Validation of the species Xiphophorus maculatus for biological control of Aedes aegypty by comparing its larvae-eating potential with Poecilia reticulata

Abstract Many people are infected with dengue fever annually throughout the world, mainly in countries with tropical climate. However, to treat this and other disease, there has been an indiscriminate use of chemical insecticides in public disease control programs. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to assess an alternative method to reduce the infestation indices of the vector Aedes aegypti and the quantity of insecticides used in its chemical control, by validating a species with high larvae-eating potential. Thus, the larvae-eating potential was compared in the fish species Xiphophorus maculatus and Poecilia reticulata as biological controllers of the larvae of the dengue fever vector in different conditions and environments. It was observed that the species X. maculatus had a greater predatory capacity on the larvae, which was not related to the difference in size or weight among species. Furthermore, it was characterized that the species consumed a larger quantity of larvae in groups and X. maculatus consumed larvae very regularly in a short time interval.