Daphnia (Water Fleas) are great live food for most fish, invertebrates & amphibians. Here's how I keep a steady supply in an easy to maintain, basic aquarium.
I think your bigger bubbles are actually preferable for daphnia because smaller bubbles can get in under their shells and make them too buoyant. Great culture!
I've grown daphnia for years outside in a plastic tub. In my experience, surface area is more important than depth. I don't feed them or aerate the water. In the winter, sometimes the tub freezes over. They survive all of it. But I want to move to an indoor setup and found your video to be very helpful, thanks.
I’ve been trying to get a straight explanation on how to propagate daphnia and you just answered all my questions in this very well presented video! Thank you so much!
This has completely changed my game!!! I already have a mini green water scud tank established. But Then accidentally received some water flea eggs recently on some dried almond leaves... They quickly turned green!! Micro fauna is amazing to watch and these fleas are adorable. Thank you for your video it helped me immensely.
Thanks for all the info 👍 Cultured green water that is growt naturally is being eaten so fast you will never keep up. Try powdered spirulina (you can buy that at your drug store) a very small quantity will turn your entire aquarium into green water in an instant. They love it ! I switch between yeast and spirulina everytime I feed them but you absolutely can put both at the same time.
Oh.. You said, " If it ain't broke, don't fix it..." Don't switch to an Air Stone.. Perfect, already! Your huge bubbles do not float the shells and kill the babies. This is the way to do it! 😊😎
From wherever you get food supplements, you can get spirulina powder and chlorella powder. Easy does it! A little bit goes a long way. But loading your daphnia with spirulina will bring out the colors in the fish who eat the daphnia.
I feed my daphnia culture mostly spirulina and a little bit of yeast mixed in, in my past experiences using yeast I noticed overtime my tank getting an oder. I also raise other live foods like scuds and isopods aswell which are even easier but they dont reproduce as fast as daphnia.
Hi Ambitious Bogs, I was wondering if you could help me with some tips. 1. Seemingly everyone keeps saying, "Daphnia are everywhere, in puddles, streams, ponds, etc." However, I've been studying the micro fauna in my area, south central Indiana, for many years and have never witnessed one in any of my nets or tubs/tanks, although I've seen a multitude of other species, like almost microscopic baby amphipods and isopods, flatworms etc. Just curious, do you order you cultures, or collect them? If ordering, could you share your supplier, and if collecting, which is what I'm most interested in, would you mind sharing which types of environments are most likely to have them? Either way, I'll keep looking, but still would love to have any insight you might offer.
@@Rick-the-Swift Mainly through out time, ebay was my best supplier overall. Past yr I've been trading aquatic plants to a local petstore for a small culture of daphnia. But mostly its been ebay, there were some places online that sold daphnia for a decent price but they shut down the website. We can catch them out of local rivers and ponds but other critters highjack themselves into alot, so again I prefer to buy them from ebay, and for the fact its delivered at the front door step.
@@ddtruthfinder81 Thank you for the insight. I hear you for sure when you mention other organisms quickly "hijacking" a locally collected culture of just about anything in the micro fauna species, and even bigger. I'm constantly finding new life forms that often might take me months or longer to identify. Some new beauties I've seen lately in my miniature diving beetles tank, are these strange little creatures which seem to propel from the sand, in a squid like pumping action, straight to the water surface, then they gently float back down, only to repeat the process once they touch the sand over and over. They are basically shaped like an upright palm tree that is about 1/16th of an inch in length, and about half the diameter. Would love to understand what these creatures are if you happen to have any clue.
I like how this dude has that lamp on the right. Reminds me of how I nuked a 5.5gallon with 50W of light to jumpstart it in 3 days with GDA cover. I raise moina which is the smaller version, but I believe PH determines the amount of filtration you need through bacteria hiding from the light, and I also read a lot of "smart" people that state isolated cultures crashing over phosphate poisoning due to over accumulation, and his combination with plants and the green water, essentially took care of it. It's pretty well done man! I don't think micro bubbles are the way to go because they are problematic for smaller life forms with carapace. Hell I have even seen with my own eyes on multiple occasions a shrimp zooming around desperately trying to get rid of some micro bubble accumulation perfectly stuck under it, imagine daphnia lol
Would brine shrimp be a possible food source as well? Loving these videos justin. It’s like my dream content. Plus. How many people can say they have a sand shrimp tank. Plz keep them coming :)
@@justinwolff6293 lol to be honest I commented before finishing the vid. U have a good set up going. I was just thinking maybe the brine shrimp mite be more tolerant to the salt. Idk. I’m not a scientist lol
Thank you very much for this video! Finally somebody who does it on a bigger scale and with plants in a more natural approach. I'm wondering if an automatic water change system between the aquarium and the pond would be sustainable as a food source and keeping the water in the aquarium clean.
