Daphnia Culture Made Simple By Doug Sweet, London State Fish
Hatchery
Instructions for maintaining daphnia cultures:
Daphnia are one of the finest and most universally accepted live foods for most
fish. Many fish species can be kept in excellent physical condition by
feeding live daphnia to them several times per week. Daphnia are
extremely effective at bringing many fish into spawning condition. This
is especially true for cyprinids (carps and minnows) like goldfish, barbs,
danios, etc.
Daphnia can be cultured in just about any container that holds water and is
non-toxic. Ideally, aquariums should be used, especially for the beginner
since you can keep better track visually on the culture’s progress, how much to
feed, etc. Once you gain experience, other containers may be used such as
Rubbermaid tubs or trash cans. The minimum size container recommended is
20 gallons although small quantities may be reared in smaller tanks.
Daphnia prefer cool water. Temperatures between 65 and 70 degrees are
about ideal. So it is best to culture daphnia in your basement or other
cool locations around your house. At temperatures above 75 degrees,
Daphnia magna begins to slow in production. Cultures will survive at
warmer temperatures but do not expect much from them during warmest months of
summer.
Daphnia cultures can be fed one or several of the following feeds;
1. Spirulina algae (available through aquaculture supply companies and health
food stores)
2. Chlorella algae (available at health food stores)
3. Green water (containing algae like Ankistrodesmus and Scenedesmus)
4. Microfeast (larval shrimp feed available from aquaculture supply companies)
5. Active baker’s yeast (available from wholesale bakery supply stores)
6. Artificial Plankton Rotifer (larval fish feed available from aquaculture
supply companies)
7. Powdered split pea soup mix (from a bulk food store)
8. Whole wheat flour (from a bulk food store)
9. Doug’s mix
• 1 part soy flour
• 3 parts whole wheat four
• 1 part dry split peas (finely ground to a flour like consistency)
• 3 parts bakers active yeast
• 1 part paprika
• 2 parts dried chlorella algae
My experiments have indicated that chlorella algae and the active baker’s yeast
to be the easiest and most effective feeds to work with when culturing.
The split pea soup and whole wheat and soy flour feeds are mixed with powdered
paprika (about one part paprika to ten parts soup mix or flour). The
paprika is used as a color enhancer for you fish. I have worked out a
generalized quantity of feed for daphnia cultures. This quantity is
listed in the following chart.
Approximate Amounts to Feed Daphnia Tanks
Culture Tank Size
Density of Daphnia per 20 ml sample 20 gallon 40 gallon
20+ 2+ teaspoons (tsp)/day 4+ tsp/day
12 – 20 1 -2 tsp/day 2 – 4 tsp/day
5 – 9 3/4 tsp/day 1 1/2 tsp/day
1 – 4 1/4 tsp/day 1/2 tsp/day
0 – 1 1/8 tsp/day or less 1/4 tsp/day
There are two ways you can feed daphnia
cultures. One is a visual judgment of water clarity and is described
below. The second is to monitor daphnia densities by using a test tube or
cuvette attached to a wooden dowel rod. Randomly sample the culture
multiple times at various depths and get an average count of the number of
daphnia per milliliter. Use the above table as a guideline for how much
to feed. You may need to make your own chart depending on the type of
food you are feeding. The above table gives a good starting point.
Match the average density of daphnia to the size of tank used and feed an
appropriate amount of feed. I believe the above, monitoring density and
using the chart method, is better for beginners. This is crucial.
Starting daphnia cultures it is very easy to overfeed because you do not
have the bio-mass of animals to utilize the feed added to the tank. The
uneaten food rots, produces too much bacteria and fouls the water eventually
causing a collapse and loss of the colony. Note: if you get a starter
culture of daphnia from a fish auction they are usually in a fish bag.
