Inside look at Collier’s mosquito fish program

Everyone knows how annoying mosquitoes are, which is why, as we approach the rainy season, we’re following up on Collier’s mosquito fish program.

“We wanted mosquito fish to be available to our residents as another means to controlling mosquitoes and standing bodies of water, small bodies of water within their yard or residents, like ditches, animal troughs, flooded yards in the wet season,” said Rachel Bales, biologist with the Collier Mosquito Control District.

Since the program started in 2018, they’ve given out over 23,000 fish.

“Research states that one mosquito fish adult can eat up to 100 mosquito larvae a day,” added Bales. “So they are appropriately named the mosquito fish, and so they can exhaust a mosquito larval population and a stagnant body of water pretty quickly.”

Bales filled us in on how the breeding process works.

“We have a two-tank system; we have the breeding tank, and then the girl tank; we have breeding baskets for the fish. So, the babies will come up through the top and will collect them and put them in a section on this grout tank until they’re mature enough to go back into the breeding system and repeat the cycle,” she said.

If you’re wondering how to get involved with the program…

“Go on the website and request the fish, and then book an appointment with us. We have fish available on Thursdays,” Bales added.

For the first time ever, the district will be able to go out into the community. They recently got a van with a mosquito fish tank inside, giving them the opportunity to bring mosquito fish anywhere in the county.

“We get a lot of positive feedback on social media and people coming in each year, getting fish again,” said Bales.

The Collier Mosquito Control District will have its first mosquito fish distribution event at North Collier Regional Park on June 1st from 10 a.m. to noon.