[conspire] Outdoor venue: no more mosquito problem

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Christian Einfeldt (einfeldt at gmail.com):

> Nice solution.

Mr. Wikipedia says:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquitofish

  The mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) is a species of freshwater fish,
  also commonly known simply by its generic name, gambusia, although such
  usage is ambiguous. It is sometimes called the western mosquitofish, to
  distinguish it from the eastern mosquitofish (G. holbrooki). It is a
  member of the family Poeciliidae of order Cyprinodontiformes. The genus
  name 'gambusia' is derived from the Cuban Spanish term 'gambusino',
  meaning useless.

  These fish are native to the watershed of the Gulf of Mexico, where it
  has long been known that they feed readily on the aquatic larval and
  pupal stages of mosquitoes. They are remarkably hardy, surviving in
  waters of very low oxygen saturations, high salinities (including twice
  that of seawater), and high temperatures; they can even survive in
  waters up to 42 °C for short periods. For these reasons, this species
  may now be the most widespread freshwater fish in the world, having been
  introduced as a biocontrol to tropical and temperate countries in both
  hemispheres, and then spreading further both naturally and through even
  further introductions. 

When the district guy called me and said they'd attempt to introduce
"some fish" into there, I asked him if he meant stickleback
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stickleback).  I happened to know that
sewage districts stocky grey-water settlement ponds with stickleback
fish, and that they also love to eat mosquitos.  He seemed surprised
that I knew anything about the subject, but said, no, stickleback are a
native species that do indeed love mosquito larvae, but tend to die in
pools of bad water such as badly unmaintained swimming pools, and
mosquitofish are hardier.