Mosquito Larvae Eating Guppy Fish

The picture is a little blurry, but what you see at the bottom of this water bottle is my new pet. It is a guppy that I have placed in my water tank. The purpose of a having a guppy live in the tank is that it eats the mosquito larvae that grow there. Mosquitoes need a blood meal and a pool of standing water in order to reproduce. Once the eggs and larvae grow, hundreds can be born from a single brood. Having a guppy eat the larvae thus effectively eliminates a significant amount of mosquitoes from ever maturing and biting target numero uno: me.

Concerns:

1. Wait, this fish lives in the water which you use to bathe and clean yourself? How disgusting!

How little you know of fish! Guppies are actually very hygienic. Their waste falls to the bottom of the tank, so there is no way one would ever come into contact with it. Many families in Cambodia are even encouraged to have guppies in the containers used for drinking water because it keeps mosquitoes from breeding in them. A popular ad campaign goes, "Would you rather have fish live in your drinking water, or be drinking mosquito larvae?"

2. Won't this fish need something else to eat?

Not really. I've talked to a lot of people about this. Some feed their fish a few times a week if they have a lot, but others do not. I have fish food, but I have not tried it out yet. Last Saturday night, I took a look inside my tank one night with a flashlight and found it swimming with larvae. I think there is enough food for the fish for now.

3. Surely this fish must have a name?

It does! After explaining the heath benefits and and practicalities of having the guppy to my students, thus doing a good public service, I had them tell me what the name of the fish should be. All of them thought me extremely odd for wanting to give a name to a fish, but we finally settled on one: Krissana. It sort of sounds like Krishna, a hindu god. Given the impact of Hinduism in Southeast Asia, I would not be surprised to see if there was some relation.