Culturing Daphnia for Tropical Fish and other Critters
Daphnia can be a great food for may species of fish and small aquatic critters. They are relatively easy to culture if you know a few things about them. Their cultures tend to crash when the water temperatures go outside of a certain range and the water quality declines too far. They can be fun to culture on their own as a school project as well! In the photo above, the yellow is the digestive tract. The black is a forming egg. The second photo is the top view. The antennae they use to swim with can be seen. Tips 1 to 3: 1. For a steady supply, always have at least two cultures going, each placed in a different location. That way, if one culture crashes, you can rely on the other until the crashed one is back up and running. 2. Once you have an established culture, collect the tiny black triangular eggs that float on the surface before they sink. Dry them and save them in a container at room temperature. When immersed in water, they should hatch within 2 weeks. 3. You don't need ma