Daphnia, and many other tiny creatures, will eat a variety of foods, as long as they are the right size. They are much more picky about the particle size than about the kind of food. In experiments, small particle-feeding animals preferred tiny plastic beads of the right size range to normal foods that were outside their preferred size range. That was for research, don’t feed bits of plastic to your daphnia. The point is that they ignore food that’s the wrong size. “Too small” for daphnia to eat would generally be smaller than you can see without a microscope, but if they won’t eat what you give them, the particles may be too big.
Don't use air stones with your daphnia. The extra fine air bubbles get caught on your daphnia's shell, the then float to the surface where they die. The large course bubbles you are currently using in your tank are perfect. Daphnia don't need strong air ration.
You bring up a very interesting topic. Tahoe's clarity and blue color does have to do with the Daphnia population but now non-native Mysis shrimp are taking off and they feed on Daphnia. If the Daphnia disappear, Tahoe will be green (like my pond) and not blue.
*Serious question* Why would people want to have these things? Can you use them for something like cleaning out another fish tank or something? I have no knowledge on the subject and I’m generally curious about what they are, and what purpose they serve.
They're hard to count! Basically, I look at the swarm and see how dense it is that day. The population does fluctuate daily. Then I just scoop the net trying to get the right amount. I just know from experience about how much the fish will eat. It is easy to scoop too many. The fish should finish eating within a few minutes. For the shrimp I just put a reasonable amount in the water. It's hard to see the daphnia after they settle to the bottom. Like anything, I just try not to overfeed. I feed daphnia every 2 o4 3 days and not every day.
I put some in a glass container and onto my windowsill, lots of algea has grown in it and the Daphnia are multiplying, i dont do anything, i dont feed them or aerate the water etc, nothing at all.
Syphon from an area with as few as possible. Then, net them out and feed to your fish.. Shaken the net under water a bit. Some tiny ones may stick in the mesh.. Tiny brine shrimp nets usually get Pretty much all of them.
An easy way is to put a piece of PVC pipe with a ball valve on the side of the tank.. With the opening only about halfway or less down inside. Open the valve thru tubing into a bucket. Use a brine shrimp net to catch all the daphnia in the bucket.
Planaria are harmless, and some fish will eat them. I don’t doubt that dog dewormer would eliminate them, but I don’t know what it would do to the other organisms in your tank.
Hello I started with daphnias and I have them in the 5l tank and 4l jar, and after a first day I got them I saw something like bodies. Is it possible that would be that dead daphnias? First day they swam faster than now. I am interestes in this filter media, could I make this at home, what should I use? Thank you for your answers!
I bought a bottle of copepods only to discover they are apparently only for saltwater - and were not labeled as such, all died within 1 hr. I don't know where the heck you find freshwater ones... I checked my local lake and found absolutely no living things in 4 two liter bottles of late water and muck - probably poor water quality (Burke Lake, VA). If you can suggest a place that will send FRESHWATER ONLY daphnia, let me know.
In your felt bag, can you put that black charcoal stuff that is put in filters or place one of those slide in charcoal filter for hang on the back filtration in the bag?
You can.. But, you want to let the filter process nitrogen to keep Ammonia and Nitrites down... And, to Clean the water, you still need to do regular water changes. Lots of daphnia process lots of food into waste.
When toxins in the water get too high.. The numbers can go down in a set-up like this.. Or in an unfiltered bucket or barrel... Everything can crash and die, suddenly.
@@bubblerings there was a guy online that used to sell them, but not any more. It’s my believe that sea firefly that get wash on to streams and cross breed with Daphnia, but not 100% sure.
@shrimpbynightbythomas8212 Doesn't happen. Daphnia are exclusively freshwater. Sea fireflies die in freshwater. Probably, he fed them on, or soaked them in, a solution with particles that were luminescent. I used such a powder when working on plastic injection moulding machines, adding it to the plastic mix to produce kids toys that glowed in the dark. There is the possibility of using genetic engineering techniques, like in the breeding of glow in the dark danios, but that would have been very expensive and quite pointless. The daphnia wouldn't have lived long enough to produce a profit. Not seen that written up anywhere.
![[Limbus Company - PV] Chapter.7 - Oblivion](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VUpkXPkvoxU/mqdefault.jpg)
Mans got a bigger tank for daphnia than I do for my fish XD
I think your bigger bubbles are actually preferable for daphnia because smaller bubbles can get in under their shells and make them too buoyant. Great culture!
