Creating a Daphnia tank

[bhavik95]

Hi im thinking of having my own live daphnia tank so i can feed them to my fishes.

i was thinking how i would go about doing that?
also i was wondering is there a way of creating daphnia without have a live culture to start with and how i would go about doing that?

thanks for your responses

 

[bhavik95]

Hello? Anyone help me


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[BillD]

You need at least a few to strat the culture going. They do really well in green water. They can also be fed yeast, which can get messy over time. you can use a pail or almost any container. I keep some rotting vegetable material in the container which feeds bacteria and infusoria that the daphnia feed on. If you can create green water that is the best food of all. yo don't need any filtration or aeration but it is best if it doesn't get too warm. ramshorn snails help with the culture as well.

 

[bhavik95]

Hi thanks for that im planning on getting a culture from my pet shop.

i have a 20 litre red cherry shrimp tank and it gets a lot of algae all over the glass so i was wondering could i keep the daphnia with them in the same tank?

thanks

 

[BillD]

You could but you need to be able to feed them without fouling the water for the shrimp. The daphnia can't remove algae stuck to the glass.

 

[bhavik95]

Can the daphnia eat the same food the shrimps eat?

I feed them small pellets which they break up and is released into the water?


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[Autumnsky]

Did you ever get the Daphnia?

 

[bhavik95]

No I haven't gotten them as of yet as I still don't have much clue on how to take care of them.
I was thinking of putting them in a bucket with an air stone would that work?

And for food I would put one pellet in that usual makes the water cloudy

 

[Autumnsky]

They eat green water algae. To make that you can just add some fish food to a glass jug like a gallon or 2 type size and fish water and leave in the sun. They will eat yeast also as mentioned.

Recently I was at a breeders home fish room set up and he had stock tanks in the back yard with had uncountable numbers of Daphnia in reddish orange swarms. If you have room outside a huge plastic tub tote would work. And really inexpensive.

The small amount of them I got previously from a hobby friend went outside in my buckets under a tree.

When I checked yesterday in the buckets I added them to, there wasn't any green water left - all crystal clear but no Daphnia so I realize I should have been feeding them too. I am hoping to get a new trial amount of them this next week

 

[bhavik95]

I was planning on keeping the bucket indoors as its easier for me to check up on them.
would it not be possible to feed them pellets or would that not work?
ok i will try that to make green water. can i leave the jar on the window sill? but it doesnt get direct sunlight so would it still help?

oh no :/ I am planning on getting the daphnia from my pet store they keep them in small bags in the fridge for some reason so would i be able to use that and slowly acclimatise it to my tank water?
would they still live and breed?

thanks

 

[Fresh2o]

The daphnia are kept in the fridge to lower their metabolism (thus, reduce the need for oxygen and food). They keep longer this way until they are sold.
You could use these for starting a culture. Yeast can be used as a food source as well as green water. Here are some articles on daphnia cultures that may provide some help:
http://www.caudata.org/daphnia/
http://www.discushatchery.com/raisingdaphnia.html
http://www.livefoodcultures.com/Daphnia.html



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[bhavik95]

Oh ok thanks for that information. That is what I was thinking getting my starter culture from there and see how it gets on.
Also would it be fine for me to keep my culture in a plastic box I got it from ikea and was going to and some tank water and a air pipe and keep the daphnia in there?
Also as for the lighting I'm not going to be buying a separate light for it would it be fine with what ever light it gets from the window?

 

[bhavik95]

Can anyone help me please?

Thanks


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[Fresh2o]

Can anyone help me please?

Thanks


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With what? Your questions in post #12? Did you read the information in the links?
The answers are yes and yes ...assuming that volume of the container you are planning to use is at least a gallon and is non-toxic and that you use yeast or a product called Liquifry as a food source.


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[bhavik95]

That's fine but what about what I said about the lighting?

Thanks


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[bhavik95]

Hello? Please reply


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[Fresh2o]

In post #14 I replied with two answers (yes/yes) to your two questions.
Did you read the links? In the third link are the following excerpts. Basically, if you are using green water as a food for the daphnia, then you will need a strong light source. However, there are other sources of food for them:
"The smaller the container the more attention you will need to pay to the environment...food, water quality and temperature. It is fairly easy to monitor a one gallon container...we have done so many times and for extended period...on the kitchen counter."
"We have been 'experimenting' with several alternatives to greenwater. We have been surpirsed and plesed to find that cultures can easily be maintained indoors in gallon and five gallon containers. A one gallon glass jar can develop a colony of daphnia large enough to supply a few adult Bettas with a live menu item every other day."
"By accident (they do happen), be found that daphnia do very well on a product called "Liquifry." We grabbed for a bottle of another product we were testing and picked up a bottle of Liquifry instead...a drop per day in a one gallon colony seems to be the right amount...it varies with the density of the colony."
"Using a gallon jar and Liquifry allows a person living in a small apartment to grow daphnia."
"Some folks use a yeast and water solution for feeding daphnia."


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[bhavik95]

Ok thank you for that I just had one last question would I be able to feed them very finely crushed up flake food?

This is something I use to feed baby fry and they seem to eat that


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[Fresh2o]

Ok thank you for that I just had one last question would I be able to feed them very finely crushed up flake food?

This is something I use to feed baby fry and they seem to eat that


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I would look for a product called LiquiFry or something similar. Or a suspension of activated yeast. Not sure if the crushed flake food would be suitable for the daphnia.


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