culturing daphnia and other freshwater inverts?

[kennef]

heya all,

i posted some pics of some eastern newts my daughter got for me, and of course now that i have these, i was thinking naturally about the possibility of using live inverts for a feeding supplement, such as daphnia.

has anyone cultured daphnia, and if so, is it a difficult operation?
Eastern newts can certainly eat other things, but i was thinking of working them into the eco system of a tank as well.

Also, because i think its cute... i post another pic...

 

[BillD]

I have a huge daphnia culture going right now, on the winter cover of my swimming pool. The key to good production, is green water; the greener the better. You can culture them in a pail or a tank, inside or out. Fertilize the water (soil or manure works, or tank water) so it will go green, and add some daphnia. Those are the basics, but success can be affected by a number of factors, such as temp and food supply.

 

[toddnbecka]

I have a 30 long containing FW shrimp similar to cherry shrimp. After they have established a sufficient population, I figure they'll be a great source of live food. The newly hatched shrimp are very small, not much larger than daphnia. The adults are around 1.25", suitable for larger fish. Naturally, they can be harvested at any size in between...

 

[tropicfishman]

what in the world is daphnia exactly?

 

[toddnbecka]

A pinhead-size FW crustacean. makes great live food for little fish.

 

[kennef]

I have a 30 long containing FW shrimp similar to cherry shrimp. After they have established a sufficient population, I figure they'll be a great source of live food. The newly hatched shrimp are very small, not much larger than daphnia. The adults are around 1.25", suitable for larger fish. Naturally, they can be harvested at any size in between...

toddnbecka,

did you happen to get the stargrass from our trade ok? i didnt hear backa nd was kinda worried something happened. i like the idea of using shrimp as feeders, but ghost shrimp don't seem to last long enough to breed for me.

 

[tropicfishman]

hmmm intresting maybe some of my tiger barbs would like daphnia.....I'll get a small container of some tommrow, any brands reccomended?

 

[toddnbecka]

Oh, the plants arrived fine, sorry I neglected to tell you sooner. (No new is good news... )