Well said !!!
I've grown daphnia for years outside in a plastic tub. In my experience, surface area is more important than depth. I don't feed them or aerate the water. In the winter, sometimes the tub freezes over. They survive all of it. But I want to move to an indoor setup and found your video to be very helpful, thanks.
You missed your calling! Should have been a high school science teacher ! Thanks for your time and efforts 🇺🇸🎣
LOL-I did teach 7th grade science for a year. That was fun. Thanks for watching.
I’ve been trying to get a straight explanation on how to propagate daphnia and you just answered all my questions in this very well presented video! Thank you so much!
This has completely changed my game!!! I already have a mini green water scud tank established. But Then accidentally received some water flea eggs recently on some dried almond leaves... They quickly turned green!! Micro fauna is amazing to watch and these fleas are adorable.
Thank you for your video it helped me immensely.
You’re so knowledgeable and creative! I didn’t think a daphnia tank could be so cool 😮
Thanks for all the info 👍
Cultured green water that is growt naturally is being eaten so fast you will never keep up.
Try powdered spirulina (you can buy that at your drug store) a very small quantity will turn your entire aquarium into green water in an instant.
They love it !
I switch between yeast and spirulina everytime I feed them but you absolutely can put both at the same time.
I had no idea this guy was into aquatics iv seen you on tv for years!!!!!!!! Watching with my dad.
Oh.. You said, " If it ain't broke, don't fix it..."
Don't switch to an Air Stone.. Perfect, already!
Your huge bubbles do not float the shells and kill the babies.
This is the way to do it! 😊😎
From wherever you get food supplements, you can get spirulina powder and chlorella powder. Easy does it! A little bit goes a long way. But loading your daphnia with spirulina will bring out the colors in the fish who eat the daphnia.
Thanks for the info! I have watched several videos on daphnia and this one is great. Keep up the great work!
I feed my daphnia culture mostly spirulina and a little bit of yeast mixed in, in my past experiences using yeast I noticed overtime my tank getting an oder. I also raise other live foods like scuds and isopods aswell which are even easier but they dont reproduce as fast as daphnia.
Hi Ambitious Bogs, I was wondering if you could help me with some tips. 1. Seemingly everyone keeps saying, "Daphnia are everywhere, in puddles, streams, ponds, etc." However, I've been studying the micro fauna in my area, south central Indiana, for many years and have never witnessed one in any of my nets or tubs/tanks, although I've seen a multitude of other species, like almost microscopic baby amphipods and isopods, flatworms etc.
Just curious, do you order you cultures, or collect them?
If ordering, could you share your supplier, and if collecting, which is what I'm most interested in, would you mind sharing which types of environments are most likely to have them?
Either way, I'll keep looking, but still would love to have any insight you might offer.
@@Rick-the-Swift Mainly through out time, ebay was my best supplier overall. Past yr I've been trading aquatic plants to a local petstore for a small culture of daphnia. But mostly its been ebay, there were some places online that sold daphnia for a decent price but they shut down the website. We can catch them out of local rivers and ponds but other critters highjack themselves into alot, so again I prefer to buy them from ebay, and for the fact its delivered at the front door step.
@@ddtruthfinder81 Thank you for the insight. I hear you for sure when you mention other organisms quickly "hijacking" a locally collected culture of just about anything in the micro fauna species, and even bigger.
I'm constantly finding new life forms that often might take me months or longer to identify. Some new beauties I've seen lately in my miniature diving beetles tank, are these strange little creatures which seem to propel from the sand, in a squid like pumping action, straight to the water surface, then they gently float back down, only to repeat the process once they touch the sand over and over. They are basically shaped like an upright palm tree that is about 1/16th of an inch in length, and about half the diameter.
Would love to understand what these creatures are if you happen to have any clue.
I use two small sponge filters with middle flow bubbles.That works well without any problems.
I like how this dude has that lamp on the right. Reminds me of how I nuked a 5.5gallon with 50W of light to jumpstart it in 3 days with GDA cover. I raise moina which is the smaller version, but I believe PH determines the amount of filtration you need through bacteria hiding from the light, and I also read a lot of "smart" people that state isolated cultures crashing over phosphate poisoning due to over accumulation, and his combination with plants and the green water, essentially took care of it. It's pretty well done man! I don't think micro bubbles are the way to go because they are problematic for smaller life forms with carapace. Hell I have even seen with my own eyes on multiple occasions a shrimp zooming around desperately trying to get rid of some micro bubble accumulation perfectly stuck under it, imagine daphnia lol
You dont want smaller bubbles.
