Spirulina powder for Daphnia

[stanleyc]

I've heard of people using this to feed their daphnia cultures and was wondering what it is exactly and how effective it is. Doing a search, i gathered that its some sort of human health product? I found ones that are just labeled spirulina powder, and some that are powdered algae. Which one would be the best? Are there any specific ones that would not be suitable?

What are some other alternative food source for daphnia besides green water and yeast, preferably in powder or packaged form.

 

[Coastal Groovin]

Mixing spirulina powder and regular flake food has worked the best for me.

 

[Kaysie]

Spirulina is algae; some hippies drink it because it's good for you (guilty!). Greenwater probably has spirulina in it. I don't know if you can use spirulina to jumpstart a green water culture though. Have you read about Jenn Macke's super daphnia food?

 

[Jennewt]

Other foods you can feed to daphnia:
soy protein powder (sold as a human supplement, usually vitamin fortified)
paprika (the spice, good source of beta carotene)
non-fat dry milk (spoils quickly once mixed with water, so use with caution)
pureed vegetables or vegetable baby foods

The two foods I would recommend as a "staple" are soy powder and yeast. Nothing dry will be as good as green water, but these dry foods can keep them going with modest productivity.

 

[stanleyc]

Thanks for the replies, I think I will feed them a mix of spirulina powder and soy protein for now then, until I can get the green water going. After that I will probably use the powders in combination with the green water because I will most likely only have a 1 small green water culture because of limited space and time.

 

[caleb]

Gram flour (aka chickpea flour, or besan) is another possibility. Much cheaper and easier to find than soy protein powder.

 

[Coastal Groovin]

I tried yeast one time. The next day the culture I fed the yeast to was cloudy and dead. Needless to say I kept feeding the others flake food/algae mix. I have used collard greens juice I got from a blender. It seemed to work well but flake food was much more cost effective and I saw little difference.

 

[stanleyc]

I tried yeast one time. The next day the culture I fed the yeast to was cloudy and dead. Needless to say I kept feeding the others flake food/algae mix. I have used collard greens juice I got from a blender. It seemed to work well but flake food was much more cost effective and I saw little difference.

What brand or specific kind of fish flakes do you use?