How To Grow Daphnia For The Aquarium

The benefits of feeding live food to fish in araising live foods for a long time, and has had
community tank are many: live food will improvegood success. His video presentation was top
vigor and color, and more closely resemble thenotch.
food found in the fish's natural habitat. Live food isPH levels for successful Daphnia cultures should be
easily obtained.in the range of 6-8, and should be more alkaline
Some drawbacks include the transmission ofthan acidic. If raised outdoors, no aeration is
diseases or parasites to the aquarium, it is timeneeded. If raised indoors, aeration should be
consuming to maintain the cultures, and a lot ofadjusted to produce large bubbles. Small bubbles in
space needs to be devoted to raising live foods.the daphnia culture will cause the bubbles to
The cost of equipment and supplies needed tobecome lodged in the carapace of the culture, and
maintain cultures is also a consideration for thethey will die.
beginner.Water temperatures for Daphnia magna are not a
In this article I will discuss how to raise Daphnia.high requirement, but the optimal temperature
This article will be part of an on-going series onshould be in the 64-72 degree range. they are
live foods. You can find many more relatedvery tolerant to changes in temperature, and can
articles onwithstand fluctuations down to freezing. In fact,
Daphnia belong to a group known as theDaphnia can be frozen and kept in the freezer,
Daphniidae, and are close relatives of theand then revived when needed. Moina withstand a
freshwater shrimp, and the brine shrimphigher fluctuation in temperature than do D.
(Artemia). Their generic name is generally referredmagna.
to as "water flea." This common name is derivedLighting should be in the neighborhood of eight or
from the jerky movements of Daphnia in themore hours light per day and light intensity equal
water. The over 150 different species can beto or greater than 850 lux. A simple light and a
found in North America, with a similar amount oftimer can accomplish this indoors.
species growing in Europe. Some of these speciesFeeding the Daphnia is where most aquarists fail.
find common ground on both continents.Daphnia feed on dissolved organic matter, yeast,
Daphnia are a small crustacean, and are great tovarious groups of bacteria, microalgae, and
use as a fresh food because they will exist in thedetritus, or mulm. Organic fertilizers, such as fresh
tank water until eaten by the fish. Daphnia cancow manure. It is not recommended by our
also be sterilized if it is felt necessary by placing inbreeder, though, because of the antibiotics and
a 5% solution of Clorox for 3 to 5 minutes. Verysupplements fed to dairy and beef cattle. A much
few micro-organisms can survive this. Be sure,better mixture is a combination of one tablespoon
however, to rinse them thoroughly beforeeach of spirulina, soy flour, and active dry yeast,
feeding!added to a pint of water. This mixture should be
Daphnia can be raised both indoors and outside.added so that the water is cloudy, but you are
Many people raise daphnia in a small children'sable to see the bottom clearly, and observe the
wading pool. A more controlled environment,Daphnia swimming in the culture. This mixture
however, is done indoors, and can be done yearshould be added carefully every two or three
round if one lives in northern climes. This can bedays, being careful not to over feed. At this time,
as simple as a couple of two liter bottles, to a 20you should see an abundance of Daphnia, and
gallon tub purchased from a store such asthey can be harvested to feed your fish.
Menard's. The ideal situation is to have as muchHarvesting is quite simple - simply use a small
oxygenated surface area as possible, so if thereaquarium net, observing that the smaller Daphnia
is room for a larger container, by all means use it.fall through the netting to grow further. In this
A shallower environment suits daphnia best forway, the adults are harvested, and can be fed to
prolific growth.your fish. The younger Daphnia can go on to
Setting up the environment for daphnia is quiteproduce still more fish food. Harvested Daphnia
simple. Many methods are used for collecting thecan be kept in the refrigerator for several days in
water to use for the culture. The best advice Iclean water.
have heard is from Joe F. of Circle City AquariumDaphnia are high in protein, and a very good diet
Club in Indianapolis, IN. He gave a presentation atfor tropical fish. Some aquarists feed them
the August meeting of Southwestern Michiganexclusively. They provide up to 70% protein to
Aquarium Society, and recommends using tankyour tropical fish, and are an excellent source of
water saved from a tank change. Joe has beenlive food for the aquarium.