On Wed, 08 Jun 2005 23:06:56 GMT, Victor Martinez
wrote:

TLR wrote:
A capful of chlorine (laundry) bleach will also kill all those larvae in
short order.

Yeah, but one of the reasons for collecting rainwater for gardening is
watering *without* chemicals.

Back in southeast Texas, I used a fairly benign mosquito larva
control, a tablespoon of peanut oil in the barrel. The oil floats on
top of the water in a thin layer and prevents the larvae from
"attaching" to the surface layer. They cannot breathe and die.

However, I really like the notion of fish in the barrel. Minnows are a
type of chub or sucker (family Cyprinidae). Most are primarily
vegetarian. Carp are members of the same fish family. However, there
are several species of native Texas mosquito fish. These are hardy
little fish that look like guppies. They are voracious predators and
love mosquito larvae. Slurp.

Elliot Richmond
PhD Candidate in Science Education
UT Austin