Mosquito Fish Natural habitat info please.
- Thread starter rainbowfishpc
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Mosquitofish are normally available from April through October. Usually fish are delivered to the pond, but if you have a dog or keep the gates locked, leave a bucket of water on the porch and indicate the size of the pond when you call. The District is always glad to provide mosquitofish, free of charge to County residents, even on repeat calls, to encourage biological control of mosquitoes in ponds and other permanent water sources.
[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Introduction[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Mosquitofish play a very important role in mosquito control in Alameda County. Because of their great appetite for mosquito larvae, mosquitofish are very effective in preventing the production of mosquitoes from freshwater ponds and streams.
[SIZE=-0]About the fish . . .[/SIZE]
Mosquitofish live 2-3 years. They are live-bearing and produce 3-4 broods per year. The fry are often eaten by the larger fish unless provided with aquatic vegetation that is dense enough to offer protection.
Mosquitofish can tolerate a wide range of temperatures but may not survive winter in a shallow pond (less than 18"). The fish prefer the sunlit areas of the pond and do not thrive in a heavily shaded pond. At temperatures below 41 F, they move to the bottom, do not feed, and become inactive.
Mosquitofish will eat almost anything and one fish is capable of eating over 100 mosquito larvae per day. Feeding the fish is not necessary unless the pond is new and bare of vegetation. In this case, tropical fish flakes are suitable
[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]New Ponds[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
Copper pipe or fittings in contact with the water can kill the fish. The pipes can be coated with a special paint available at hardware stores. Plastic piping is preferable.
New concrete ponds will leach lime into the water and make the water alkaline. A new pond should be appropriately seasoned (filled, allowed to stand several days, drained and refilled). The pH of the water is best in the range of 6.5 to 8.0. An inexpensive pH kit can be purchased at a pet or swimming pool supply store.
Wine or whiskey barrels will leach harmful chemicals into the water at first. They should be soaked and flushed out several times or lined before adding fish or plants.
The District supplies a handout on fishpond construction for your use in planning a pond.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-0]Predators[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Provide large rocks and vegetation for shelter from predators such as raccoons, possums, cats, herons and egrets. There should be rocks on the bottom in the deepest part, where the fish will spend cold days in an inactive state. At other times, since the fish tend to spend the night at the edges, overhanging banks serve well to help protect them.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-0]Duckweed[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]This is a tiny floating plant that spreads quickly, covering the entire surface of the pond, especially when the water is polluted with rotting leaves or other organic debris. Fish usually do not survive these conditions. If the pond has a heavy coverage of duckweed, it should be cleaned, and the recurring duckweed kept to a minimum.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-0]Algae[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The green plant that coats the rocks and pond bottom is beneficial, producing 60% of the oxygen, and is found in a well-balanced pond.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-0]Filamentous algae[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]This may indicate an excess of organic debris. If it gets too thick the fish may not be able to get to the mosquito larvae. Small amounts, however, are a good food source for the fish and shelter for the fry.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-0]Unicellular algae[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]This turns the water green. It is not harmful to the fish but excessive amounts may indicate a high level of organic decomposition and a low level of oxygen. New ponds may turn green before becoming balanced, and an uncirculated pond will normally be somewhat green. Maintaining ornamental plants will help keep the water clear by competing for nutrients. Debris should be removed regularly. Use algaecides with caution, some are deadly to fish. Check at a garden nursery or tropical fish store for safe algaecides. Circulation and filtration are the best ways to keep a pond clear.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-0]Leaves[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Many leaves, like pine, oak, eucalyptus and pittsoporum, contain chemicals that are harmful to fish. Accumulations of these leaves make the fish too sick to eat the mosquito larvae.
[/FONT]
[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Introduction[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Mosquitofish play a very important role in mosquito control in Alameda County. Because of their great appetite for mosquito larvae, mosquitofish are very effective in preventing the production of mosquitoes from freshwater ponds and streams.
