Where can I find a reliable source of daphnia?

[DemonsAngel999]

Ive just recently ordered a batch of eggs and they should be here on either Thursday or Friday. Ive been having trouble finding daphnia cultures. Can anyone help me or possibly suggest an alternative? Ive heard that they can be fed egg yolk but havent heard whether or not it has been successful.

 

[bayhicoach]

I used newly hatched brine shrimp to feed my axie larvae with great success. Brine Shrimp eggs (actually cysts) should be readily obtainable at your well-stocked pet store. Use a soda bottle (I used a twenty ounce bottle) with an airline to gently agitate the water. I also placed my bottle near a 40 watt bulb to keep the temperature above 80 F. I was able to hatch a batch (1/8th tsp eggs + 1 Tbl salt + 1 L water) every other day. This provided sufficient nauplii to feed 18 axies.

I recently obtained Daphnia and have been having some success getting them to multiply but I don't currently have any axie larvae to feed. I'll be interested to see if I can keep this culture of Daphnia going long enough to feed my axies when they arrive. I got the starter culture from Carolina Biological - a science supply store online.

 

[DemonsAngel999]

Thanks for the help, I'll try and locate some bbs today. Hopefully my local pet supply stores will have them. I'd really hate to have to order them online, as they may not arrive in time to feed the little ones.

Best of luck with your daphnia cultures. And thanks again.

 

[joeysgreen]

I"ve attempted to keep wild caught daphnia to culture, but they died in short order. They were kept with some large predatory diving beetles, but I don't think they were eaten (I could be wrong, but the beetles went after larger prey from what I could see). They had some duckweed, hornwort, flourescent lighting and airation; temps around 25C. Any ideas on changing the husbandry for next time? You fed them egg yolk? I figured keeping algae in the water was good enough.

 

[DemonsAngel999]

I think that you may have misunderstood my post. I wasn't very clear about what sort of eggs I ordered. I have Axie eggs coming and am in a bit of a pinch. My local pet shops don't carry live foods and I was wondering if anyone knew where I could get Bbs or daphnia. I don't want to be caught in a rough spot without food supplies when they arrive.

 

[morphyrichards]

If you do find yourself in a rough spot with no live food when your axies hatch .... well, anyway, have a read of this thread - about an interesting alternative food for baby axolotls. http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be.../f61-eggs-larvae-breeding/71275-egg-yolk.html

 

[DemonsAngel999]

Wow. Thats the thread I was digging for! I may just give it a try with two or three of my hatchlings until I can get a live source of food ordered.

 

[melfly]

I couldn't get any of my larvae or juveniles to eat egg yolk.
Not sure why.

I may try again.

I use baby brine shrimp.
You may find once they hatch they dont eat for a day or two anyway.

Can you get a microworm culture as a back up?

Mel

 

[morphyrichards]

This might be a bit naughty but what about midge and mosquito larvae? If you get a container with some old tank water in and place it outside, after a few days you should have some of these swimming around. You could bring these in and use them to feed your babies. Just make sure you don't give any the chance to make it to fully grown mosquitohood.

 

[melfly]

Mine have fed happily on midge and mosqito larvae, it a good idea Steve.

Mel

 

[Jennewt]

Another good source for daphnia cultures in the US is Dallas Discus - you can find them by google. They are easy to order from and ship quickly, but their cultures tend to be mixed species regardless of what type you order.

 

[DemonsAngel999]

Thanks for all the helpful replies. I managed to find a specialty store that sells bbs eggs. I still may try one or two on the egg yolk.

 

[Gavin Hunter]

Hi try www.Arizonafairyshrimp.com they only ship nationally.10,000 eggs for about $15.00 best of luck. gavin

 

[peter5930]

I've been combining egg yolk with microworms, and my axolotl larvae are eating it quite readily; I hard-boil the egg and mash the yolk into small crumbs, then add microworms to the tank followed by some egg yolk. The microworms form a writhing carpet beneath the egg yolk that jiggles the crumbs of yolk around, and the larvae snap up the mixture of worms and yolk.

I've also had some success with feeding fruit fly larvae to axolotl larvae that are large enough to take them. Uneaten fruit fly larvae drown after a few hours and need to be removed, but they're easy to raise in large numbers and easier to clean up than microworms, egg yolk or baby brine shrimp.

Baby brine shrimp seem to be their preferred food, but the combination of microworms and egg yolk is a convenient and cheap alternative for when I don't have a batch of brine shrimp ready for harvesting.