Best way to buy and feed Daphnia?

[Rosyannie]

I have 8 young Rosy Tetras and from everything I've read they'd enjoy some live food. Daphnia seems to be the main recommendation but I'm confused about buying ones that won't contain parasites, is it best to grow my own from eggs.....is that even possible? And how many would my 8 little chaps need to eat? So many differences of opinion online, so any suggestions?

 

[Colin_T]

Buy some cysts or a small starter culture from a lab or somewhere that grows them under sterile conditions (not outdoors in a pond). Put them in a container of green water and in a month you will have lots of daphnia.

You can also collect them from the wild but they should be put into culture containers and go through several generation in new containers before feeding them to fish. This allows any parasites in the old daphnia to go and the fish won't get sick from them.

The following link has information about culturing green water, infusoria, daphnia and some other foods that can be fed to small fish.

Back to Basics when Breeding Fish

STARTING OUT Make sure you have a pair, (1 male + 1 female). There is nothing worse than spending your hard-earned dollars buying a couple of fish to try and breed and ending up with a pair of fish of the same sex. Let's face it, to reproduce fish you need a male and a female. Two males won't do...

www.fishforums.net