Getting some Daphnia

[Phantomlink]

I finally found a science supply site that agreed to sell me Daphnia even though they generally sell to schools. I have two orders in ( each enough for 35 students, we'll see how many I get per jar ) which will be shipped out tomorrow and arrive Thursday so I had some questions.

I skimmed/read over the Daphnia article you guys have here, but since everyplace mentions different things I just wanted to carify.

I plan to host each culture in their own 10g tank incase I get the out of nowhere crash. I know alot of places say "old tank water" but how old is defined as old? I just did my weekly waterchanges today but I do have a 50 gallon roomtemp tank that I haven't done in a few weeks because theres just a shubunkin in it. Would this work for now? Its too cold outside to keep containers of water out there.

I have no means to slow down the airflow so the tanks will have no airpipe in them, I've read lots of people do it this way anyways

Feeding: I've read alot on spirulina and will look for it at the health store but will also use the yeast method. I dont think I'll be able to grow green water, especially with the shipment coming in 2 days. Do you just mix the powers with tank water in a container and pour it in?

Light - how much light to give? I saw somewhere 15-20 hours a day but not direct sunlight which was weird to me because dont they eat algae?

Waterchange - How much, how often and how hard is it to not grab Daphnia while doing the change?

 

[Niels D]

I only have a culture standing outside in spring, summer and autumn for our larvae. You can use old aquarium water or rain water. Put it in a transparant curver (or glass aquarium if it won't be freezing anymore) and wait untill there's algae in the water. This will probably take a week if you've got enough sunshine. After that you can throw in some daphnia. To boost your culture you can add a little bird feces (seriously). I use a goose dropping. This will increase the growth of algae. In water where there are birds like ducks and such you see a great amount of dapnia instead of cyclops or other little crustations for some reason. I believe there are papers describing this, but I just use this method with succes. A little bit of milk or yeast can increase the growth of algae as well, but in my experience nothing beats the bird poo.

 

[Phantomlink]

Doesnt leaving containers of water outside leave a chance for something to get in the water and infect/kill my daphnia when I pour the algae water into their tank? They are arriving tomorrow which doesn't let me get green water in time, I'll have to stick to yeast and spirulina for now while I tackle a few ways to grow my own algae

 

[Niels D]

It's a small risk if you ask me. Maybe a cat will drink out of the container, or some bugs will drown in it. It's also possible that a bird will drop something in it, which can be a good thing. If you check your container every day you can get rid of bigger animals which somehow got in your container. Don't put your container beneath a tree or shrubbery which has poisonous leaves or fruit.

 

[Phantomlink]

I live in an apartment so it would be on my balcony on the second floor so only insects could get near it.

Seems the lab didnt get my order sent to them, so its being mailed Monday to arrive Tuesday so I have a few more days of researching

 

[Jonathanboucher]

Are They live daphnia or the starter culture??
Any idea if they are daphnia magna??
Would you mind sharing this supplier??

 

[KevinMarshall]

If you already have a goldfish just let the tank water go green and use this. You will have to put the tank in full light. No gravel and no plants But do provide aeration If all goes well you will have do a full water change every couple of days. Just use the old tank water to feed your daphnia culture

Might be easier to use Spirulina I buy the powder on line from an aquaculture supplier. I put a little in a pop bottle add water shake it up and pour it into the daphnia culture. Easy