why are my daphnia producing ephippia?

[OZIRIS]

Hello,

I would know why my daphnia are producing ephippia. I have seen some females with ephippia but no one dead yet. Maybe Is my culture crashing? or is it anything natural that happens in cultures?

Some ephippia are floating with the empty caparace in the surface, could I dry them for the future?

I change the water twice a week and I feed them with a bit of spirulina and yeast everyday when the water is clear and transparent again.

I hope some advice.

:happy:

 

[Jennewt]

The most usual reason for daphnia to make ephippia is crowding. They are able to "sense" the population density, and even if you feed them enough, they will still make ephippia. I would recommend harvesting more and/or moving them to a larger tub.

In theory, you could harvest the ephippia and re-hydrate them later. But this is a difficult way to start a colony, as you get very few.

 

[OZIRIS]

Interesting, thanks. I'll do some changes in my method then.


Maybe I'll dry some ephippia to experiment in the future. I have seen some sites selling daphnia eggs, It should work.