Best dafnia vid yet
something I watched suggested small bubbles are less good for daphnia as they can damage them so keep your large bubbles
in asia we use rice bran. it works wonder. it's second best thing to thick green water. make sure u filter the rice bran with a fine net.
Excellent content
Love your channel. Learning alot from watching your new channel keep it coming. Music is perfect
1:45 Looks like some planaria in your tank as well along the glass.
Subscribed , thanks for the useful info😊
Thank you for several useful ideas.
I have heard you actually want the bigger bubbles because the finer ones will get stuck under the daphnia and make them float.
Would brine shrimp be a possible food source as well? Loving these videos justin. It’s like my dream content. Plus. How many people can say they have a sand shrimp tank. Plz keep them coming :)
Sure, brine shrimp are great. Just not as easy to keep I think but I've never tried.
@@justinwolff6293 lol to be honest I commented before finishing the vid. U have a good set up going. I was just thinking maybe the brine shrimp mite be more tolerant to the salt. Idk. I’m not a scientist lol
@@luke12 they would but sand shrimp don’t catch their food so daphnia on the bottom is probably better but I might get some brine shrimp just for fun
Thank you very much for this video!
Finally somebody who does it on a bigger scale and with plants in a more natural approach.
I'm wondering if an automatic water change system between the aquarium and the pond would be sustainable as a food source and keeping the water in the aquarium clean.
Cool! 👍 Makes me wanna try this method with my M. lanchesteri larva that is very difficult to raise, you think it might work?
thanks Justin for the very helpful video. I'm just starting my tank and was wondering what temperature is best?
Great video
Cool video man thanks. Ya tye😂bigger bubble is better thantye small ones i heard
In regards to yeast, I put it into water and leave it a few minutes.Then I stir it with a spoon or my finger, no mixer needed.
Point of fact, the mixer will kill a lot of the yeast. Best to be gentle with them if you’re trying to keep them alive.
Am Bagging a sponge filter...Thx to you!!!
Liked and Subscribed for that trick.. Mahalo!! -Scotty on Maui.
No fancy graphics, but the most thorough course on Daphnia I have seen so far... and I have watched many. Cheers!
If you want nutritious Daphnia to feed your fish, feed them protein powder instead of yeast
Do not put an air stone in their the tiny bubbles will get stuck in the Daphne is crustacean shell and actually kill them
Daphnia, and many other tiny creatures, will eat a variety of foods, as long as they are the right size. They are much more picky about the particle size than about the kind of food. In experiments, small particle-feeding animals preferred tiny plastic beads of the right size range to normal foods that were outside their preferred size range. That was for research, don’t feed bits of plastic to your daphnia. The point is that they ignore food that’s the wrong size. “Too small” for daphnia to eat would generally be smaller than you can see without a microscope, but if they won’t eat what you give them, the particles may be too big.
Interesting-thanks
You can simply get your daphnia from the pond.
But, you can also get lots of other things.
I love the music at the start of the video!! old school!! ty for the advise, using yeast now and numbers are increasing!!!
This guy is my favorite zodiac killer suspect.
very helpfull. thanks!
How do you clean bottom of tank without risking throwing away eggs
Don't use air stones with your daphnia. The extra fine air bubbles get caught on your daphnia's shell, the then float to the surface where they die.
The large course bubbles you are currently using in your tank are perfect. Daphnia don't need strong air ration.
I like daphnia magna
This is so informative! Great job, fantastic reporting!🌻🌼🐝 Keep it up 🙌 This is Amazing! INSTANT SUBSCRIBE🌻 keep it up!
UC Davis Tahoe say Daphnia is why Lake Tahoe is so clear!
You bring up a very interesting topic. Tahoe's clarity and blue color does have to do with the Daphnia population but now non-native Mysis shrimp are taking off and they feed on Daphnia. If the Daphnia disappear, Tahoe will be green (like my pond) and not blue.
*Serious question*
Why would people want to have these things? Can you use them for something like cleaning out another fish tank or something? I have no knowledge on the subject and I’m generally curious about what they are, and what purpose they serve.
They are great fish food for many aquarium fish.
Will introducing fast growing plants (Elodea, for instance) be beneficial/harmful in a Daphnia tank water condition wise?
Cool stuff...fun learning about all this.
How much daphina do you use feed your fish and sand shrimp each day?
They're hard to count! Basically, I look at the swarm and see how dense it is that day. The population does fluctuate daily. Then I just scoop the net trying to get the right amount. I just know from experience about how much the fish will eat. It is easy to scoop too many. The fish should finish eating within a few minutes. For the shrimp I just put a reasonable amount in the water. It's hard to see the daphnia after they settle to the bottom. Like anything, I just try not to overfeed. I feed daphnia every 2 o4 3 days and not every day.
