Live food for dummies

[Back in the fold]

After I try out grindal worms, I might find a space for a 5 gallon tank to cultivate daphnia. I would really like something insect based that's somewhat consistent. And that I can have year round.

Me too . I want to try daphnia . I think the hardest thing about it is feeding them and finding the sweet spot between too many daphnia and the culture crashing . Like anything else a guy just has to jump in and go for it . No real expense to it so you won’t be out anything other than a little of your time .

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I couldn't get my brine shrimp culture going, crashed every single time I tried after about 3 days. So that was sad

 

[fish48]

Me too . I want to try daphnia . I think the hardest thing about it is feeding them and finding the sweet spot between too many daphnia and the culture crashing . Like anything else a guy just has to jump in and go for it . No real expense to it so you won’t be out anything other than a little of your time .

for best resorts a 10 gal plus would be better it's easy to culture and feed, when kept outside winter months in the UK most of the daphnia will die

 

[Back in the fold]

for best resorts a 10 gal plus would be better it's easy to culture and feed, when kept outside winter months in the UK most of the daphnia will die

Just so happens I have a ten gallon that isn’t doing anything right now so maybe it’s time I got off the fence . What and how do you feed your daphnia ? There seems to be as many different ways as there are guys doing it .

 

[Magnum Man]

I would be hesitant to start daphnia, as none of my fish would ever try the small can of freeze dried… I’m sure the swimming action of live would’ve got them going, but I’ll start with my 2 worms, and brine shrimp to see how those go…
as far as brine shrimp go, what kind of temperature is needed… the worms will be in cool darker basement… maybe brine shrimp need more light, and warmer???

 

[Back in the fold]

@Magnum Man Your worms in the basement is good . Cooler and darker is always best for worms . Brine shrimp do seem to need light to activate the hatching process. Warmth helps but I get fair results at the mid 70‘s degree range . About 80 is optimal. Some guys make a wooden box with an incandescent light bulb in it for warmth and that works great . I saw a picture in Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine of one that a guy made with silver foil bubble wrap insulation stuff and I think I’ll try that because , while I am many things , I ain’t no carpenter .

 

[fish48]

Just so happens I have a ten gallon that isn’t doing anything right now so maybe it’s time I got off the fence . What and how do you feed your daphnia ? There seems to be as many different ways as there are guys doing it .

how i culture daphnia with great success, I fill tank/ container with old tank water I then add some bakers yeast to a jar of water and mix to a paste and slowly pour it into tank into the water goes cloudy, i add two or three bags of Daphnia the equivalent of what you would usually get from your local fish store the daphnia will feed on the yeast within 4 or 5 days the water will go clear and repeat process . Daphneia don't need to be kept in sunlight or at a high temperature it's optional to use a small sponge filter, I prefer not to use filter but water start to mell after 4 5 weeks

 

[Colin_T]

Posting this again. It's long and boring but has info on green water and infusoria, which Daphnia feed on. The bigger the container, the less chance of the culture crashing. Daphnia need cool water and if the water goes above 20C, they regularly die off. You can let the culture dry out for a few months, then start it again with green water and there should be dormant eggs that hatch and start a new colony.

Back to Basics when Breeding Fish

STARTING OUT Make sure you have a pair, (1 male + 1 female). There is nothing worse than spending your hard-earned dollars buying a couple of fish to try and breed and ending up with a pair of fish of the same sex. Let's face it, to reproduce fish you need a male and a female. Two males won't do...

www.fishforums.net

Newly hatched brineshrimp (nauplii) need to be moved into a clean container of saltwater that is green soup. If you leave the nauplii in the hatching container, the rotting egg shells cause ammonia, which kills the nauplii.

 

[fish48]

natural green water would be more suitable sometimes it can be difficult to create green water inside/ shed with little daylight. during the winter months, there are many options feeding daphnia as I have mentioned bakers yeast, or brewers yeast can be used. Spirulina powder, spinach, lettuce, even flake food can be used , it also applies when feeding mosquito larvae or paramecium

 

[sharkweek178]

One of the kids who comes around knocked over my mosquito bucket. He has some issues. I had actually invited him to join me when I harvested some and fed them to my fish. I thought he might like that. His mom said that he doesn't really like bugs. At some point later on, he decided he wanted to save the mosquito larvae from me, so he knocked the bucket over. I'm letting his parents deal with him.
So now I'm starting over with that.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Thankfully mozzies don't need too much persuading

 

[sharkweek178]

Thankfully mozzies don't need too much persuading

And it just so happens that I'm doing a water change today. So I'll have plenty of used tank water.

 

[Magnum Man]

may need to put that bucket out of sight... was lion king to violent for the neighbor boy??? circle of life my friend...

 

[sharkweek178]

I started a couple of grindal worm cultures. Here's how they look...

This one is coconut fiber.



And this one is peat moss.



The one with peat moss looks like it has more worms. But that might just be because I scooped more out when I was adding the starter culture. I'll give them a few weeks. I'm feeding them dry kitten food and spraying with dechlorinated water to dampen them every day.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I started a couple of grindal worm cultures. Here's how they look...

This one is coconut fiber.

View attachment 322027

And this one is peat moss.

View attachment 322028

The one with peat moss looks like it has more worms. But that might just be because I scooped more out when I was adding the starter culture. I'll give them a few weeks. I'm feeding them dry kitten food and spraying with dechlorinated water to dampen them every day.

So I just watched a few videos on culturing these...the dudes were using scourer pads! No soil or coconut fibre...and one guy dunked the pad into his fish tank to clean it! not to feed the fish but to rinse out the pad of all the muck it accumulates after a week

I'd like to have a go but I don't know if my stomach is strong enough