Daphnia

[MattW]

Got this blurry photo of some daphnia in my fry tank today. I'm assuming this is mating?

I am not sure if this is the same daphnia but they look like eggs to me

I am not complaining though, need as much live food as possible for the hungry little fry

 

[Back in the fold]

VERY cool pictures of the daphnia . Do you culture them yourself ? If so , how do you feed your culture ?

 

[MattW]

I just bought a bag from my LFS and released them into my fry tank and now they are thriving. Well, the adults are babies not so much . All I feed this tank is a pellet that is crushed into a fine powder for the smallest fry.

 

[JohnnyReb]

I just bought a bag from my LFS and released them into my fry tank and now they are thriving. Well, the adults are babies not so much . All I feed this tank is a pellet that is crushed into a fine powder for the smallest fry.

Newly hatched fry cannot eat adult Daphnia but can eat very small juveniles, microworms are better for the first 72 hours then BBS and flakes.

 

[Back in the fold]

Newly hatched fry cannot eat adult Daphnia but can eat very small juveniles, microworms are better for the first 72 hours then BBS and flakes.

Microworms are good to have because you can feed them several times a day while you’re waiting for BBS to hatch . New fry grow best on multiple daily feedings .

 

[gwand]

Where do you obtain micro worms?

 

[MaloK]

Yeast is a good food for Daphnia and can also be consumed by the small fry.

 

[MattW]

Newly hatched fry cannot eat adult Daphnia but can eat very small juveniles, microworms are better for the first 72 hours then BBS and flakes.

This is the second time I've ever bred fish. So have never used BBS or microworms. Trying to keep things low cost. Crushed flakes/pellets have worked for me so far along with my own infusoria culture. Of course, they won't be getting the best and most nutritious food possible, but I've had a healthy 20+ Sawbwa group get to adults and now Ricefish that are not too far from adulthood as well. The daphnia are in that tank as an alternative food source.

 

[MattW]

Yeast is a good food for Daphnia and can also be consumed by the small fry.

Didn't know that might give that a go.

 

[JohnnyReb]

Where do you obtain micro worms?

You buy a culture and keep it up.

 

[JohnnyReb]

Yeast is a good food for Daphnia and can also be consumed by the small fry.

Yeast is an iffy thing, you can kill them quicker than with green water.

 

[fish48]

Yeast is an iffy thing, you can kill them quicker than with green water.

when it comes to feeding yeast you need to be careful not to overfeed it is quick and easy to use and as good as green water

 

[JohnnyReb]

when it comes to feeding yeast you need to be careful not to overfeed it is quick and easy to use and as good as green water

Yeast in nowhere as good as green water as it has no nutrients. Green water on the other hand is nutrient rich phytoplankton. You cannot kill daphnia by overfeeding green water, but you can kill them graveyard dead with improper yeast feeding. I have tried both, and there is no comparison. With yeast you are just waiting for them to crash from overfeeding which is impossible with green water. Yeast fouls the water when overdone and there is no good idea what is too much.

 

[JohnnyReb]

Daphnia magna adults are too large for small fry. I culture "Russian Red" and they are too large for betta fry as adults but the babies are edible by small fry. If you want a culture for small fry you should culture Moina in green water. Order a quart of green water culture and when it comes in add it to a quart, wait 5 days and take the 2 quarts and add 2 quarts, wait 5 days and add the gallon to a gallon. You see the progression. In a few weeks you will be adding 5 gallons and making 10 gallons. You need fertilizer to culture green water, as it is like a plant. When you get to that point dump in your Daphnia/Moina and forget them for a few weeks. When the water begins to clear, filter out 2 gallons put the Daphnia/Moina from the 2 gallons back in and add 2 gallons of culture. No constant feeding like in yeast feeding.

 

[JohnnyReb]

Where do you obtain micro worms?

Order a culture from eBay.