They've hatched! Now how much should i feed them?

[DigitalSkin]

Hi

Out of my 6 eggs 1 hatched last night and 3 this morn - still got 2 eggs to go!

Any ways to my question!

I have bought some Daphnia today to feed them on. So how much should i feed them and how often.

Also am i able to start a culture from store bought Daphnia and whats the best way to do it?

Oh. And at the minute i have them floating in a tub in my tank. When is the best time to put them into it.

Thanks
=DS=

 

[dragonlady]

Congrats on the hatchlings. I think you are going to find out very quickly that daphnia are going to be too large to feed to them. They might handle newly hatched daphnia if you happen to have some. If you want to start a culture with the daphnia you have, it's pretty easy. If it's warm out, you can just dump them in a bucket outside. Check this out or Food: Live, Frozen, Freeze-Dried, Pellets, etc - Daphnia, Moina, brine shrimp, etc at Caudata.org Newt and Salamander Portal

Personally, I'd get a brine shrimp hatchery going and feed them those twice a day until they get a little larger. By then your daphnia culture should be established and you can start using those. I am feeding mine twice a day and removing whatever is not eaten after about an hour or once I see the shrimp have died, whichever comes first. I also rinse my bbs before feeding the little ones to remove excess salt. Another note about shrimp, make sure you don't give your little guys eggs or egg shells from the shrimp. If you can, find decapsulated shrimp eggs (no shells).

How big is your tank? Is there substrate? Is it cycled? If the tank is large, I'd worry about the little ones finding the food. Even sand can be an impaction threat when larvae are very small. If you want to transfer them to the tank, you want it to be stable, you don't need chemical spikes on the little guys.

 

[celticcrow77]

The happiest Daphnia cultures are fed with blue-green algae, but they can be moderately happy with normal live yeast. Just don't add too much! It sucks all the oxygen out of the water and your population will crash! I learned that the hard way... Only two or three little grains will suffice.

I second the baby brine shrimp. It's relatively easy to hatch them, and they stay alive for quite a while with their bubbler. If you keep two going, but at alternating times, it's easy to have a constant food source!

 

[DigitalSkin]

My tank is 40 litres give or take with sand in it and was kindly cycled by my fighter fish!! The daphinia i got has a good mix of tiny to big as the small ones xan swim through my breeding net!!

Thanks for all your advice.

 

[Jennewt]

There are many sets of instructions on the net for culturing daphnia - just google. My advice is to start with the largest container you can provide, don't try to grown them in a 2-liter bottle.