Adding this bag to a 20 gallon tank you are going to have far fewer than
1 daphnia per 20 ml sample. So, you need to feed a very small quantity
probably like a pinch per day. Only when the daphnia have reproduced to
some detectable level between 0 and 1 daphnia per 20 ml do you dare to increase
the feed to 1/8 teaspoon or so.
The ideal level to feed the daphnia should be
enough to cloud the tank up to slightly noticeable opacity. One day
later, that same water should be crystal clear. If the water clears up
sooner than one day, too little is fed. If the water is still very cloudy
the next day too much has been fed. So adjust quantities accordingly.
Regular water changes need to be performed on
daphnia tanks as well as fish tanks. The bare minimum that a daphnia
tank, at full production, should be changed is two 25% water changes per week.
If water changes are done more frequent than this, it is possible to see
an increase in production.
Water changes on daphnia tanks can be performed
by siphoning water using a fine screen to cover the intake end of the siphon.
Be sure to shake off any daphnia adhering to this screen before the screen
is withdrawn from the tank. Alternately, you may combine the water change
with harvesting by siphoning off the tank into a very fine mesh screen or net.
Feeding the daphnia collected during the water change to your fish.
Aged, dechlorinated tap water is needed for
daphnia cultures just like for fish. Chlorine will be rapidly lethal to
daphnia so you must dechlorinate or age tap water before it is used on the
daphnia culture.
Selective harvesting of daphnia can be done with a course meshed fish net.
Using a course mesh will allow the youngest daphnia to escape for further
growth while entrapping full grown daphnia.
All daphnia tanks should be at maximum standing drop (10+ daphnia per 20 ml)
within several weeks of starting the culture. Daphnia tanks not reaching
standing crop must be closely inspected for flatworms, hydra, or other pests.
If infested the culture must be discarded, and the container disinfected
and cleaned to eliminate the pest.
Daphnia cultures should not be harvested until
they reach a minimum average density of 10 daphnia per 20 ml. Daphnia
should not be harvested at a rate that decreases their numbers below 10 daphnia
per 20 ml. In other words, do not harvest more than what would decrease
the total average numbers below 10 daphnia per 20 ml. There should always
be at least 10 daphnia per 20 ml. Higher numbers should be attained
before harvest, only slightly lower after harvest.
Periodically, daphnia culture tanks, especially
ones at full production, will need to be cleaned more thoroughly. If the
walls of the tank become covered with debris, this can be scraped off. If
excessive debris accumulates on the bottom of the tank, this can be siphoned
off into a bucket. Allow the debris to settle, then pour the daphnia from
above the debris back into the tank and discard the debris. If excess
debris is not cleaned out eventually the daphnia will suffer “fouling” of their
antennules and thoracic legs (swimming and feeding limbs) and this situation
must be corrected. This is easily observed as “junk”, debris and
spider-web like filaments trailing below the daphnia as it swims. I
assume this “junk” prevents the daphnia from properly feeding or perhaps
molting its exoskeleton. So it’s very necessary to correct this situation
in order for the culture to thrive.
Snails should be present in every daphnia
culture to clean up uneaten, settled food particles. If snails become
overabundant they need to be harvested and fed off to snail eating fish.
Alternately, some daphnia cultures come with small oligochaete worms
(like Dero digitata) with them. These perform the same job as the snails,
and can be harvested to feed the fish too. It is even possible to culture
California blackworms (Lumbriculus variegatus) or perhaps tubifex worms in the
bottom of daphnia culture tanks. If this is done it may be necessary to
feed the cultures at a slightly higher rate to be assured enough food makes it
to the bottom for the worms.
Airstones in all daphnia tanks should be
running pretty good. Airstones running hard enough to constantly stir and
swirl all the daphnia through the water is appropriate. Daphnia must not
be collecting or grouping up near the water surface or close to lights, etc.
If they are doing this there is not enough water aeration. Strong
aeration is necessary to keep the daphnia feed in suspension. I have seen
some reasonably successful daphnia cultures with very little aeration.
