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Re: Cyclops
Set up several Cyclops cultures, which should help to even out it's
sometimes erratic productivity. It seems to do best in a declining Daphnia
culture, so the water is still hard but the pH has dropped so it might be
only slightly alkaline or neutral. Raising the pH usually causes Cyclops to
"vanish". If there is any of your Daphnia or Moina left, it might reappear
if the pH is raised with a water change to 8 - 8.4. It isn't that either
organism has completely gone away, just that when the numbers are small or
only the resting eggs are present, it has "vanished". So if you want to keep
Cyclops going, just don't do a water change with higher pH water. The
Cyclops eat bacteria and other small organic particles, living or dead. You
could feed them a pinch of powdered milk or baby food shaken in a jar of
water. Green beans, peas, carrots, orange squash, spinach work but probably
others do too including the meat baby foods. Fish liquid vitamins increase
production and probably enhance their food value to the fish. A disadvantage
of culturing Cyclops is that there is a smell associated with them. To deal
with the carnivorous aspect, never feed Cyclops to fish in a tank with eggs
or to fry that still have any part of their yolk sac; never feed more than
the fish can eat in a short time. Another preventative method is to freeze
your excess production of Cyclops drained without water and then wait a
month or two before using it. This does not guarantee killing Cyclops, so
you still want to use the same care in feeding the frozen product . To
remove the protein or oil film often found on stagnant culture tanks, you
can float an open airline. The bubbles that form on the surface will
disperse the film.