A new friend

[AbbeysDad]

In my Blog, I posted about collecting free fish food. In an experiment this year I also set up a 5' round kiddie pool and seeded it with some Red Russian Daphnia. After a week or so, I had a new friend.

Here's a closer look:

Now I have a 5g bucket I sit on across from him to collect daphnia and mosquito larvae and if I don't bother him, he's fine to just sit there sunning himself. Now I don't know where he came from as there are no ponds nearby that I know of. Anyway, he's almost a pet now!
Btw, the kiddie pool is a productive daphnia/mosquito larvae producer...I had doubts due to the shallow depth and the high temps we saw a while back. But they endured.

 

[FishGuest5123]

So cute!

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Lol, cute! (What his name? )

 

[Retired Viking]

I had frogs show up in my big plastic container I use for raising larvae too. I left them alone and they seem to spend time in my wife's garden which is great.

 

[mbsqw1d]

@AbbeysDad are the daphnia still going in this setup? Whats the coldest they could survive?

 

[Colin_T]

Daphnia can tolerate cold water down to 1-2C. If it freezes they die but should have dormant eggs that hatch in spring when it warms up.

 

[AbbeysDad]

@AbbeysDad are the daphnia still going in this setup? Whats the coldest they could survive?

I believe that they tolerate cold better than hot. They continue to be active with the water temperature now down to 50°F with the cool nights. However, I don't think they're as prolific as they were at 70°F. This will be the first year that I leave bins/pool full of water over winter to see if they come back on their own in the spring. Meanwhile, I have cultures in the basement. But for reasons that escape me, I can seem keep them going all winter, but not with any practical production as fish food...while outdoors, in season, they go gang busters.