Brine SHrimp

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Breeder's Paradise

I'm interested in growing my own daphnia. Would be a good source of fish food. Apparently fish farms use daphnia too. Relatively easy to grow if you're an expert at making green water. I'll just pour some old turtle water into it and it'll be green for sure.

Now I just need to get a starter batch.

I am currently experimenting with breeding daphnia with little success. Experience to share ...

GREEN WATER
1. I get lots of plastic bottles, and fill them up with water from my tank to make green water. Usually get 50-50 success. For 1/2, I get green water. The other 1/2, I get hair algea.

2. Once I get hair algea, I throw the bottle away, as it is difficult to clean it out.

3. Once you get green water in one bottle, use it as a starter for other bottles ... ie, when you start new bottle, I pour about 20% of green water to your new bottle. This will GREATLY increase the chance of getting green water rather than hair algea.

DAPHNIAS, and issues I have ...
1. When I put daphnias into REALLY GREEN WATER, they clear it up in about 2 days!!! So, not enough green water ... will try using yeast soon.

2. When I bought my daphnias, they are small and red ... after a few days in green water, they are now big but white!!! I heard that the "red" is good for fish, and that "white" is only so so for fish!!!

3. No increase in population ... currently, no air pump ... will install soon.

Any success stories so far?

After 3 weeks, and 3 more tries, I am close to giving up!!!

Using a 2x1 glass tank in a cool shaded area.

I use old water (sitting for about 4 days) with a mature sponge filter. As it is very difficult to seperate the dead and the alive daphnias, I pour the whole packet into a jar. Then, slowly, lower into tank. After 1/2 a day, the tank will be filled with live daphnias, and the jar contain most of the dead ones.

I remove the jar so as to keep the water as clean as possible. Then I wash the sponge filter with tank water for about 3 times the first day (it traps the dead daphnias) then once daily after that. I've got a tub of green water, so I pour one jar of it into the tank every day.

Sooo ... I tried my best to keep the water as clean as possible. I feed them green water daily.

RESULTS: After 3-4 days, they ALL dissappear!!! My guess is that they died, and the body broke down, leaving literally nothing in the tank!!!

For my next try, I will use the same setup with these changes ... use foam box in cool location to maintain temperature range. Rather than putting in dead and live daphnias, and its water, will only put in live adults. Adults only because the frys are just TOOOO small to catch with net.

I was told that daphnias can live in the freidge for a week!!!

I place the whole packet into my freidge. 2 days later, water looks "thick", and 95% of daphnias died!!!

As daphnias need clean water to survive, I think we need to seperate the live and dead BEFORE we do any breeding or storage!!!!

Will update you guys a little later ... hopefully with good news!!!

Don't know worth or not but its a good try, hope you can success. How is the MB now? The fries ok?

Clean in the sense that it is pure without heavy metals... not clean to the naked eye. Even a tiny amount of chlorine will kill these buggers. Could use rainwater, getting plenty nowadays. Animal feaces are actually used to cultivate them.. so not exactly "clean" in a clean sense.

Er ! Er ! U all can try and use some "pang sai" water .... after u do biz oredi.. take some water from there... it might work. I dun mean to sound disgusting but since they are always abundance in sewerages I think something in the faeces is what they require to strive.

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Be responsible for your actions.... what goes around comes around....

OH MY GOD NO! haha... gross... at most use chicken or goat droppings... Imagine getting daphnia from a guy and finding out he self-fertilizes his daphnia colony... damn...