starting a daphnia culture

W

william

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can anyone give me any tips on starting a daphnia culture, i wan't to feed them to my fish, and hopefully some newt newts along the line, can i just get some from the pond and leave them in a tank or do i need anything special? Any advise would be great.
 
Hi William

With my daphnia culture I set up a large garden tub with water removed from my tanks, added some plants. I put a couple of bags of shop bought daphnia in. Sprinkled in a little daphnia food ( finely powdered fish food should suffice. note finely ). This tub is kept on my balcony.

At first I kept adding a bad of daphnia each week to help stocks replenish what I was removing. After several weeks this was no longer necessary. My Gammarus are also in the same tub.
 
okay, thanks, will pond caught daphnia be the same as wild ones, i'm not amazing at my micro-organism biology so i could pick up things that could harm fish/larvae, cyclops for example. If pond caught one don't work, how much do bags of them cost roughly?
 
Will,

I got 4 bags for 50p each that seems the norm from what i can tell around here.
 
Shop bought daphnia area s likely to contain other micro organisms as pond caught. In fact I posted about Phantom Midge larvae I found in some of my shop bought bags (seeking identification), and have since found some lovely Gammarus and have what appear to be mayfly larvae in a jar.

Years ago I had a Daphnia culture for my tropical fish this was started from pond harvested Daphnia.

In this area Daphnia and Bloodworm cost £1 for 4 bags, with large Brine Shrimp being 50p per bag.
 
I had problems with raising daphnia to start with, now I have a method that works, I bought a big bag of daphnia from the shop, put them in a couple of buckets with rain water, I blended some frozen peas and spinach, then froze this mix in an ice cube tray and every now and then I put in an ice cube, because they are outside they get leaves falling in too, I try to use one bucket until it only has a few then move on to the next. Hope this helps
 
OMG! You lucky people, my shop sells daphnia for €2.70/bag!! And when I come home I find that 80% is dead
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William, there's two things that Daphnia need; algae and oxygen. But best not put an airstone in the setup. Air bubbles can get stuck under the Daphnia's shield and they can't remove it. They'll surface and die. Try refreshing the water instead. During summer you'll find it easier to breed them. (more light - more algae)

[on the other hand - I had airstones in my cultures and didn't really notice massive losses]

Once you notice a culture is running out and you have space left, set up a new tank and leave the other setup outside. Daphnia tend to lay wintereggs before the culture runs out. This means the eggs won't hatch till after a cold period. So if you can let the setup be, you'll find fresh daphnia after winter
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PS: blood from meat or mosquito larvae are a welcome extra for Daphnia (don't over do it, it spoils the water)

Joeri
 
I keep Reading about how good these daphnias can someone tell me are they simmilar to mosquito larvae?
 
Hmm, regarding their need for oxygen...
I just keep mine in shallow water and almost never change the water....I don't heat or give any light either.
If they survive at 3C in the Swedish dark autumn they better breed at 20C with apartment lights on most of the time!
Yeast seems to be great food for them.
I didn't even feed them for the first month or so, so when I added some yeast the reproduction rate went up quite fast
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How dense are your Daphnia colonies? Can someone post a photo? My Daphnia culture is probably a joke when it comes to density since I have abused it so much...
 
Not sure who you asked Jesper.
At the moment I don't have a culture going. I live in a small apartment and only set a culture up when I need them.
And I didn't take pictures of what I had - wasn't so fabulous either as I needed them ;)
 
Though, if you're looking to use daphnia to their fullest potential, I don't believe feeding yeast all the time is a good idea. You could use green water or even something like roti-rich.

The most important things to do with daphnia? Have two cultures (just in case you lose the inhabitants in one) and be careful not to foul the water by over-feeding.

Cheers
 
Vance, what is Roti-rich and where is it available? I feed daphnia with a combination of yeast, soy powder, and spirulina powder. However, I have to let the heavier particles settle before feeding or else it tends to foul.
 
does it realy matter if some brine shrimp egg shells are swallod
 
hi all try getting clear storage tubs from most diy stores add normal tape water then add some well rotted manure leave for a week then add daphnia they will go mad depends on temperature though also start new cultures every so often otherwise you will run out cheers justin
 
Hi, this is certinaly and old topic, but I really need to find some Daphnia-- fast. I live here in Washington state and I am unable to locate them, however, I do have a pond nearby but I am hesitent to try and "harvest" them out of the water. Anyone know of a internet site that can send me a culture or live ones? thanks
 
Jeff,

Carolina Biological Supply, Wards, NASCO, and Connecticut Valley Biological Supply all sell daphnia and amphipods.
 
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