Transition from live to frozen food

[blueberlin]

Hi all,

My larvae are 3 weeks old and have front legs with toes, back legs only buds at most. I've tossed defrosted worms in with my larvae; is there some trick to help them make the transition from live food?

Thanks!

 

[blueberlin]

Well, they didn't eat the worms. What a mess in there now.

Any tips?

 

[philbaker76]

I start to mix a little frozen food when I notice them "sniffing out" their food.

But I have always struggled to get them on dead food or pellets early. Mine usually have more than buds for the back legs before they'll start taking it.

 

[blueberlin]

Oh.

Ok good to know. I haven't really noticed them actually sniffing food yet. Probably wise to wait for such key moments first, eh?

Lord knows I love them but they are little black holes of hunger. Long weekends like this one we just had are difficult for maintaining food levels. It might be time for me to start breeding daphnia myself, I reckon.

 

[philbaker76]

Some of the guys on the forum can get them on pellets/frozen food a lot earlier - that's just me.

If you're having ago at breeding daphnia - I'm trialing a 2ltr bottle technique that I read about somewhere. Only been doing it a couple of weeks, but it seems to be going OK.

Basically, 2ltr pop bottle, 2/3 water some daphnia with some green water - so it's sort of murky, when it clears add some more. You'll need loads of bottles though.

As the weather has been good here, my buckets outside are doing well too.

 

[blueberlin]

I was wondering if they would breed right in the aquarium. Certainly enough bacteria to feed them there, no?

 

[SarahandRich]

GYO Daphnia

my buckets outside are doing well too.

Same here - I used some old rain water that had been laying around in garden pots and added a pack of live daphnia from the pet shop. We now have HUGE colonies of them. I never feed them, just leave them to their own devices in the green water. We have more and more buckets of them now as they just breed like crazy! I use old tank water to fill the next bucket and some from the existing lot to start it off. Its like the 'ginger beer plant'... once you start them you cant stop them!

My axolotls dont need them anymore, but its still a nice, free snack - and we do need to get rid of them now (daphnia not axies!!)

 

[blueberlin]

I was wondering if they would breed right in the aquarium. Certainly enough bacteria to feed them there, no?

Or have I not understood the answer?

 

[philbaker76]

Or have I not understood the answer?

I don't think you'll get a population explosion of daphnia..

I might introduce some daphnia to my adults set-up, to see how it goes. Like you say, there should be enough food for some daphnia to survive and they should help keep the water clean (again, assuming you don't have a powerful water filter going).

 

[blueberlin]

What do daphnia eggs look like? For example, are they egg sacs or individual eggs or do they birth live? I can't seem to find this information and I'd hate to think I was siphoning out valuable future food.

 

[philbaker76]

They are mainly live barers - but in winter, or if pool is drying up - I think they do lay eggs (or something like that).

From what I've read, they just clone this time of year and breed when it's cooler. So to answer your question live birth

 

[blueberlin]

Understood. Thanks so much!