# Daphnia help



## Rossfett (May 15, 2011)

I'm looking for serious help and advice, sorry for the long description.
I started two cultures of daphnia magna at the beginning of August, and they thrived until the beginning of November. I used aged and aquarium water and they are under a 100 watt bulb for light about 14 hours a day.
Both cultures crashed within a week of each other. I bought a plastic round fish bowl, but not spherical and removed some of the daphnia and put the last survivors inside. I bought a new culture from ebay and put the green water that came with the culture in the new fish bowl. I fed the other two cultures yeast and aquarium water, and headed out of town for three days. I have air pumped into the tank, but no airstone.
When I returned from my trip, all three cultures crashed, there was a fuzzy white/black detritus on the bottom of the two containers and no daphnia, but tons of copepods. I didn't see any copepods in the containers before I left.
I have a little bit of duckweed in the containers and common pond snails. 
Noted also is that I live in small New York apartment, creating my own green water is near impossible due to light/space. 
I have two glass jars, that used to house honey, 16" high by 6" in diameter, which I'd like to start a new culture in. I have scrubbed them with baking soda and vinegar in case of any soap residue. 

Can anyone tell what might be going wrong? I'm worried about my Dario Dario, as they are living off of brine shrimp at the moment and I know it can cause health problems. 

Does anyone in NYC have a culture they'd like to share with me? I'm not excited to shell out more money for shipping.


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

100 Daphnia Magna Starter Culture Live Fish Food | eBay
What type Daphnia are you trying to grow ? These are easy. I have not had any luck/w other types yet either.


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## Arthur7 (Feb 22, 2013)

I believe that the culture of Daphnia in the manner described rarely succeeds. I have over the summer in several small ponds Daphnia. I also feed yeast. But more importantly lime. Carbon Sauerer lime. During the growth of these animals change the shells. The need to always build the new shells. Without lime that is impossible.
The sun makes the water green. Phytoplankton as feed. In autumn they are among the duckweed. (Much skim).
The only way cladocerans Moina are to be cultivated in the home in small vessels.


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## paronaram (Jul 12, 2008)

I don't have much success ether, but at least it's not crashing.
I use to have them in the 3G plastic bucket with some grass cuttings and lettuce leaf outside during the summer.
It looked like Daphnia paradise. Thousands of bugs moving around making water look like it's moving too, I did not feed them much (maybe 2 a week) during that time.
Around mid November I moved that bucket in (garage).
Where I have almost no light, but plenty of food (spirulina powder (no need green water) and crashed yeast.
I also do water change 15% with my used aquarium water.
Hopefully I can keep few alive till spring, so I can put them outside again.

Good luck


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## henningc (Apr 17, 2013)

There are several people on Aquabid who are experts on the subject. Look at the live food ads and email some of them for help. Most are pretty stand up folks.


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## Sebastian (Dec 27, 2012)

Hey Ross, I have been keeping _D. magna_ with success for about a year now. It is important to always have several cultures going at once, because eventually they will crash. 

The containers you are describing are probably too small to keep them over the long run. I have several 5 gallon tanks and one 40 gallon I keep them in. I found that they do best in the 40 gallon.

I do have a large sponge filter running in the 40 gallon, which I find helps the water quality. I feed them yeast and _Spirulina _powder once a day. I mix both in a cup and pour it in. *Do not overfeed them!* Don't make the water too cloudy, that is a sure way to kill them quickly.

I keep a small aquarium light 24/7 on the 40 gallon, the 100 watt bulb is just wasting you a lot of energy...

Now, most importantly I think you should not attempt to culture _D.magna_ in a small NY apartment, unless you absolutely need them. I happen to be breeding scartlet badis and I actually find that fully grown _D. magna_ are too large of a food item for them. I am keeping mine largely on _Artemia_ (successfully). If you do want to supplement other food I strongly recommend looking into grindal or white worm cultures. Grindals would be perfect to keep at room temperatures in small containers, and they do produce a lot of food. 

If you insist on trying other crustaceans, try _Moina_. _Moina_ are much smaller than _Daphnia_ and can be kept under less ideal conditions in smaller containers. They are actually now being used as _Artemia _ replacement in some parts of the tropical fish industry. I am breeding _Moina _in 5 gallon containers and I find them to be the perfect size for most smaller tropical fish. A lot of my fish have problems eating 1/4 inch long _D.magna_ with their thick shells.


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

Next most logical question...I have a ten G tank which has lots of arias for such as Moina to hid in including hair algae
covering lots of the bottom of it and arias inside the filter which the fish can't get to. This filter has no screen/sponge etc
to trap any Daphnia and was designed just for that. Has bio-media only.
So just how hard do you think it would be to get a colony of the Moina started in there ? They already have a colony
of the Magna in there. Since it's only a ten G I only keep Banded Pigmy sunfish and RCS in there. The BPS don't eat
flake so now living off of the Magna.


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## Arthur7 (Feb 22, 2013)

Yes, Moina withstand higher temperature (apartment) and holding out in less oxygen.
The problem is the oxygen. The smaller the container, the more difficult it is to keep the level constant. I mean with 1 cubic meter outdoor one has for Daphnia worry no more.
A few snails should be with it. They eat the leftover organic matter. Thus, no rotting forms. Plants are not into it.
New feeding when only clearly been eaten.
There should be no flow in the vessel. Daphn. otherwise have to work harder and need more oxygen. In the pond they avoid even moving areas. They are always on the side where no waves. The drainage area they avoid. Oxygenation better about phytoplankton and light.


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## Sebastian (Dec 27, 2012)

Raymond, under most circumstances I find _Moina_ to be easier to keep than _D. magna_. However, unless you really have a large sump for them to hide in the sunfish will probably clear them out over time. 

I think your _Daphnia _ are surviving because the larger adults might be too large to be eaten by the pigmy sunfish. I found that to be true for a number of my smaller fish species. Some try to eat them and they just cant get that large shell into their mouth and the _Daphnia_ just swims off fine after the attack.

I also do think that the pygmy sunfish have a feast on your newly born RCS (which is a great way to feed some fish if you have a big colony of RCS).


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

Don't know if any way exist to check it but was told I have an overload of organic compounds in my water in there. The tank
has BGA and I'm trying to "make it right" by treating the problem instead of the symptom which is the BGA.
The tank/w the Magna is fine and only one BPS in there. But the one that has the BGA I just put those 5 RCS in there for
just that reason you mentioned, but also to elevate the nitrates in there as the BPS don't eat flake but the RCS will.
So it's just as much an excuse to add flake to up the nitrates as it is to give the BPS variety in their food.
Also have some Potassium Nitrate coming in the mail. The tank has no Macros yet.
Thanks for the info and I think I'll still try to colonize the Moina cause/w both some may make it. This tank has a bit less cover
than the one/w the one BPS but still has some. Actually there are some very small Daphnia in there now.


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