[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Daphnia cookbook



                                   WATER FLEA COOKBOOK

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 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. This recipe does not freeze well, 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.

The most foolproof food is Tetra's Aquafauna Hermit Crab Meal. 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.

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.

Daphnia supposedly eat anything organic, dead squirrels, sheep manure, dried
blood, yeast, powdered milk, bacteria, etc. I have a two parter. Would you
want some of this stuff in your [1] house? [2] inside your fish?