[SIZE=-0]About the fish . . .[/SIZE]
Mosquitofish live 2-3 years. They are live-bearing and produce 3-4 broods per year. The fry are often eaten by the larger fish unless provided with aquatic vegetation that is dense enough to offer protection.
Mosquitofish can tolerate a wide range of temperatures but may not survive winter in a shallow pond (less than 18"). The fish prefer the sunlit areas of the pond and do not thrive in a heavily shaded pond. At temperatures below 41 F, they move to the bottom, do not feed, and become inactive.
Mosquitofish will eat almost anything and one fish is capable of eating over 100 mosquito larvae per day. Feeding the fish is not necessary unless the pond is new and bare of vegetation. In this case, tropical fish flakes are suitable
[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]New Ponds[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
Copper pipe or fittings in contact with the water can kill the fish. The pipes can be coated with a special paint available at hardware stores. Plastic piping is preferable.
New concrete ponds will leach lime into the water and make the water alkaline. A new pond should be appropriately seasoned (filled, allowed to stand several days, drained and refilled). The pH of the water is best in the range of 6.5 to 8.0. An inexpensive pH kit can be purchased at a pet or swimming pool supply store.
Wine or whiskey barrels will leach harmful chemicals into the water at first. They should be soaked and flushed out several times or lined before adding fish or plants.
The District supplies a handout on fishpond construction for your use in planning a pond.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-0]Predators[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Provide large rocks and vegetation for shelter from predators such as raccoons, possums, cats, herons and egrets. There should be rocks on the bottom in the deepest part, where the fish will spend cold days in an inactive state. At other times, since the fish tend to spend the night at the edges, overhanging banks serve well to help protect them.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-0]Duckweed[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]This is a tiny floating plant that spreads quickly, covering the entire surface of the pond, especially when the water is polluted with rotting leaves or other organic debris. Fish usually do not survive these conditions. If the pond has a heavy coverage of duckweed, it should be cleaned, and the recurring duckweed kept to a minimum.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-0]Algae[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The green plant that coats the rocks and pond bottom is beneficial, producing 60% of the oxygen, and is found in a well-balanced pond.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-0]Filamentous algae[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]This may indicate an excess of organic debris. If it gets too thick the fish may not be able to get to the mosquito larvae. Small amounts, however, are a good food source for the fish and shelter for the fry.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-0]Unicellular algae[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]This turns the water green. It is not harmful to the fish but excessive amounts may indicate a high level of organic decomposition and a low level of oxygen. New ponds may turn green before becoming balanced, and an uncirculated pond will normally be somewhat green. Maintaining ornamental plants will help keep the water clear by competing for nutrients. Debris should be removed regularly. Use algaecides with caution, some are deadly to fish. Check at a garden nursery or tropical fish store for safe algaecides. Circulation and filtration are the best ways to keep a pond clear.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-0]Leaves[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Many leaves, like pine, oak, eucalyptus and pittsoporum, contain chemicals that are harmful to fish. Accumulations of these leaves make the fish too sick to eat the mosquito larvae.
[/FONT]
I need it public. I recomended this site to a friend who needs info on mosqutio's. I don't want MFK to let him down.
The Western and Easten Mosquitofish are native to Southeast United States but being invasives in anywhere, replaced the endangered gambusia species by hybridizing them. They can live in full marine to full freshwater depends on what populations. Some can breed in full seawater while other do fine in brackish water. Some populations up north can survive in under the ice (mostly Westen/affinis), while holbrooki do fine in hot south Everglades. There are different populations of both affinis and holbrooki. One population is weird when all females have gondipoium and still have fry and the males are far small, rarely reach than an inch. Spotted version can found in affinis and holbrooki but mostly holbrooki through wild spotted females are rare.
All populations are onrivores, meant eat both animal and plant matter. Only small precent of their diet made up of mosquito larva, while they prefer eat other inverts and small fry as well as algae and other plant matter. The southern gambusia prefer live in shallow part of water to avoid the predators. Northern gambusia went to deep parts of water during winter time and dont reproduce while in winter.
Hope it helps.
