# Mosquito Larvae for Conditioning



## jschristian44 (Jan 6, 2011)

So I am going to wait until this summer so my bettas have some time to heal after my yet another failed attempt to breed them. I got 2 lbs of Frozen Brine Shrimp which I thought they would like but they hate it. They won't touch it. So if anyone wants it for a pretty cheap price let me know. I can probably ship it in a USPS Flat Rate box and you just pay me a little extra. 15 dollars would probably do the trick. Just PM me. But, my real question is Mosquito Larvae. I heard you can just fill a bucket with water and put it in the sun and bam, fish food for conditioning. But my question is when do you take them out to feed to the fish before they reach flying mosquito's storm near my house? I heard you can feed the little comma things, but once they hatch, what do you do?


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## bettafreak33 (Jan 30, 2011)

jschristian44 said:


> failed attempt to breed them. quote]
> Jeez that's a surprise.


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

ML in what ever stage of development is OK. I think their shells are harder when they reach the "comma" stage - many of my bettas prefer the straight ones. 

If you have too many ML, put them in a plastic bag and place it in the fridge (not freezer) - their development should stop or at least slow down. OR If your family is against that, place it anywhere - just remember before you open the bag, slowly release the air so you can squeeze the ones air born. Oh, do the same even if you put them in the fridge.


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## jschristian44 (Jan 6, 2011)

the ones air borne? cant i just squeeze them before i open it?


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

Bettas might not eat dead ML. Well mine wont eat dead/frozen anything but blood worms. Besides, "the chase" is good exercise for your fish.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Also if you ship frozen brine shrimp it will melt and spoil.


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## jschristian44 (Jan 6, 2011)

i got my frozen brine shrimp mailed to me but im in the same shoes as you. my bettas will eat only blood worms that are dry. they eat the dry brine shrimp but frozen they wont eat. bloodworms are their favorite.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

jschristian44 said:


> i got my frozen brine shrimp mailed to me but im in the same shoes as you. my bettas will eat only blood worms that are dry. they eat the dry brine shrimp but frozen they wont eat. bloodworms are their favorite.


In the same shoes as me? What are you talking about?

Plus their shipping methods differ from yours.


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## jschristian44 (Jan 6, 2011)

not you indigo, he said how my bettas eat as well


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Oh.


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

Some people "teach" their bettas to eat certain food by fasting them 2 - 3 days. Then introduce the new food. Some teach them by putting the betta tank next to another fish tank and let the betta see other fish eat that new food (while fasting). 
I prefer not to fast my bettas because, they often become sick if I do.

Maybe your betta won't eat the brine shrimp because it's rather salty. Try washing/rinsing the BS before feeding them to your bettas.


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## pdxBetta (Mar 15, 2011)

I've got to say that if your Bettas will not eat frozen brine shrimp or bloodworms, then something is wrong somewhere. I could imagine one or two picky Bettas, but that wold be rare. All of my Bettas have always eaten frozen brine shrimp and bloodworms, as have every Betta that I have ever seen going back to when I worked at a pet store in 1989. I knew a breeder back in 1989 that used to buy pounds of frozen brine shrimp every month and fed it to his fish exclusively. Frozen brine does foul the water faster than bloodworms in my experience.

If your Bettas won't eat frozen food, please tell us how you are trying to feed them?

My process:

I prefer Hikari foods, they seem better quality. I put a chunk/cube of frozen brine/bloodworms in a small sauce bowl and add a bit of water from my aged water bucket. I let it sit until the food is thawed. Then, for bloodworms, I use tweezers to pick up a few and feed them to each Betta. For brine, I suck them up with a dropper and squeeze a small portion into each jar, and then go around again and feed a second small portion.

I usually feed bloodworms on the first day after a water change, and brine on the day before a water change. I'll use freeze dried bloodworms occasionally, but not very often.


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## vaygirl (Sep 10, 2009)

I've never seen a fish turn away a frozen bloodworm. It may take some wiggling with tweezers to stimulate them but every fish I've had has relented and gone frozen bloodworm crazy. I feed them all by hand, one or two worms at a time.


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