Success raising Daphnia???

[JeffreyRichard]

Who has had luck raising daphnia?

What are your secrets?

Thanks

[killimaniaco]

Guess, the secret is a very well guarded one. I came to this message while doing a search for the same. I raise daphnia but, still a bit worried about giving it to my discus.

[BobDaniel]

I kept them in a 75 gallon aquarium with a small sponge filter. I had a bright light on them to help grow algae. I would feed them some spirolina powder a couple times a week. I also had some bottles of algae water working in the sun for food. I did not then know about feeding them yeast or putting a bit of grass clippings iin the water to create some bacteria for them to feed on. I will use these methods next time I get a culture.

There are a few good You Tube videos on the subject. I'd go with whatever works for you and you feel comfortable using. It's not hard and the amount of work is minimal. When the culture starts to die off in cooler weather, I understand the daphnia drop eggs in tnot the sediment at the bottom of the tank. By drying it and rehydrating later, I hear the culture will come back as the new eggs hatch.

I never had any problems with the fish eating them. The jerky movements of the daphnia swimming sets the fish off in an unbelieveable feeding frenzy. The discus will hunt for the daphnia afterwards for hours. The type I had was Magna. but I know there are much smaller types that would be greatly suited for very small discus. It seems to me that this would be a great food as it won't foul the tank and will live days until found.

If it worked for the great Schmidt-Focke, it will work for us! I read years ago one of his kids was asked "What does your dad do for a living". After some reflection "A daphnia catcher" was the response. That still makes me smile!!

[John_Nicholson]

I am on vacation and my ability to post is pretty limited but I have raised them by the thousands. I have a 55 gallon food grade barrel that I keep on its side. I have a hole cut out for access. I keep a light on them but you really cannot make enough green water to get a good colony. The secret is to feed them yeast about once a week. The biggest mistake that people make is to put in to much of the yeast water. They don't need a lot of it. Put in too much and you will kill most of your colony, but the good news is that if any survive you will have more then you need in short order. They mulipy like crazy.

-john

[BobDaniel]

I was thinking of setting a rubbermaid container under a big willow oak in the backyard. I'll have to get some mosquito proof scrim to put over it and go from there. I'm glad to see that others use this food and raise it succesfully. It's been awhile for me and I'm getting the old thrill back! I won't need to raise as many as I used to as I'll only be allowed 1 tank and 6 to 8 fish by my wife unless we move and get a more fish friendly home.

[BobDaniel]

Here is a good site on culturing daphnia. Everything you might want to know is here: http://www.caudata.org/daphnia/#cult1

[DiscusDrew]

Rarely talked about but I do a very basic set up with a spare 29 gallon. Its move to have a constant or pretty constant culture that is very consistent and relatively maintenance free. I like it as a transitional food between brine shrimp feedings and moving to straight dry foods. Keeps them being feed live foods which i've only seen as a positive advantage with these kinds of things.

[BobDaniel]

I received my culture yesterday. The daphnia seem smaller than I remember them....anyway I have a Rubbermaid container in the back yard filled about 1/2 way with aged water and some straw bits. I also have three smaller cultures in empty lemonaid bottles also filled with aged water and straw. I fed all of them with a spoontip of spirolina and a few grains of Bakers Yeast mixed in a small glass of warm water. This was dispersersed among the cultures. They all have lived 24 hours!! The adults are at a size the 3 inch discus can easily accept.