However, to achieve the yields listed below adequate aeration is a must. Remember
that microscopic food particles need to be kept in suspension for the daphnia
to feed. If the food is settling before the daphnia can eat it, you are
only feeding your snails or worms.
Following the above instructions it is possible
to produce 4 to 5 ounces (wet weight) of daphnia per 40 gallons of daphnia
culture per week. Therefore, if you go through about one pound of frozen
brine shrimp per month, you could simply substitute a 40 gallon culture of
daphnia to produce the food needed to supplement your fish.
Author’s Addendum:
I have been a fish hobbyist for about 35 years and a professional fish
biologist for 27 years. During many of these years I have had the
opportunity to raise daphnia in containers ranging from 2 liter soda pop
bottles up to 1,200 gallon vats. The above instructions will not
guarantee you will have success with daphnia culturing but should go a long way
to getting you started. Here I will share other secrets to success.
In 1992 I conducted an experiment to determine
the best and most cost efficient feed to raise daphnia. This study was
inspired by the sudden lack of a very good daphnia feed many hobbyists used in
the 1970s through 1980s. Many hobbyists are familiar with Jim
Langhammer’s successful daphnia culture methods using “split pea and ham soup
mix” fed alternately with baker’s dried yeast. According to Jim
Langhammer, the yeast seems to make the daphnia reproduce quickly, while the
split pea and ham soup mix made the daphnia grow big and robust. The ham
chunks in the split pea and ham soup mix served as food for tiny Dero digitata
worms that shared the daphnia cultures. The dehydrated ham chunks would
eventually sink to the bottom of the tank and the Dero digitata worms clustered
and fed on the decomposing ham. These tiny worms, like miniature tubifex
worms, are also a great food to feed small fish. This system worked very
well for Jim Langhammer and I when first culturing daphnia. The split pea
and ham soup mix could be purchased from bulk food stores. Sometime in the
late 1980s to the early 1990s the split pea and ham soup mix suddenly became
unavailable. Bulk food stores that carried it no longer did. So, I
had to find a good substitute.
Doing literature searches on daphnia culture you come up with a bewildering array
of ways daphnia can be cultured in the laboratory, primarily for toxicology
studies. Everything from manure, yeast, live phytoplankton (micro-algae),
finely ground trout chow, alfalfa meal, to snail manure (from apple snails), to
soy flour and other finely ground foods have been cited as foods for daphnia.
Often, some of these items don’t serve directly as food for the daphnia,
but the microorganisms like fungi, yeast, bacteria, and protists that grow in
the water and are feeding on these items as they decompose is what serves as
food for the daphnia. The critical component to using decomposing organic
matter as food for daphnia is quantity. If too much is fed, the
decomposing matter grows too much bacteria, causing the water to become too
cloudy with ensuing water quality problems. IT IS VERY EASY TO OVER-FEED
DAPHNIA CULTURES CAUSING CATASTROPHIC COLLAPSE OF THE COLONY. Not sure
what kills the daphnia but it could be depleted oxygen, high ammonia, high
nitrites, high nitrates or high phosphates. Something kills them off if
overfed.
Literature searching on water parameters that daphnia are sensitive to you find
that they are fairly tolerant of ammonia, intolerant of nitrites, somewhat
tolerant of nitrates, and have an interesting relationship with phosphorus.
It turns out that daphnia use phosphorus as an environmental cue to
reproduce or not. In nature, daphnia reproduce most rapidly when algae
(phytoplankton) are rapidly growing since micro-algae (phytoplankton) are the
usual food for daphnia in lakes and ponds. When algae is rapidly growing
and is at a high density, phosphorus in the water is usually low, because the
algae are rapidly using this up as a food source. So daphnia reproduction
is linked to phosphorus levels. High phosphorus indicates to the
daphnia’s physiology there is no food (i.e. algae) in the water and cease
reproduction. Low phosphorus level indicates to the daphnia’s physiology
there should be high algae levels so kick reproduction into high gear.
