Another Daphnia thread

[pastry]

Sorry sorry sorry for another thread on daphnia. I've searched on here and on the net several times and found threads that alluded sort of to what I was trying to find out but then the threads "squirreled off" in other directions.

What I'd like to do is eventually have my pair in the community raise another brood (using my "half arsed net" as a divider) and then once big enough, scoop out at least half of the little guys and put them into a 20 gallon my wife brought home. Now, I've done the BBS thing in the past but wondered if daphnia would be easier to keep "out of sight, out of mind" of my wife. Back when we did the BBS we had it in the "junk room". Now, the "junk room" is the nursery for our next son in a few weeks. She said "NO" to the BBS again because we have no where that she'll approve of for having it set up. I asked, "what about under the tank?" but she said she didn't want to hear another aerator. Sooo... could I set up a daphnia culture with no aerator? Could it be room temp? I've read enough to see that they are bigger than BBS and usually if people use them then they are after BBS but at what age/size can baby discus hunt them down and eat'em? 3,4,5,6 weeks old?

I'm open to alternatives too. Had some good ideas in the past about FDBW and a coffee grinder. Almost did it until wife caught me with the coffee grinder... hehehee... whoops.

Guys & gals, I agree with you that nothing's going to beat BBS as a first food but just trying to see if other's have had any success with anything else. I may be able to make a few batches of BBS for a week (maaaaybe) but putting out some feelers.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!! Don't burn any places down for any fellow turkey-fry'ers out there!

[joanstone]

I have good success with shaved frozen blackworms, shaved frozen PE mysis, etc.

[Len]

raising bbs will take less room than you'd use for daphnia and will give you a more consistent source. A 2 ltr pop bottle and airline doesn't take much room and a small pump is nearly silent. Your wife definitely wont go for the daphnia. I've been doing daphnia for about a month and they certainly aren't multiplying as quickly as I thought they would. In terms of size, the small ones aren't much larger than bbs (or at least to the naked eye), but collecting enough at that size to feed new fry would be a chore for sure.

[Skip]

Frozen Cyclo-peeze..

[pastry]

Joan, once again, thanks! I'll take your other ideas too.

Len, alright, you've definitely opened my eyes further (space needed). I read about people keeping a culture outside and may do that in the future just for seeing what it's all about. I think I missed the bus this year though since the cooler weather is setting in.

Skip, I'll look into that but have a feeling that's an awesome google joke ("frozen Cyclops peeze")... I'm not going to get a picture of a cold pecker peeing am I? ha haaa...

[joanstone]

Cyclop-eeze is a great idea, too. It's often packaged with PE mysis so it's a win, win. Golden Pearls are another option. What I've done in the past in a mixture of Cyclop-eeze, Golden Pearls, decap non-hatching brine shrimp eggs and BBS. To make hatching brine easier/less objectionable, I use inverted water bottles (Vitamin Water Zero bottles work fine). I use one of these in a tank:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3728+3768+15485&pcatid=15485

I just put the inverted bottles with airstones on rigid tubing in one of those and it keeps the temp good and it's out of the way, convenient and not much extra really, just kind of part of the tank. In the past, I have also used magna-scraper magnets to hold the bottles in a tank or sump.

[Fundulopanchax]

I raise Daphnia in the summer outside and they do very well. Inside is another story. They are a real pain, multiplying slowly. Newly hatched BBS are far more nutritious and close to infinitely simpler. I have used Cyclop-eez and golden pearls in the past to compare to bbs. The fry grew but were way behind those that got bbs. Two brine shrimp hatcheries in 2 liter bottles in a 5.5 gal tank with heater take up very little room compared to a daphnia setup. A 2.5 gal tank can also be used but is a bit cramped.

Ron

[pastry]

Thanks Ron. Yep, I think Joan's given me ideas over PM to consolidate some equipment to take up an even smaller footprint with BBS than I ever thought of. Thanks to all of you! Aaaand.... sorry for yet another daphnia thread.

Ron, I might harass you in the future to see if I can pick your brain more on daphnia outside if that's alright. Still would like to toss them on the menu in the future for variance.

Skip, thanks again for the Cyclopeez idea.