What are these wild fish?
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=4521
Actually, the Eastern species - the holbrooki - are cute, pretty, and just the right size for my 10 gallon aquarium.
Apparently they not only don’t eat the mosquitoes, they eat other fish that DO eat mosquitos. This explains the explosion in mosquitos. They were introduced into a number of countries for mosquto control. I haven’t yet learned where they’re native to. I’m getting the idea they’re actually native to the U.S.!
Herons like gambusias, and they particularly like the larger, fatter females. LOL. One study found they almost exclusively eat females. This explains why they stand stock still in the creek waiting for long periods of time though the creek is crowded with gambusia, and why it’s relatively hard to catch full grown gambusia.
http://www.hiltonpond.org/PNMosquitoFish860615.html Fish have wreaked havoc on many aspects of the ecology of foreign lands, primarily because they consume fish eggs with the same voracity they use on mosquito larvae. In Thailand, the Philippines, and the lower Nile valley they have completely wiped out several endangered native fish species, throwing other parts of the ecosystem out of balance. Even in this country, when stocked as food for largemouth bass in commercial hatcheries the Mosquito Fish quickly turned the tables and destroyed large numbers of bass eggs instead
Yours, Dora Smith Austin, TX tiggernut24@yahoo.com
Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society
