Looking for a very hardy Fish?

[colour]

So I need fish that are mozzie eaters big time! We live on a bay island waterfront and have more than heaps of mozzies. The situation is that we have 39 x 10ltr plastic buckets that have a very aggressive fresh water aquatic plants growing in them. At present we are at the seed germinating stage.

After the end of this Autumn we expect the plants in the buckets will take up about 60% to 80% of the space.

Also the water will be in full sun. The plants are gross feeders and will be fed a tea mixture of blood & bone & chook manure twice a week.

Will also be using oxygen therapy in the buckets. The moving water stops the plants from growing but if I use one small air pump with 4 stones into 4 buckets per 2 days per week it is beneficial for the plants and also water health.

We live in the Redlands City area on one of the Southern Morton Bay Islands.

Any ideas for a fish in our situation and where to get them? We are going to need a number of them to go around.

All The Very Best. colour

[Lictoga]

I don't think anything would survive in that, just from your ferts, no filtration and massive temp from being in full sun.

[colour]

The fert is a big worry but the mozzie rigglers do not have a problem with it.

Unhealthy water will not grow mozzie rigglers.

The plants root system will add to the health of the water for fish to some level.

The roots will work as a filter and a nutrient magnet.

Maybe some one knows a cheap fert that is fish comparable.

Full sun does not kill or burn the plants so a warm water fish or a fish that will live in very luke warm water would be right at home.

The water would not be hot enough to grow tropical's ideally.

[Grubs]

I'm curious! What is your "very aggressive fresh water aquatic plants"?

Can you cover the buckets with a mosquito net or mesh tent?

[colour]

Interesting..........Ok you got me!

I have nearly finished a mozzie proof bush house 6.5m x 4.8m x 2.4m that was going to be a lotus house but now a big heap of tillandsia's(air plants) will own it.

The lotus plants are back out into the open and will live as a boarder around a decking on top of blue gum slabs. The lotus plants are very much good lookers. It would be a shame to cover them up.

Not all of these lotus plants will be an on going concern as some no matter what size water container they are grown in they are going to be 2m + which makes insect screens very difficult to use. Some of the flowers will be larger than a basket ball.

If I could get a very hardy fresh water fish.........

Tried to use air but the mozzie wrigglers love it. If I was aloud to breed wrigglers I would be home and hosed but I can not.

Using kerosene works but not on my water plants.

[smicko]

I would look at covering the buckets. In full sun over summer the buckets will get over 30 degrees easily and without adding oxygen fish will die very quickly.

I have a few ponds from 200 litres up and in full sun they get over 30 degrees during summer.

Unfortunately I couldn't recommend a fish that would handle to temps even if you changed fertiliser.

Are you sure that mozzie larvae won't live in unhealthy water? I've seen some scummy creeks that have mozzie lol.

Im also interested in the name of the aggressive water plant, i would consider hornwort and guppy grass as aggressive but they would overtake a 10 litre bucket in a matter of weeks not months.

If you could put the buckets in a spot that only got a few hours of direct sun at most you might be able to add 2-3 small natives like blue eyes per bucket but the temp variations from day to night may kill them anyway.

Cheers mick

[colour]

Lotus plants: description lily pads and flowers grow above the water to 1m to over 2m unlike water lilies. The lotus root system grows best in a circular manner. If you try to grow them in a square container the tuba can easily break at the corners as they are growing which will kills the plant as it lets water into the tuba and then rot does the rest.

Yes 1st thing they teach you in survival is do not drink water that has nothing alive in it. Wrigglers are what you look for in healthy still water.

But my knowledge on mozzie is a bit scattered but topical Indonesia people that have to control mozzie eradication have found that DDT kills less people than malaria. So does this say that fish are not going to work?

Even the salt water mozzie lives in healthy salt flat puddles of water with crabs and fleshy salt bush.

The lily pads(leaves)& flowers will come out of the water unlike waterlilies, like a 1m to over 2m round and by mid Nov all the buckets will be fully covered/shaded by masses of greenery.

It is my belief that the tuba's (root system) will add oxygen to the water. I can make water sweeter by adding air 2 days a week with the air from a single air pump. So every 3rd day the bucket get air.

[TheAquaHolic001]

The plants would make those buckets quite difficult to live in plus heat and so on would also like to find out if anything lives.

Edited September 29, 2015 by TheAquaHolic001

[Donny@ageofaquariums]

Just because theres mozzies in water does not make it healthy. They are air breathers man.

Paradise fish maybe a possible.

Problem is the seasons.

Guppy and betta dont make it thru winter. White clouds, danio, medaka dont make it thru summer.

Thats just guess work, need temp trend data really.

But yea... first rule of survival.... act like the locals!

Sooooo..... how about a fire tail gudgeon? Only 1 small one per bucket. They are sold as feederfish so only a few bucks for a bag.

[colour]

Interesting! Thanks for your info on a possible fish.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mosquitofish

A mosquitofish by the lake in Victoria Park, Sydney

Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis and Gambusia holbrooki) were introduced to Australia in 1925, spreading from the northeast coasts south to New South Wales, Southern Australia, and parts of Western Australia by 1934.[1] Currently, known populations of wild mosquitofish occur in every state and territory except the Northern Territory, and they are found in swamps, lakes, billabongs, thermal springs, salt lakes, and ornamental ponds. Mosquitofish are considered a noxious pest, especially in New South Wales and Queensland, and it is illegal to release them into the wild or transport them live into any of the states or territories.[2] Mosquitofish were introduced by military and local councils to control mosquito populations, however there has been no evidence that gambusia has had any effect in controlling mosquito populations or mosquito-borne diseases.[3] In fact, studies have shown that gambusia can suffer mortalities if fed only on mosquito larvae, and survivors show poor growth and maturation.[1] Gambusia typically eat zooplankton, beetles, mayflies, caddis flies, mites and other invertebrates; mosquito larvae make up only a small portion of their diet.[4]

The buckets have 100mm of water in them in full sun with a nice breeze around them.

