PeterJ Posted September 24, 2006 Report Share Posted September 24, 2006 Just thought I'd put this in for anyone after an alternative/additional live food to bbs. For most of the year I get enough mosquito eggs to keep two young (<4 week old) spawns going. I have ice cream contianers on shelves next to the house and I spend about 2 minutes each day collecting the rafts. Potato peels keep the water stinky. Each raft contains 50-200 eggs (or so I've read). They are a light yellow/cream colour when freshly laid and darken in an hour or so. This is an average day's harvest. If the nights are warm and still you get more. They hatch in a day or two depending on the temperature. They can be floated in the tank (good for staggering feeds if you're not going to be around) or hatched in the jar where they can be fed and raised (good for gut loading). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splendidbetta Posted September 24, 2006 Report Share Posted September 24, 2006 HOLY MOZZIE! You're a mozzie master! :worship: :worship: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess Posted September 24, 2006 Report Share Posted September 24, 2006 I know!! I have been keeping mozzies for years and I NEVER knew what a raft actually looked like (here was me looking for a twig like thing) I always presumed those rafts were *funy bits of leaves* I am going fishing tomrrow :worship: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splendidbetta Posted September 24, 2006 Report Share Posted September 24, 2006 I have been keeping mozzies for years Do you name your mozzies Jess? :worship: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraceBruno Posted September 24, 2006 Report Share Posted September 24, 2006 Wow! That's a lot of mozzies!! What do you "feed" them with? And how would one go about disposing of mozzie rafts and wrigglers safely in case there are too many? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess Posted September 24, 2006 Report Share Posted September 24, 2006 I keep 2 x 100L tubs. I recycle old tank water and plant cuttings from the tanks - all go in them. I harvest my wrigglers daily using a large net so teenies can get through but biggies get caught. Not 100% effective but as effective as it gets! The teenies grow up in next day or so and then get caught, never ending cycle! As of Mozzie rafts, I am not sure, when I find them I will just pick and dunk them in tanks from now on :worship: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splendidbetta Posted September 24, 2006 Report Share Posted September 24, 2006 let them dry out? Pour them into boiling water? Feed them to fish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Figure_8 Posted September 24, 2006 Report Share Posted September 24, 2006 Wow! That's a lot of mozzies!! What do you "feed" them with? And how would one go about disposing of mozzie rafts and wrigglers safely in case there are too many? I have a tank full of leaves and debris that I scooped out of my pond that I dump all the mozzies and bw in & they thrive in there. Sometimes a little too well and I have to watch that I harvest the big ones before they get wings If you have too many wriggles and rafts you don't have enough fish :worship: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterJ Posted September 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2006 I'm with Mouse - get more fish if you can't find a use for wrigglers! At least by harvesting the rafts you generally aren't creating a mosquito problem outside. Occasionally some will hatch in the outdoor containers in which case I just dump them and start over if I see pupae (I usually can't be bothered trying to net them out of months worth of rotting crud). If you want to 'feed' them before giving them to the fish they'll graze on most fish food (ie for gut loading) but will grow happily on bread, and probably most vegie scraps. Just don't use much, otherwise you'll get another stinky mess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc Posted September 24, 2006 Report Share Posted September 24, 2006 picture do say 1000 words , well done peter VERY NICE images. You have done very well to create a really informative topic here from the not so exiting topic of raising mossie wrigglers.. I appreciate the effort ... and I am going to give it a go... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted September 24, 2006 Report Share Posted September 24, 2006 Peter, those pictures are fantastic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bewarebrunette Posted December 7, 2009 Report Share Posted December 7, 2009 Id love to see what these rafts look like. Obviously in FNQ we have mozzies everywhere, but finding a cleaner way to go about harvesting them would be great. Usually you just have the old leafy, dirty water and scoop them out, but it's just a pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted December 8, 2009 Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 At AAQ we have an article for everything..... http://www.ausaqua.net/files/mozzies1.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dracon Posted December 8, 2009 Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 i use an old esky,and two fish tanks full of water for my mozzies to breed in / dogs to drink from ( wont use thier own water bowl ) and the way that i collect the the wrigglers from the rafts that i missed is, i use a two clear round plastic takeout contaners ( that our fish food comes in ) and an eye dropper i scoop out wrigglers that have gathered in a corner with one contaner suck them up with the eye droper and squirt them in the other contaner its fast and easy i also get the max number of wigglers with the min amount of water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bewarebrunette Posted December 8, 2009 Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 Fanks Lilli! :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terribletegs Posted January 21, 2010 Report Share Posted January 21, 2010 My grindal worm cultures went 'crap', so I've been using these tips to harvest mozzies from outside and my spawns are loving them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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