All populations are onrivores, meant eat both animal and plant matter. Only small precent of their diet made up of mosquito larva, while they prefer eat other inverts and small fry as well as algae and other plant matter. The southern gambusia prefer live in shallow part of water to avoid the predators. Northern gambusia went to deep parts of water during winter time and dont reproduce while in winter.
Hope it helps.
These are my observations on Gambusia affinis in my stomping grounds- Middle and West Tennessee.
They occur in small numbers in reservoirs, ponds, and sluggish sections of streams and rivers, but to find the huge populations you have to look in swamps and reservoir edges with the following characteristics: areas of very shallow water; little or no flow; rich in organic matter; plenty of vegetation, coarse woody debris, and other cover. In these conditions you can find large, loose schools of mosquitofish. They tend to segregate by size; there are schools of juveniles, schools of males and subadult females, and schools of females. Pregnant females may be found at any time of year except midwinter.
Fish I commonly find with G. affinis in the ideal habitats described above include bowfin, central mudminnow, shortnose gar, grass pickerel, chain pickerel, pirate perch, green sunfish, dollar sunfish, warmouth, flier, yellow bullhead, black bullhead, common carp, chubsucker, golden shiner, emerald shiner, and banded pygmy sunfish. All but the last five probably prey on Gambusia.
The blackspotted topminnow fills a very similar niche, but seems to do much better in more open waters. You tend to find only one or the other species in abundance in any given spot, though a slightly different spot only a few yards away may have their abundances reversed. For example, netting in the sluggish, sandy, unvegetated channel of the Wolf River yields abundant topminnows and few or no Gambusia; however, netting in a similarly sandy and sluggish but weedy creek mouth, beaver swamp, or slough adjacent to the river yields abundant Gambusia and few or no topminnows.
I hope this was helpful!
They occur in small numbers in reservoirs, ponds, and sluggish sections of streams and rivers, but to find the huge populations you have to look in swamps and reservoir edges with the following characteristics: areas of very shallow water; little or no flow; rich in organic matter; plenty of vegetation, coarse woody debris, and other cover. In these conditions you can find large, loose schools of mosquitofish. They tend to segregate by size; there are schools of juveniles, schools of males and subadult females, and schools of females. Pregnant females may be found at any time of year except midwinter.
Fish I commonly find with G. affinis in the ideal habitats described above include bowfin, central mudminnow, shortnose gar, grass pickerel, chain pickerel, pirate perch, green sunfish, dollar sunfish, warmouth, flier, yellow bullhead, black bullhead, common carp, chubsucker, golden shiner, emerald shiner, and banded pygmy sunfish. All but the last five probably prey on Gambusia.
The blackspotted topminnow fills a very similar niche, but seems to do much better in more open waters. You tend to find only one or the other species in abundance in any given spot, though a slightly different spot only a few yards away may have their abundances reversed. For example, netting in the sluggish, sandy, unvegetated channel of the Wolf River yields abundant topminnows and few or no Gambusia; however, netting in a similarly sandy and sluggish but weedy creek mouth, beaver swamp, or slough adjacent to the river yields abundant Gambusia and few or no topminnows.
I hope this was helpful!
PirateOscar;2430943; said:
One of em just gave me fryrainbowfishpc, theres a pond in Staten Island that has alot of Mosquitofish and I hang around with them alot so I kinda know their haunts. Mostly they hang out in a few inches of water, bacause in the open they would get snapped up by a patrolling Bluegill. Mine hang out near the surface of the tank, kinda with their noses paralell to the surface as I have seen them do in the pond. They like areas with shelter but mostly hide in areas of rocky bottoms that plants like people say. Where there are boulders piled up in the water, they go really far back and pretty much hang out in the shelter of the boulders. Coolest part is that I always see them attacking fishing lures that resemble worms that are twice their size. If you throw bread in they swarm it, even jumping on it. They like the most innaccessible places, eg, if theres a pipe in the water and the flow isnt too strong, they'll hang out in there. If you're getting one, GL.