This is one of the reasons water changes are very critical to daphnia
culture success!
Daphnia sensitivity to nitrites may be the
explanation why cultures often fail roughly one to three weeks post initiation.
This is just about the right amount of time for the nitrogen cycle to
proceed from a high ammonia level to high nitrites. So, daphnia also need
biological filtration just as a fish tank does. This is one of the
reasons why I advocate using many snails or other aquatic organisms to consume
uneaten food. Uneaten food as it decomposes contributes to the ammonia
and subsequent nitrite spike. The more quickly this food is assimilated
into body mass the less nitrite will end up in the water. Snail shells
would also serve as a living bio-media for nitrifying bacteria to convert the
ammonia to nitrites and later to nitrates. You can’t have a sponge filter
or under-gravel filter in a daphnia tank since this media will trap daphnia
food before they get a chance to eat it. Therefore you need some other
substrate in the tank to serve as biologically active media. Hence
snails, in my opinion, are a quick way to solve this problem on several levels.
Snails eat and assimilate some of the uneaten food and their shells serve
as bio-media for nitrifying bacteria. I repeat this twice because it’s
critical.
When you have daphnia in a closed environment it is very easy for phosphorus
levels to climb quickly especially when you have a high standing crop, and
since you are adding quantities of food. All biological materials contain
phosphorus so each time you add daphnia feed to the tank you are increasing
phosphorus levels and effectively shutting off their reproduction.
Therefore, water changes are necessary to flush away excess dissolved
phosphorus. The water changes also diminish nitrites and nitrates which
also are detrimental to their welfare. This is extremely crucial when you
get a daphnia culture really going in the “maximum standing crop” mode
discussed in the first part of this paper. If you do not harvest daphnia,
at the same time you do a water change, several times per week, daphnia numbers
can quickly plummet and reproduction can be shut down. Think of this
mantra……feed, feed, water change, harvest……feed, feed, water change, harvest.
If you stick to a schedule like this you will successfully keep daphnia.
If you feed, feed, feed, forget the water change, forget to harvest ….
your daphnia culture will most likely crash. If you forget to feed,
forget to water change, you will never have enough daphnia to make it
worthwhile.
Close observations of your daphnia are also
necessary for success. This is why I advocate using aquariums for the
beginner daphnia culturist. If any daphnia predators, such as planaria
flatworms like Dugesia get into the culture they will eat away the
profitability of your operation. Likewise hydra will wreak havoc too.
Close observations of the glass walls of your culture aquarium will tell
you if flatworms or hydra are present. If they are it is best you start
over again with clean aquaria and new daphnia. If you must use daphnia
from the contaminated colony be sure to carefully net out only a small number
of “colonists” to start the new colony in order to avoid capturing any hydra or
planaria with them. Do not just scoop a bunch of debris and daphnia from
the contaminated tank as the debris will likely harbor flatworms, hydra, or
resting eggs or cysts of these pests. Be sure to isolate only pure
daphnia to go to the new culture.
Daphnia can get parasites. More than one
time, some of my daphnia cultures became contaminated with a micro-sporidean
type parasite. These will cause the daphnia to decrease reproduction.
Most importantly, this disease will make the daphnia very opaque, or
unusually white colored. When you see a large number of daphnia becoming
extremely white and opaque, it is best to destroy the colony and start over
again.
Close observation of your daphnia will give you
more clues to how the population is doing. Remember you are managing a
population and therefore you need to know something about demographics in order
for your colony to thrive. If you see nothing but small, young daphnia,
in your culture, you may be over-harvesting or it’s a freshly formed colony
just coming into good production. If most of the daphnia are large
behemoths then you are probably under-harvesting, or your culture has not been
reproducing well so you need to adjust accordingly. Daphnia typically
only live about 21 to 28 days before they die (at room temperature and in a
rapidly growing colony) so plan accordingly. If you see mostly big
daphnia a large portion of these should be culled out and fed to your larger
fish before they perish, thereby making room for younger animals in the colony.
