Do daphnia eggs hatch as effectively as brine shrimp eggs do?

I ran across an auction for dehydrated daphnia eggs on aquabid and was wondering... do those actually work? Like, I know that the reason that brine shrimp eggs can be dehydrated and stored for long periods of time is because they already do that in their natural setting, salt flats. And I know that some species of killifish have eggs designed to go through a dry period as well. Are daphnia another of those species whose eggs can survive long periods of drought? Or is this person just trying to sell snakeoil?

Link to specific auction:
http://www.aquabid.c...oodo

I extend the same question to rotifer (Brachionus calyciforus Pallas)
auction: http://www.aquabid.c...oodl

I didn't actually know the answer myself and did some searching. Apparently daphnia eggs are called ephippia. I can't find much on how successful people are at starting cultures with the ephippia, but collecting them is not that difficult. Normally a healthy daphnia culture is all females and reproduce parthenogenetically. When conditions become less favorable males are produced, which results in the production of resting eggs (ephippia). Apparently these ephippia can withstand a 5% chlorox bath for several minutes. This doesn't speak for the source seller of the ephippia, but they do exist and are harvestable.

I would probably go with a place like L.F.S. Cultures, but here are some slides, apparently from the same source, of the ephippia:


Sources:
http://www.caudata.org/daphnia/
http://www.thekrib.c.../daphnia.html#0
http://www.reading.a...phnia_201KB.pdf

Rotifer production cycle appears to be somewhat similar to daphnia (parthenogenesis), though a bit different in specifics. The rotifer cysts are produced when conditions become less favorable resting eggs (cysts) are produced, which can survive freezing and other adverse conditions.

Source: http://www.athiel.co...b5/rotifers.htm

Sweet, that's awesome. Thank you for looking that up

Purchasing Daphnia ephippia might be a good way to get a culture started, but I doubt that you'd get a lot of food, the way you do with a vial of brine shrimp eggs. I suppose it depends on the quantity of ephippia being sold, but I suspect the product would be used in a different way (starting a culture, not a hatch-n-feed food source).

Purchasing Daphnia ephippia might be a good way to get a culture started, but I doubt that you'd get a lot of food, the way you do with a vial of brine shrimp eggs. I suppose it depends on the quantity of ephippia being sold, but I suspect the product would be used in a different way (starting a culture, not a hatch-n-feed food source).

Hmm, okay. Well, I ordered some rotifer eggs about a week ago. Auction: http://www.aquabid.c...foodl1295329793 When they arrive, I'll report on the hatch rate.

About 18 months ago I bought some eggs from a guy in Thailand or Singapore. I got a small vial about the size of a small salt shaker full of them. I’m not sure what the hatch rate is, but I can say it works.

Be aware that this really is only suitable to start a culture though. If your water can provide the right environment – especially food, they multiply like tribbles. You’ll see them all over the glass. However once they’ve eaten all the food, they disappear. They are a boom and bust animal.

I’ve had my best success in new tanks. I set up Walstad style tanks using a soil substrate and plants for filtration. In the first couple months the soil releases a lot of ammonia and CO2. This translates into green water and algae. The daphnia love this phase. Once the soil settles down, and the green water and algae disappear, so do the daphnia.

To maintain a culture get green water from any nearby pond and you should be able to maintain a high population for a long time.

When they arrive, I'll report on the hatch rate.

I said I'd tell you all how it worked out, so here it goes. The rotifer eggs arrived in the mail in tiny little vials. The vials are less than an inch long but contain thousands and thousands of eggs. The eggs are so tiny and dry that when the vial is opened, if you breathe out they'll go up into the air and stay suspended in the air as a fine dust. So you have to very carefully pour them into the water to hatch. I was impressed with the quality of the eggs and the food sent with them, and would recommend this seller, Charnwit_betta, to other people. The eggs hatched and I saw thousands of little rotifers.

I agree with the previous statement that rotifers won't breed and sustain themselves in the clear water conditions we like to keep our aquariums in. Adding a vial to the aquarium water results in a temporary rotifer population but they eventually die out. Therefore it is best to keep these rotifers in a small separate container that sits in the sun and has green water and microscopic life. I've heard that you can set up one of these tanks by leaving a soda pop 2-liter in the sun half filled with water, a pinch of yeast, and the slurry left over after you put a piece of lettuce in the blender. I plan to start one of these rotifer breeding tanks soon. Each one of these 10 capsules sent to me contains more than enough eggs to start a colony, and I'm very pleased with my purchase. Insta-pond-water

Edited by EricaWieser, 25 July 2011 - 10:45 AM.

Update:

So it turns out that an aquarium seeded with rotifer cysts can maintain a tiny yet continuing population of rotifers many months after initial seeding. Just a few days ago I watched a single, adult rotifer swim around and around in the tank, quite healthy and happy. Even though they aren't as populous as they were immediately after hatching, they are still in there. Their populations waxes and wanes with the fry cycle (more when there are only adult fish, less when those adults drop fry), but so far so good the rotifers haven't disappeared completely.

Edited by EricaWieser, 02 February 2012 - 02:55 PM.

Any idea what kind or rotifers? The ones I grow are Philodina. Look like the ones in the center and lower right in the attached pic. You can also grow them in the water under your grindalworm sponges, so Ive heard. Havent tried it.

Any idea what kind or rotifers?

Uuuuum. Hmm. I asked my coworker and it sounds like it would be okay for me to take a quick peek at them under the lab's microscope. Give me a few days and I'll get back to you with a picture.

Uuuuum. Hmm. I asked my coworker and it sounds like it would be okay for me to take a quick peek at them under the lab's microscope. Give me a few days and I'll get back to you with a picture.

I asked a coworker higher up and am going to abandon the idea. Work microscopes are for work. Sorry I can't tell you the species.

I asked a coworker higher up and am going to abandon the idea. Work microscopes are for work. Sorry I can't tell you the species.

http://www.reed-stor...ntrate/RD-SM:1/