Daphnia

[Back in the fold]

I wonder about spirulina powder for feeding daphnia . Wouldn’t that be about the same as green water ?

 

[MattW]

Matt, what size sponge in what volume of water to start infusoria? How much do you give to new fry? For bottom dwellers, how do you get the infusoria to the substrate level where the fry are swimming? Thanks.

I have a small circular sponge on an internal filter around 8cm tall. I Let it get dirty then squeeze out into 1-2L of tank water into a measuring jug. Wait for the mulm to settle then skim off the top with a small cup. You'll get a milky-looking cup of water. I just chuck that in along with powdered food and the fish seem to do well. A bigger sponge like a sponge filter will be home to more and will probably last longer too. As for feeding at the substrate level, I don't really have a plan for dealing with that sorry . I suppose using a pipette could help? Or another live food alternative.


I used this guide -

 

[Magnum Man]

so, would cultured Moina be a better option???

this from...

Hydralife Live Moina

Repashy Xylivore Formula Gel Diet is specially formulated for species of Plecos and other Loricariids whose diet in the wild includes

www.aqua-imports.com

"Moina differ from their daphnia cousins as the adults are much smaller in size, ranging between 400 microns to 1,000 microns (tiny specs to the human eye) depending on their stage in life. Finicky eaters and nano/micro fish will find it hard to resist"

sounds like the adults would be eaten sooner, because of the smaller size, if I set up culture tanks, wondering if the link above couldn't be used as a starter culture for an outdoor tub, during the ( non winter months )

 

[JohnnyReb]

A water butt is the UK version of a rain barrel and a barrow is a wheelbarrow. Some designs can hold a decent amount of water.

TY for the lesson.

 

[MattW]

@gwand I just squeezed out a sponge and got all this on the surface

Probably last a few days until another sponge is done.

 

[MattW]

I added some more eggs into the fry tank today. One egg managed to get stuck on a daphnia for a few seconds

Some new and mature eggs

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I know live foods are the best. But for me they were a bridge to far. Since I have been breeding plecos for close to 20 years and have had someof my other fish spawns as well without my urging or assitance. Ineed to find adequate.

The is one live food I do not cykture as it naturally grows in my planted tanks- infusoria. I used to have java moss covered rocks in several tanks. When I would get a cory spawn as they closed in on being free swimming I would move one of those rocks into their tank.

I also got some angels spawns. They do need to start on live food so I did hatch bbs. But I hate having todo this and iafter abiut 10 days U began add frozen cyclp0eeze in with the brine. The fry in zn eaing fenzy woyld take the cyclops as well as the BBS. Each day I deacres the BBS and increased the cyclops and it woprked just great. I very quickly ween the fry off of live.

Then the lake where the cyclops were bred crashed and they could not get it restarted and cyclop-eeze was gone. But one can still find other cyclops. In addition I use frozen rotifers which I mixed with the cyclops. The cyclops got hard to find and I was down to rotifers. I am now down to only one species of breeding plecos as I greatly reduce my tank load. So I am not a big quamtity buyer any more. My typical frozen order was 12-15 pounds.

I normally buy my frozen foods in the 1 pound slabs but the big mysis come in 2 or 2.5 pound blocks. I get many of my frozen foods from Jehmco--> https://jehmco.com/html/frozen.html I suggest you call them when you want to order because John (the owner) often has other frozen foods he has not gotten onto the food page. Jehmco is a supplier to the kinds of hobbyists with fish rooms. I do not as my tanks are all spread out but was normally 20 in number. I use frozen daphnia which i only find in cubes and the same with BBS. These cost too much and I buy a very small amount when I need a quick and easy feed for a few new fry. baby plecos do not need infusora or microworms.