Ideally, a thriving colony should have a healthy mixture of all ages of
animals. Plenty of newly born young with a large number of sub-adults and
a reasonable number of big old adults all should be represented in the
population. If you see any one age class over-represented it may indicate
a change in management plans is necessary.
Daphnia will give you other clues to how they are doing. Normally, under
ideal conditions, all daphnia are females and reproduce by parthenogenesis.
That is, their eggs develop without being fertilized by a male. These
eggs all develop directly into tiny female daphnia that are born from the
mother. When daphnia colonies become “stressed” by poor water conditions,
improper or not enough food, high temperatures, low temperatures, etc. the all
female population will start to produce some tiny males. These males then
mate with the females and the resulting eggs that are formed are “resting
eggs”. These eggs are very different from the normal eggs. The
resting eggs form an “ephippium” or saddle on the mother daphnias’ backs.
This saddle is a dark brown or blackish “case” carried on the back of the
female and is readily visible to the naked eye with close observation. If
you see these ephippium forming on daphnia in your colony, it is a clear
indication something needs to be changed quickly. Either water changes,
more feed, heavy harvesting, etc. Something needs to be corrected before
your colony collapses. These resting eggs are designed to survive harsh
conditions such as winter freezing, summer hot and dry periods where the pond
completely dries up, or periods where there is no food. So if you see
these forming it is a clear indication your daphnia think it’s time to
aestivate and you must convince them that conditions are improving enough for
them to pull out of this reproductive mode. Remember……feed, feed, water
change, harvest……feed, feed, water-change, harvest.
So, back to my experiment mentioned previously. In 1992 I set up a
replicated experiment to determine the best daphnia feeds to be substituted for
the old split pea ham and soup mix alternately fed with bakers dried yeast.
I used twenty one two liter soda pop bottles set up on an aeration
manifold (each bottle had an air-stem bubbling in it). Each bottle was
randomly assigned to one of seven diets. Each diet had three replicate
bottles. Each pop bottle received an equal number of daphnia (n=20) and
snails (Seminole red rams-horn snails – Planorbella duryi) scavengers at the
beginning of the experiment. Each container was fed an equal weight (determined
volumetrically since all the foods had very similar densities) of food that was
assigned to it. (In the end I compensated for slightly different
densities by knowing the total weight of food as calculated from the density
and volume of food fed. Therefore the cost of production per daphnia is
compensated to the right weight of food.) I monitored daphnia densities
in each container and harvested and hand counted all daphnia pulled from the
bottles and recorded this over a 44 day period. Data was recorded and
graphed as population densities and numbers of daphnia harvested.
Numbers of daphnia produced were noted and then
cost of producing 100,000 daphnia was extrapolated by dividing the weight of
food used by the number of daphnia produced multiplied by the cost per pound of
each feed times 100,000. (Remember these are from 1992 prices)
Daphnia Feeds Tested:
Diet 1 – bakers active dried yeast
Diet 2 – dried spirulina algae
Diet 3 – dried chlorella algae
Diet 4 – dried, ground, split peas and paprika
Diet 5 – dried, ground split peas, paprika and bakers active dried yeast
Diet 6 – bakers active dried yeast, dried spirulina algae, and dried chlorella
algae
Diet 7 – dried, ground split peas, paprika, dried spirulina algae, and dried
chlorella algae
1992 Costs of Select Daphnia Feeds Used in Trial
Red Star brand bakers active dry yeast - $1.40/lb.
Ocean Star International brand dried spirulina algae powder - $16.00 /lb.
Now brand dried chlorella algae powder - $35.80/lb.
Ground split peas and paprika mixture (10:1 ratio) - $2.26/lb.