I put some in a glass container and onto my windowsill, lots of algea has grown in it and the Daphnia are multiplying, i dont do anything, i dont feed them or aerate the water etc, nothing at all.
I remember in the late 70’s they sold something called sea monkeys? Same thing? Maybe you ought to name your new channel Angler West Aquaculture. 😎
Sea Monkeys are brine shrimp. Water Fleas are the common name for daphnia. Thanks-I'm hoping to be a little more broad than just aquaculture.
how do you do water changes, without loosing lil buddies??
Syphon from an area with as few as possible. Then, net them out and feed to your fish.. Shaken the net under water a bit. Some tiny ones may stick in the mesh.. Tiny brine shrimp nets usually get
Pretty much all of them.
Coincidentally I live near Shasta lake, at this time of the year would there be a lot of daphnia to harvest? And which area
How do you feed them?
Would they also eat growing algae from the tank? And spirulina powder?
Can you do an update on that?
How would you do water change since they are so small?
u dont
@@shannonland1137 If you don't your culture will crash.
An easy way is to put a piece of PVC pipe with a ball valve on the side of the tank.. With the opening only about halfway or less down inside. Open the valve thru tubing into a bucket.
Use a brine shrimp net to catch all the daphnia in the bucket.
@@cryptofan6255 not if you have enough plants. You won't need water changes if you keep it balanced and don't overfeed
@@Anna-tc6rz Thanks. I'm thinking about starting an outdoor culture in a horse trough. I live in a good climate for it.
Get rid of those Planaria with dog dewormer
Planaria are harmless, and some fish will eat them.
I don’t doubt that dog dewormer would eliminate them, but I don’t know what it would do to the other organisms in your tank.
Hello I started with daphnias and I have them in the 5l tank and 4l jar, and after a first day I got them I saw something like bodies. Is it possible that would be that dead daphnias? First day they swam faster than now. I am interestes in this filter media, could I make this at home, what should I use?
Thank you for your answers!
Can you use sponge filter?
How you change water
Loving this channel. I'm sure sure I've heard your opening song somewhere. Is it the artist Young MC?
No idea--just some music I have that I bought years ago. Do you like it?
why do you grind yeast, not activate it with hot water>?
You don't have to grind it. You can just stir it into water, let it soak a little while then stir it well and you're good to go
I bought a bottle of copepods only to discover they are apparently only for saltwater - and were not labeled as such, all died within 1 hr. I don't know where the heck you find freshwater ones... I checked my local lake and found absolutely no living things in 4 two liter bottles of late water and muck - probably poor water quality (Burke Lake, VA). If you can suggest a place that will send FRESHWATER ONLY daphnia, let me know.
Any pond, any lake.
Ebay
You can only really see copepods under a microscope. They probably were there.
In your felt bag, can you put that black charcoal stuff that is put in filters or place one of those slide in charcoal filter for hang on the back filtration in the bag?
You can.. But, you want to let the filter process nitrogen to keep Ammonia and Nitrites down... And, to Clean the water, you still need to do regular water changes.
Lots of daphnia process lots of food into waste.
When toxins in the water get too high.. The numbers can go down in a set-up like this.. Or in an unfiltered bucket or barrel... Everything can crash and die, suddenly.
I thought snails would feed on the daphnia?
No, snails, in general are vegetarian. Very few aquarium snails are carnivorous. None of them can catch swimming daphnia.
01:00
Have you seen glow in the dark Daphnia?
Where are those?
@@bubblerings there was a guy online that used to sell them, but not any more. It’s my believe that sea firefly that get wash on to streams and cross breed with Daphnia, but not 100% sure.
@@shrimpbynightbythomas8212 Wow!.. Thx! 🎈🌴
@shrimpbynightbythomas8212 Doesn't happen. Daphnia are exclusively freshwater. Sea fireflies die in freshwater. Probably, he fed them on, or soaked them in, a solution with particles that were luminescent. I used such a powder when working on plastic injection moulding machines, adding it to the plastic mix to produce kids toys that glowed in the dark.
There is the possibility of using genetic engineering techniques, like in the breeding of glow in the dark danios, but that would have been very expensive and quite pointless. The daphnia wouldn't have lived long enough to produce a profit. Not seen that written up anywhere.
Your tank stand is to small...
SO THIS IS A STORY ALL ABOUT HOW MY LIFE GOT FLIP TURNED UPSIDE DOWN