feeding daphnia

["Daniel McMonigle" <Mcdaphnia at msn_com>]

 I blend half a bag of frozen peas, about a cup of organic beet tops -- for
variety, I substitute carrots, sweet potato, spinach, broccoli for the beets
-- don't add carrot tops or the green marks on a carrot. They contain tannic
acid -- bye bye daphnia! Persimmons, acorns, and oak leaves would also
contain tannic acid. Acidic foods like tomatoes also don't sit well. Add two
Theragran vitamin pills, or use a fish vitamin preparation as directed
instead. Blend this mixture until liquefied. If tanks are aerated, strain
through a hanky to remove large particles. If tanks are not being aerated, you
can opt to siphon out particles after they settle out. Add enough cold water
to make one gallon. Store covered in the fridge for up to about a week. Always
check the smell before you use it. It's made from veggies, so it will never
smell good, but one sniff will tell yu when it's no good. You can make it last
longer by half a cup of Reef Crystals or other high calcium artificial
saltwater mix. Keep up your water changes so the salinity does not get too
high. This recipe does not freeze well, it clumps after thawing, so make a half or quarter recipe until
you get lots of daphnia going. When I go on vacation, my son thinks frozen
green beans work better than peas, so then they get beans. The important thing
is one green high protein content veggie, and a smaller amount of a yellow,
red, or simply high carotene content veggie. Feed two or three tablespoons to
a ten gallon culture, no more than will cloud the water for a few hours. Allow
to clear before feeding again. Some people add paprika, but unless you blend
it first before all other ingredients, it seems too large a particle to do any
good.
One traditional daphnia recipe is ten parts Lipton pea soup (a dry powder) and
one part Spanish Paprika. It can be sprinkled into the tank.
Tetra's Aquafauna Hermit Crab Meal is foolproof. Just sprinkle
on the surface. I use it between staple feedings, 2 or 3 staple, then HCM,
then back to staple. Lately I've been using krill meal as a treat food. This
krill meal is great for small fish fry and an excellent additive to any
homemade foods such as the gelatin diet or frozen beefheart. I get it from
Florida Aqua Farms.
Green water is great food for daphnia, but it is not dependable. Just when you
think it's going to last forever, it's completely gone. I can bypass some of
the huge water changes associated with feeding green water. I put a power
filter packed with filter floss on the green water tank. I can squeeze
concentrated green water out of it several times a day. You can also buy green water at a pet shop which carries marine supplies. The green water is in saltwater for feeding corals, but it works fine with daphnia and the bit of salt in it does not hurt the strains of daphnia and moina that I keep. If you add daphnia to a green water culture, it will disappear. Always add some of the green water to the daphnia culture, not vice versa.
Yeast is commonly used as a food or ingredient. The problem is that it can grow in water and coat the daphnia, making it difficult for them to move and breathe. Activated yeast is live yeast. You can kill it by putting it in a 2 hp blender with water until it reaches about 120 fahrenheit degrees, but that may create other problems. I avoid yeast.
  
  
 From: "Matt & Linda Crocker" <crockerm at peak_org>
Subject: feeding daphnia

I'm trying to get a culture of daphnia going in a 10g outside, I had
filled it with water and added some guinea pig droppings.  After a
week I had green water and I bought some daphnia magna and put them
in.  5 days later the tank is clear and I need to feed them, I guess.
I have read about using yeast, but not activated yeast.  Is that
correct, and why not activated?  What are some other types of food for
the daphnia?

  


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