Following are the results of this experiment ranked from best to least
effective feeds:
Diet #6 - combination of bakers active dried yeast, dried spirulina algae and
dried chlorella algae yielded the best performance. Diet 6 produced more
daphnia by 32 days (n=5,240) and by 44 days (n=9,650) than any other diet.
It also produced daphnia more consistently with 13 harvests. It
produced the first harvest within 14 days. Overall cost was $1.36 to
produce 100,000 daphnia.
Diet #7 – dried ground split peas, paprika, dried spirulina and dried chlorella
algae was the second best in performance. It produced the second greatest
number of daphnia after 44 days (n=6,254) and the third best at 32 days
(n=3,236). Had the second most number of harvests (n=11). This diet
really performed well with rapidity of harvest – like diet 6 within 14 days.
The cost to produce 100,000 daphnia was $2.22.
Diet #3 – just dried chlorella algae was ranked third. Third in total production
at 44 days (n=4,857) and second best in production at the 32 days (n=3,396) and
third at total number of harvests (n=9). It was also ranked third at
producing a harvest quickly-at 19 days rather than 14 days for the above two
diets. Overall cost was $4.54 to produce 100,000 daphnia.
Diet #2 – just dried spirulina algae ranked fourth. This diet only
produced three harvests and it took 39 days to reach harvest densities. A
total of 3,801 daphnia were produced after 44 days. Cost was $1.79 to
produce 100,000 daphnia.
Diet #4 – dried, ground split peas and paprika ranked fifth. This diet,
like spirulina, only produced three harvests and took 29 days to reach harvest
densities. It cost $1.71 to produce 100,000 daphnia.
Diet #5 – dried ground split peas and paprika and bakers active dried yeast.
This diet also faired poorly and was similar to yeast alone.
Harvests occurred only after 36 days and amounted to only 2,955
individuals. However, cost per daphnia is relatively low at $.30 per 100,000
daphnia.
Diet #1 – strictly bakers active dried yeast cultures did poorly.
Although their densities did increase initially up to 10 days post start
of the experiment, after 15 days densities remained consistently low and only
2,676 daphnia were harvested at the end of the 44 day period with the first low
number harvest (n=846) after 39 days. However, cost to produce 100,000
daphnia was the lowest at $.22 per 100,000 daphnia.
Conclusions:
Mixtures of daphnia feed containing whole spray dried algae outperform other
types of feeds when it comes to quantities and rapidity which daphnia
populations grow. Mixtures of both spirulina and chlorella algae added to
either baker’s active dried yeast or ground dried split peas and paprika both
performed very well. Any time a dried algae product is used it adds
considerable cost to daphnia production. However, using a mixture of high
cost algae combined with very low cost yeast or split peas gives rapid yields,
with high harvests, at a medium cost to the hobbyist.
Using only a dried algae product (either
chlorella or spirulina) gives relatively high to medium yields at a slightly
longer period than the above mentioned mixtures. However, the high cost
of these products ends up making the cost per daphnia produced much higher
compared to other mixtures and the cheaper single source feeds.
Dried ground split peas and paprika ranked only
mediocre. It produced only a modest number of daphnia at a prolonged
period and cost was also medium at $1.71 per 100,000 daphnia.
Dried ground split peas and paprika added to bakers active dry yeast and bakers
active dried yeast alone did produce daphnia. However, production was
much slower (by a factor of 3.7 X) than when using dried algae products.
Even though production was slow, and low, the cost per unit was also low
at only $.30 to $.22 per 100,000 daphnia respectively.
Further discussion:
Algae (microplankton or phytoplankton) are the natural diet of daphnia in their
wild habitat. Therefore it stands to reason that daphnia should perform
(grow and reproduce) well fed on dried algae products. However, other
feed items have traditionally proven to be effective at rearing daphnia in
captive situations. Feed items like bakers active dry yeast and other
plant products like dried and ground split peas will serve as feed as well.
