How long can larvae live without food?

[jesper]

The larvae in question are about a month old.
They have plenty of food in their tank but you never know, so I try to calculate from the worst possible scenario.... I get to plan my holiday around them it seems. A week?

Valid argument to flee from annoying relatives?
My larvae are starving!

 

[jennifer]

Do you still have daphnia? Or maybe some other live food? If so, then you might be able to get away for a week. Unfortunately, "larvae" and "vacation" don't get along very well.

 

[jesper]

Really how's that?
My larvae has been very little work, I just keep them in very shallow containers with Daphnia in. The Daphnia reproduce and the larvae eat the babies. Self-sustaining system more or less, I do add some Daphnia every now and then and change the water maybe once every week or so(if they are lucky - after all they are pond-dwellers). My only concern thus far has been feeding the Daphnia.

Yes the "tank" has Daphnia. I just need to know how long they would last if the Daphnia decided to drop dead an hour after my departure.

 

[alan]

Do a water change the day before if you leave, then add plenty (not a huge excess) of live food such as Daphnia. At a month old, they should be fine for one week. Two weeks would be pushing it.

 

[edward]

Cool them down, drop the temp slowly before you leave into the very low 60s (16 C or so) or even into the high 50s (14 C or so) slowing down thier metabolic needs (for both the daphnia and the larva).
Afterwards warm them up to normal (again very slowly) about a degree or so a day.

Ed

 

[jesper]

Great idea Ed, I can do that easily!