They are spaced so as to shade each other as well.

The water has not got above 17c.

Mid Oct and the water will be covered with greenery.

I will be very surprised if heat will be my issue.

[Lictoga]

are we forgetting that mosquito fish are noxious???

[smicko]

They will add oxygen but not enough to keep fish alive, as water gets hotter it contains less dissolved oxygen. Alot of people new to the hobby lose fish over summer because of it, the best way to oxygenate the water is to have surface movement but that won't be the best conditions for growing the plants. The lotus will do a good job of shading the water but if the bucket gets direct sun it will still get too hot, if you half bury the buckets it will help immensely with temp fluctuations.

Mosquito fish are illegal to keep in qld so I wouldn't be advertising it, they were introduced to control mosquito numbers and took over from natives. The worst part is that the natives are better at mosquito control anyway.

Are you sure the containers are only 10 litres? Or am I missing something? If the containers are big enough for a 1-2 metre lotus pad they would be ultra shallow to only have 10L of water.

The native blue eyes are the only thing I could suggest but I would be unsure of their survival.

Cheers mick

[colour]

Some random info on line. Comments.

1. I have Melanotaenia duboulayi and Pseudomugil signifer in my ponds.

2. Empire Gudgeons came out #1. M.duboulayi and P.signifer were 2nd and 3rd

3. Guppies or Swordtails are great

[smicko]

Wow, i type way too slow lol.

Cheers mick

[colour]

The 10ltr bucket is to help limit the lotus plant from growing into its full size.

A lotus plant will produce about 4 small sweet potato size tubas in 10 months here.

If you let them grow for a 2nd year a tuba by itself could fill a 10 ltr bucket.

I am want to harvest tubas, seeds, leaves & the stem and flowers.

All of a lotus plant can be eaten.

[colour]

Now that I think of it I have seen big yellow belly in puddles that were what was left of the Thomson & Coopers in the channel country.

[Grubs]

I have nearly finished a mozzie proof bush house 6.5m x 4.8m x 2.4m that was going to be a lotus house but now a big heap of tillandsia's(air plants) will own it.

Maybe your first instincts were the right. Find a different solution for the air plants and grow the lotus in the mozzie proof bush house as intended. Problem solved

[Lictoga]

You arnt seriously thinking of using yellow belly

[colour]

Just because theres mozzies in water does not make it healthy. They are air breathers man.

Paradise fish maybe a possible.

Problem is the seasons.

Guppy and betta dont make it thru winter. White clouds, danio, medaka dont make it thru summer.

Thats just guess work, need temp trend data really.

But yea... first rule of survival.... act like the locals!

Sooooo..... how about a fire tail gudgeon? Only 1 small one per bucket. They are sold as feederfish so only a few bucks for a bag.

This comment keeps me thinking. I am going to try this together with all the other great info.

I have 20 new + 50watt heater. We do not see frost here. Not even close.

I can use different fert mixes. Trial & error coming up!

[colour]

You arnt seriously thinking of using yellow belly

As much as I like yellow belly lol lol lol.

It was the water quality I was trying to highlight.

[colour]

I could change the water every 2 to 3 weeks to get rid of the wrigglers.

When you put a working air stone into a bucket of wrigglers they ball up around the edge of the bubbles.

It looks like a fish net would get the very most of the balled up wrigglers.

The things one thinks about when sleep is hard to find on a blood moon night. lol

[PeterH]

Mosquito larvae need to be able to access air to breathe. So if you can cover the surface of the water with something it should be able to stop the larvae.

Some sort of oil (vegetable ?) might be able to work, but I would not be sure of the amount needed to create a barrier to stop the larvae from accessing the surface.

I also don't know what effect it would have on the plants.

[Fish Junkie]

Chuck some flower horns in there

Who cares if they die ?

FJ

[colour]

Ever bodies help is very special. Thank You Very Much.

I am going to get those mozzie wriigglers.

Have now heaps of direction to go in.

How good is this forum!!!

Couple more question.

The cost of the fish.

1. Chuck some flower horns in there.

2. how about a fire tail gudgeon?

Any comments on these two fish?

[grubby]

Mosquito fish, hardy small named after how much they eat mosquito larva don't need much space only thing would be heat. Other than that there is no such fish.

Thats a myth, Mosquito fish do bugger all for eating Mosquitos plus they are illegal to posses in QLD as they are a declared noxious species. The answer is cut down on the fertiliser, let the fish do the fertilising for you and go out and get AUSTRALIAN NATIVE RAINBOWS, such as Pacific Blueyes (pseudomugil signifier), Crimson spotted Rainbows (Melantonia Dubolyai) or Ornate Sunfish (Rhadinocentrus Ornatus). The natives are best adapted to bust mosquitos overtime much better than Guppy's, gambusia or Paradise fish, plus if there is a flood and they get free they will not be a threat to the ecosystem the way exotics will be. Nothing eats mozzies like a native.