These later products, although not natural to daphnia habitats, will
support daphnia production at a much reduced cost. However, production is
much slower and lower yielding than when dried algae products are used.
Just as with feeding any animal, variety, like mixing several different
feed items, offers better nutrition and compensates for deficiencies that any
one item may present. In this study, it was demonstrated that a mixture
of both natural type feeds (like dried chlorella) combined with other
traditional daphnia culture feeds (like ground split peas, paprika, and active
bakers dried yeast) gives high production of daphnia at a moderate cost.
The hobbyist can therefore select from using very low cost feeds and be
happy with low and slow production, or can add value to the feed with an
addition of spray dried algae. Adding spray dried algae to daphnia
cultures one can realize at least a 3.7 fold increase in production.
Dried algae products come with other benefits. These products are far
richer in vitamins, anti-oxidants, color enhancing phyto-pigments, and the
proper fatty acids necessary for proper development and health in fishes.
Therefore I would advocate adding dried algae products just for these
added values without even considering price.
I also tested, in subsequent trials, the
suitability of adding other finely ground plant products to home made daphnia
feed. This grew from the annoying, labor intensive activity, of purchasing
dried split peas and grinding these into a flour like consistency using either
a blender, food processor, or coffee grinder. Some hobbyists have avoided
this step by using canned, human baby food vegetables (peas) purchased in jars
from the grocery store.
Some substitutes tested and found to be very
effective were whole wheat flour and soy flour. These two ingredients can
be exchanged for ground split peas or added in addition to the later.
Paprika is still used since it’s very high in anti-oxidant pigments and is
converted to color enhancing xanthophylls (carotenoids) in the daphnia which
are then passed up the food chain to your fish.
Finally, in the last twenty years there has been a huge growth of knowledge in
aquaculturing a host of marine and freshwater fish and shellfish. Along
with this growth there are now numerous dried, live, and preserved algae
products available which all could potentially be used for daphnia feed.
Some of these products are very expensive, some available to hobbyists,
some not so readily available but with effort could be acquired. Many of
the more expensive products have very great potential to increasing the
nutritional content of your daphnia fed to your fish. I will only list
some of these products here for your potential experimentation. Including
but not limited to Artificial Plankton Rotifer (APR), Microfeast (Provesta),
Spirulina (Ocean Star International), Chlorella (Now Foods), Algamac 2000,
Algamac 3000, Algamac 3050, Aqua-grow Advantage, Aqua-grow Advantage Enhance,
Beta-Meal, Phyto-feast and Roti-Grow (Reed Mariculture).
Daphnia culturing certainly has the potential
to reduce the need of purchasing frozen or live fish feeds like brine shrimp,
bloodworms, glassworms, tubifex, or California blackworms. Daphnia
cultured in your own home also can be considered cleaner and probably more
parasite and disease free compared to frozen or live foods collected from
various “questionable” and “contaminated” habitats. This comes with a price
though. Culturing enough daphnia to feed an entire fish room is possible.
I know, I did it with four 40 gallon Rubbermaid trash cans for many
years. However, it IS very LABOR intensive. You easily spend as
much time caring for the daphnia as you do the fish! I found that
“pre-children” I had adequate time to run daphnia cultures and a fish room.
Post children and everything changes. I no longer culture daphnia
simply because other hobbies, kids’ activities, etc. consume too much time.
(I now have other very cheap frozen and live food substitutes…..but that
is a topic for another article!)
I hope this helps for anybody wishing to venture into daphnia production or who
have had troubles in the past. Daphnia culture can be reduced to science,
although for many it may still seem like magic!
Doug Sweet
Superintendent
London State Fish Hatchery
Ohio Division of Wildlife, ODNR
2470 Robert’s Mill Road, SW
London, OH 43140
740-852-1412
740-852-5865
sweets4@att.net
Douglas.Sweet@dnr.state.oh.us