Culturing Daphnia

[Austin.b]

I've been reading online about starting a Daphnia colony in a 5 or 10 gallon tank. Ive seen quite a bit of conflicting info too. I have some questions and was hoping someone could help!

What size tank Should I go with? 5 or 10G?
What's the recommended temperature of the tank? I was going to keep it at 75 degrees, is this ok?
What food should I feed, yeast, or baking soda?
New or aged water? Would dirty tank water be better?
Where could I get some daphnia to start my colony?
Would it be better to run a small clip on light 24/7? If so, what kind of light would be best?
How often should daphnia be fed to micro-fish like CPD's and Chili Rasboras?
Can I feed daphnia in a planted shrimp tank?
How much should I feed, maybe 1mL every few days?

Also, Any tips would definitely be appreciated!!! Thank you!

 

[obedey]

I too would be interested if anyone has done this.
Just got some from a mud puddle this morning.

I think maybe the bicarb is to increase the alkalinity of the water.
Fed them yeast today but plan to feed them green water later on.

From what I've read there are many different sub species with different temperature requirements.

Hopefully by grabbing some from my local area they should be ok without a heater. I may put one in the winter though.

 

[BillD]

I have been culturing daphnia since 1995. While I keep some in a container, my main culture is on the winter cover of my swimming pool. It restarts every spring, sometimes with help from me. Rightnow, the ice has been gone for about a week and a half and the daphnia are staring to multiply. I put some in that I had overwintered in a garbage can to speed things up. I don't feed them anything. There is enough organic material to fed infusoria in the water, which in turn is consumed by the daphnia. If I'm lucky the water will turn green and the daphnia will take off. Green water really is the best food. I get enough to freeze several bags and while the culture is booming, I keep them in front of all my fish 24/7( including mbuna ). With the daphnia there are also numerous types of aquatic insect larvae,including bloodworms and various other midge/gnat larvae. I don't think you can overfeed with daphnia, because of the high water content and bulk of the shells which allows them to be passed through the fish quickly. Growth during this short period every spring is phenomenal.
In summary, use the biggest container you have to culture, murky water is good, green water is better. You can use vegetable matter to add infusoria to the culture. Yeast should work, and I have heard of people using spirulina powder, but these would tend to get expensive. Don't heat the tank. Many types will die off once the water gets too warm. As well, you will be able to tell if the food supply is insufficient as they will start producing cysts which look like specks of pepper that will collect around the edges of the container. These cysts can be used to start or maintain a culture, and I suspect they work better if frozen before use.
For a source, they are where you find them. Typically they occur in standing water that has no fish life. If waterfowl visit the pond you are almost sure to have daphnia. The water does not have to be around all year to have daphnia in the spring.

 

[Austin.b]

I have been culturing daphnia since 1995. While I keep some in a container, my main culture is on the winter cover of my swimming pool. It restarts every spring, sometimes with help from me. Rightnow, the ice has been gone for about a week and a half and the daphnia are staring to multiply. I put some in that I had overwintered in a garbage can to speed things up. I don't feed them anything. There is enough organic material to fed infusoria in the water, which in turn is consumed by the daphnia. If I'm lucky the water will turn green and the daphnia will take off. Green water really is the best food. I get enough to freeze several bags and while the culture is booming, I keep them in front of all my fish 24/7( including mbuna ). With the daphnia there are also numerous types of aquatic insect larvae,including bloodworms and various other midge/gnat larvae. I don't think you can overfeed with daphnia, because of the high water content and bulk of the shells which allows them to be passed through the fish quickly. Growth during this short period every spring is phenomenal.
In summary, use the biggest container you have to culture, murky water is good, green water is better. You can use vegetable matter to add infusoria to the culture. Yeast should work, and I have heard of people using spirulina powder, but these would tend to get expensive. Don't heat the tank. Many types will die off once the water gets too warm. As well, you will be able to tell if the food supply is insufficient as they will start producing cysts which look like specks of pepper that will collect around the edges of the container. These cysts can be used to start or maintain a culture, and I suspect they work better if frozen before use.
For a source, they are where you find them. Typically they occur in standing water that has no fish life. If waterfowl visit the pond you are almost sure to have daphnia. The water does not have to be around all year to have daphnia in the spring.

Great!! Thank you for all the info! Where are you located? So, I will only feed green water. Hopefully I can find some! thanks for all the help!

 

[BillD]

Some people have great luck growing green water by taking a soda bottle, generally 2 liter, filling it with old tank water and placing in the sun. As my sig shows, I'm in Canada, just east of Toronto.

 

[Austin.b]

Some people have great luck growing green water by taking a soda bottle, generally 2 liter, filling it with old tank water and placing in the sun. As my sig shows, I'm in Canada, just east of Toronto.

I'll try the greenwater. I'm on the app version and it dosent show signatures.