot lately and there is standing water in the bucket. I took a look at it today and the water was full of mosquito larvae. I have mosquitofish (Gambusia Affinis) in my little water garden. I started with three and now have too many. So I stand over the little water garden with a cup trying to catch a few mosquitofish to put into the other container.
Middle Monkey asks, "What are you doing?".
Me, "Trying to catch a mosquitofish."
Him, "Move over I can do it for you."
Me, "Have you done this before?"
Him,"Yep, whenever you're not looking."
So he caught me a couple of mosquitofish and put them in the other container. They went right to work eating the mosquito larvae. These little fish should not be set free in streams or ponds, as they will out compete native fish. They breed fast. For my little water garden, they do a great job. They are supposed to be able to survive low oxygen saturation and high salinity. Pretty interesting critter.
If you ever need a critter caught, get a 10-year-old boy. They have amazing patience.
Cool fish, never heard of them before. 10 years do come in handy for those kind of jobs. Mine was great about crawling under the house for me once when the icemaker was leaking to turn the water off.
ReplyDeleteHI pg, I only have them because the water garden store guy said I needed them. The kids do come in handy sometimes.
ReplyDeleteHi Deb,
ReplyDeleteSo glad you warned about not releasing this critter into the wild.
They released this fish in Spain in a vain attempt to control mosquitos in a wetland nature reserve where I volunteer as a freshwater biologist. Needless to say it's an ecological disaster and the mosquitos are still biting me wherever I go :(
Geez, mosquitofish! Where on earth did you find them? We need them here!!! Maybe you could send a monkey over this way with a cupful...
ReplyDeleteI especially like the look on your son's face as he concentrates on the task before him. I had my two boys and dil home this weekend--the grand dog too. I watched them intently as I still see the baby in their faces.
ReplyDeleteHi vp, I was sort of surprised that the water garden people sold me something that could be a bio hazard. Glad I read up on them. There was a news report earlier this summer where a city was putting them in pools that were not maintained after homes had been forclosed. I don't guess they can get out of those.
ReplyDeleteHi ofb, at the water garden store. If you were close I would send some over.
Hi anna, lord they grow fast. The big one is alread taller than I am.