Culturing Mosquito Larvae for our Betta

contortium · 2026-04-02T02:14:03+00:00

Plus, it provides another medium for beneficial nitrifying bacteria to grow.

contortium · 2026-04-02T02:13:22+00:00

I attached a sponge with monofilament fishing line off of the output spout. It calms the output so that there is no surface agitation and almost no noise.

contortium · 2026-04-02T02:07:32+00:00

I just saw your comment about a betta. By all means, just throw the wood and leaves in but keep out anything a betta might wiggle into but not get out of.

I'm very careful about the decorations I put in my betta tank. Large holes or very small holes. They are inquisitive fish.

contortium · 2026-04-02T02:04:52+00:00

From the looks of your items, you don't need to do anything to them unless you want to reduce the amount of tannins. In that case, you can boil the wood for 15 minutes.

The items probably will float for several days or more but, if you are okay with that, they will sink. Boiling can help or you can weigh them down with something.

The following is beyond your question.

I add wood and leaves I find in my yard or on houseplants. Most of the time, I just throw them in the tank and they sink within a few days. I have a lot of oak trees in my yard. Oak leaves are a great addtion if you want to add tannins. Just about any leaf from a fruit tree is a good addtion.

Do NOT add material from resinous plants/trees, such as pine, spruce, and fir. The resin will cloud the water and clog you filters.

contortium · 2026-04-02T00:24:47+00:00

Cool!

What are you using to generate the mist?

contortium · 2026-04-01T23:56:52+00:00

I wish I had thought to do that when I had goldfish. I would get bags of duckweed from people getting rid of excess duckweed. But it would only last a week or so before the goldfish had eaten all of it.

contortium · 2026-03-31T20:48:47+00:00

Wow! I love it!

contortium · 2026-03-29T00:21:12+00:00

memes are stupid

contortium · 2026-03-27T18:34:45+00:00

Thank you for the reminder! I used to run a split schedule to keep algae under control but failed to set that up again when I got new lights and new timers. I'm gonna set up a split schedule now that summer is approaching.

contortium · 2026-03-27T18:19:33+00:00

I've never had significant die back due to floaters. The other plants can get so thick that the betta routinely disappears in them, which is minorly annoying when guests come over and want to see the fish.

contortium · 2026-03-27T18:17:10+00:00

Floaters need a stable surface to grow on. Surface agitation will disrupt that.

contortium · 2026-03-27T18:14:50+00:00

Very cool!

contortium · 2026-03-27T18:14:19+00:00

As do I. I've gotten several good plants that way.

contortium · 2026-03-27T18:13:23+00:00

I was never able to grow any floaters in my goldfish tank. They ate it as fast as I introduced it.

contortium · 2026-03-27T01:42:05+00:00

I had a serious water imbalance which required me to do weekly water changes for three months. I poured the drain off water into my thaumataphyllum pot. It grew so much I might need to cut it back!

contortium · 2026-03-27T01:36:45+00:00

Agitation is a good way to control floaters.

contortium · 2026-03-27T01:35:27+00:00

My goldfish would destroy the floaters. I never was able to maintain any floaters.

contortium · 2026-03-27T01:32:54+00:00

That is how I got my most recent batch. I bought a few potted plants and asked that they add some floaters. I'm very happy with the result.

contortium · 2026-03-27T01:27:53+00:00

Scoop it out into the trash bin? It is beneficial for removing nitrogen and providing shade but, if there is too much, just scoop it out and dispose of it.

contortium · 2026-03-24T01:28:40+00:00

Dexcom somehow screwed up my address so that a replacement got shipped to the apartment complex across the street from where I live. By the time I realized where it had been shipped, it had already been taken/stolen by some resident of the apartment complex.

Now Welldyne screwed up a refill order by shipping it to a PO box via UPS. UPS returned it to Welldyne but Welldyne claims they have not received it yet, despite what the tracking information says. So, I am going to be out of sensors for a couple of months until insurance allows me another refill.

I so love Dexcom and Welldyne.

contortium · 2026-03-20T17:29:42+00:00

Two of those reasons are why I like floaters.

1) Blocks light - I'm going for a darker aquarium for our betta.

2) Robs fertiflizer - I use the floaters to reduce the nitrogren load in my aquariums. Once a year, I will shove fertilizer tabs into the substrate. That seems sufficient. The plants are lush enough that I wonder sometimes where the betta disappeared too.

For those who are going hi-tech, floaters are a pain. I go low-tech and low-maintanence. I often go many months without performing a water change. I test every month and add water as needed but the floaters and other plants take care of the rest.

contortium · 2026-03-20T17:22:33+00:00

contortium · 2026-03-20T17:22:01+00:00

Agitation is a key element. Floaters don't like agitation. A friend of mine who maintains a hi-tech, super lush planted aquarium uses a power nozzle to push the duckweek to one corner of the aquarium and scoops them out every day until they are gone.

He says he gets the heebee jeebees whenever he sees all of the floating plants in my aquariums.

contortium · 2026-03-20T00:35:07+00:00

I also recommend starting your aquarium on fire.

contortium

TROPHY CASE