Prospect and efficiency of exotic fish as mosquito larvae biological control agent

Abstract

Biological control agents such as larvivorous fish are the natural predator of mosquito larvae; they co-exist in the same habitat and ingest it as part of their diet. Certain exotic fish species easily obtained from local fish stores in Malaysia have yet to be tested. Hence, ten new species exotic fish were tested for its larvivorous properties under laboratory condition and compared with positive control species, Betta splendens and Poecilia reticulata. Fifteen larvae were introduced and the time taken for each species offish to ingest all larvae were recorded and compared. Result indicates Puntigrus tetrazona have highest efficiency among all test and positive control species. Thus exotic fish species that shows better efficiency can be implemented as long term biocontrol agent against mosquito larvae in water system due to its aggressive feeding behavior and its aesthetic beauty.