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daphnia- a different twist



 I am looking for a simple way to culture daphnia indoors.Any info will
be a great help.Thanks,Vern

 vernwen at home_com 
 

 Ok here is the easiest fool proof way I know of to raise daphnia
inside. Go to brine shrimp direct or inland seafarm and order the 100 ml
tube of nanochloropsis cryopaste.  It will keep in your freezer for about
a year and a half.  Since it has been centrifuged with propylene glycol it
isn't really frozen but just rather thick.  The algae is alive, but due
to the stress of being centrifuged it is incapable of reproducing.  The
addie is www.brineshrimpdirect.com.   It is kind of expensive but a 100
ml tube goes a long long way.  Just take one of those 1/8 inch plastic
tubes you hook airline to, take off the algae cap and pick some algae
paste, insert into a 1 quart water filled mason jar.  Swirl it around
until the algae dissolves.  Put this into your daphnia culture.  You
should be able to see just a light tint to the water.  Like any food you
feed to the daphnia you need to take care not to overfeed.  microalgae
can raise the pH of the water if you overfed.  Just start out slowly and
you will see how long it takes for the tank to clear.  then feed again.
Ok so the algae is a little expensive, but my time is worth more and it
beats having to spend hours blending, cooking, sieving, freezing food and
thawing it etc. 

They sell other microalgae, but nanochloropsis is suitable for both
fresh and salt water.  Yes you can enrich your brine shrimp with it an
hour or two before you feed it to your fish.  The brineshrimp will
load up on the algae and all the nutrients hufa etc.

If there are other sources of crypopaste out there I wouldn't mind
hearing about them.

Two last thoughts,  a little bit of this algae goes a long way so start
off small.  And last but not least, never ever get any on your clothes
hehe .... this stuff is the ultimate grass stain in clothes :)