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Re: Live Foods Digest V3 #116
> About what Temp are the Daphnia cultures ?
> Do you use an aquarium heater ?
> Type of Daphnia. If you know ?
> 1. Magna
> 2. Pulex
> 3. Monia
> 4. CerioDaphnia
> 5. ???
I have either magna or pulex. It does best at cool temperatures. A 40
gallon breeder tank on the floor near the outside door works indoors in the
winter. I've pulled good harvests outside from under an inch of ice. They
certainly would do better without heat! They will even die off in the summer
if it gets too hot. (Eggs are already laid however and the cultures come
back with cooler weather.) Too much food and energy is taken up in an
increased metabolism at higher temperatures. They are also stressed because
warmer water has much less oxygen.
The Ceriodaphnia we kept for a while had a checkered career at room
temperature. By the way it crashed one time. I ignored it except for leaving
a tank light on 24/7. In a month or so the water turned green. In a couple
of weeks the green began to clear. There were some eggs or ephippia
evidentially left in the bottom mulm. The Ceriodaphnia was blooming.
An attraction of the Monia is that it does better at warmer temperatures.
Those with actual experience with it should address it though. :)
A discussion a while ago on the killie list elicited the comment of a member
of the Suncoast Killie group that they had a local strain of a larger
Daphnia (magna? pulex?) which did quite well in the heat. For indoor
cultures it might make sense to use a strain from a warmer part of the
world.
On the livebearer list some time ago James Langhammer suggested having a
small light over an indoor Daphnia tank on all the time. That was especially
to keep the Daphnia from crowding in corners at night and suffocating. It
might also extend the career of greenwater fed to the Daphnia. Such a light
can serve as a "moon" in the fish room and in my case, keep me from
clobbering myself when wandering around after the regular lights' timers
have gone off.
All the best!
Scott