Growing Daphnia In A Shrimp Tank

saz326 · Apr 28, 2009

Ive currently got a pot of daphnia that Im feeding and maintaining,

anyone know if they would survive and breed in my shrimp/fry tank (currently have no fry!)

The tank is lit, and has naturally growing algae on the glass. Would they eat the algae off the glass or do they need free floating algae?

saz326 · Apr 29, 2009

...drives over a BUMP!.

surely someones tried this...?

saltynay · Apr 29, 2009

They need green water which normally has to low a water quality for the shrimp to survive in. Any filter will also very easily suck them up. Just get a bucket leave it outside in the sun then add the daphnia after a couple of weeks its how I keep mine.

keenonfish · Apr 29, 2009

saltynay said:
They need green water which normally has to low a water quality for the shrimp to survive in. Any filter will also very easily suck them up. Just get a bucket leave it outside in the sun then add the daphnia after a couple of weeks its how I keep mine.

It's funny you should say they need poor quality water but quite often where ever I have seen daphnia or other water fleas, including water mites in the 'wild' so to speak, it has quite often been the freshest spring water that collects in a sort small drinking basin (usually for horses etc) before flowing off. I know of a great example in Derbyshire and it is teaming with the little critters but is also crystal clear and fresh - I really must harvest some this year!

saltynay · Apr 29, 2009

I think you read my statement a little wrong or I phrased badly they don't need poor water quality they will survive in any water, the issue is that they need free floating algae to mainly support themselves to get sufficient numbers to harvest. Filtration tends to reduce the amount of free floating algae and can suck up the daphnia so the lack of filtrationgenerally leads to lower water quality being present.

three-fingers · Apr 29, 2009

Some would survive and breed in the fry tank, but the population would remain very low.

They don't do well at all with filters though.

keenonfish · Apr 30, 2009

saltynay said:
I think you read my statement a little wrong or I phrased badly they don't need poor water quality they will survive in any water, the issue is that they need free floating algae to mainly support themselves to get sufficient numbers to harvest. Filtration tends to reduce the amount of free floating algae and can suck up the daphnia so the lack of filtrationgenerally leads to lower water quality being present.

Ahh ok.