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Water flea farm production

Started by Guest_basssmaster_* , Mar 25 2009 05:10 PM

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20 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_basssmaster_*

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Posted 25 March 2009 - 05:10 PM

Picture below is five net scoops (8" x 12") worth in a one gallon bag.

Daphnia.jpg 950.53KB 14 downloads

Not every one has these resources but if you do this is a sample of what you can get a beautiful bag of water fleas (Daphnia). Our production system is a one acre hog lagoon with ample inputs (puu). These water fleas are the best live food when available.

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#2 Guest_Gambusia_*

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Posted 25 March 2009 - 07:54 PM

Nice haul

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#3 Guest_Moontanman_*

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Posted 30 March 2009 - 06:53 PM

That is cool, my daphnia failed this spring, I need to start over.

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#4 Guest_PhilipKukulski_*

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Posted 31 March 2009 - 05:47 AM

<clip> These water fleas are the best live food when available.

Just a caution:
Daphnia may act as a laxative if fed heavily. :blink:

There is some debate about this on the web,
but my fish nutrition expert says so.

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#5 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 01 April 2009 - 06:51 PM

This goes back to Innes, who made the same claim in the 50's.

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#6 Guest_Moontanman_*

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Posted 01 April 2009 - 07:36 PM

I've never noticed that effect, I think Innes just liked to have fat bellied fish!

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#7 Guest_apistomaster_*

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Posted 02 April 2009 - 01:25 PM

I think that is just an old tropical fishwives' tale. Daphnia should be only one of several foods you use and all the fish can eat once a day is great for them.
Too bad they won't let me keep a pig with a pond in town.
I never have been diligent enough about the upkeep of Daphnia cultures to keep them going but I do fine at raising mosquito larvae. :evil:

I do collect Daphnia whenever I can.

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#8 Guest_gzeiger_*

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Posted 09 May 2009 - 05:46 AM

I set out a big tub of water last week but I've so far failed at raising mosquito larvae. Not a single egg case yet

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#9 Guest_centrarchid_*

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Posted 09 May 2009 - 08:34 AM

I set out a big tub of water last week but I've so far failed at raising mosquito larvae. Not a single egg case yet

Try adding to tub a cracked chicken egg or something dead.

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#10 Guest_gzeiger_*

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Posted 09 May 2009 - 07:43 PM

I added a fistful of dead leaves. A rotting egg isn't something I want next to the back door. I've never had this problem before. Do the adults really look for food sources in the water before laying eggs?

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#11 Guest_centrarchid_*

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Posted 10 May 2009 - 08:15 AM

I added a fistful of dead leaves. A rotting egg isn't something I want next to the back door. I've never had this problem before. Do the adults really look for food sources in the water before laying eggs?

In my experience the egg bearing females do scrutenize potential oviposition sites. Body of water size and flow, predators, competitors and likley many other factors influence how many egg rafts show up and what species are represented.

My egg baits did not smell and greatly increqase the number of wrigglers I get per 5-gal bucket. The low abundance may in part be do to the long cool winter and cool wet spring which may be slowing down buildup of mosquito populationsm at least in my area.

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#12 Guest_Doug_Dame_*

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Posted 10 May 2009 - 10:28 PM

I added a fistful of dead leaves. A rotting egg isn't something I want next to the back door. I've never had this problem before. Do the adults really look for food sources in the water before laying eggs?

a PhD in mosquito control told me the easiest thing to do was to put four or five pieces of dry dog food (like Kibbles) in a 5-gal bucket. That brings on a crowd of bacteria etc, which makes it attractive to mosquitoes. Of course, he know I have dogs. Cat food probably would do the same. It's worked pretty well for me. I said "Thanks Dad!"

Depending on where you live, it can be helpful to know the schedule of the local mosquito control truck. Or keep the wiggler buckets in the garage after they're started.

And once the first wiggler morphs into a pupae (bullhead aka "bouncing comma"), you have about 24 hours before critters start going airborne. But if you've kept mosquitoes before you possibly had already figured that out.

HTH

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#13 Guest_Uland_*

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Posted 14 May 2009 - 07:17 PM

I recently set up a pool for daphnia. Before seeding I tossed in a handfull of fresh grass clippings and waited a week. I see there are a few adult daphnia and a great many itty-bitty daphnia. I also see a healthy population of mosquito larvae and have some concerns about the mosquitoes.

Can I use BT dunks to control mosquitoes without damaging the daphnia population?
Will the daphnia in time compete so well, the mosquitoes will not be an issue?
Any tips on controlling the mosquitoes?

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#14 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 14 May 2009 - 08:42 PM

The BT strain used for mosquito control is supposed to be dipteran-specific. You can also set up some surface agitation with a little fountain or air pump. Mosquito larvae breathe through siphons, and surface disturbance interrupts the siphon/atmosphere interface. I don't think the daphnia would ever crowd out the mosquitos on their own.

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#15 Guest_centrarchid_*

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Posted 14 May 2009 - 09:12 PM

I recently set up a pool for daphnia. Before seeding I tossed in a handfull of fresh grass clippings and waited a week. I see there are a few adult daphnia and a great many itty-bitty daphnia. I also see a healthy population of mosquito larvae and have some concerns about the mosquitoes.

Can I use BT dunks to control mosquitoes without damaging the daphnia population?
Will the daphnia in time compete so well, the mosquitoes will not be an issue?
Any tips on controlling the mosquitoes?

Add some vegetable oil to the water. Will sufficate mosquito wrigglers and tumblers by clogging siphons. Should hurt water fleas.

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#16 Guest_Uland_*

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Posted 14 May 2009 - 10:05 PM

You guys are great, thanks for the help.

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#17 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 14 May 2009 - 11:40 PM

Should hurt water fleas.

Yes, it should!

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#18 Guest_Moontanman_*

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Posted 15 May 2009 - 09:39 PM

I've never had a problem with mosquitoes in my daphnia vats and I live in the middle mosquito central. Once daphnia get established mosquito larvae seem rare but then again I feed them to my fish when i can catch them too. I keep a bubble tube going in most of my daphnia vats as well and moving water discourages egg laying by mosquitoes. I once was told that commercial brine shrimp or daphnia producers often put road kill in the vats to encourage bacteria and in turn the filter feeders. i have noticed that a dead squirrel will be surrounded by a huge cloud of daphnia after it gets ripe!

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#19 Guest_centrarchid_*

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Posted 15 May 2009 - 09:55 PM

Add some vegetable oil to the water. Will sufficate mosquito wrigglers and tumblers by clogging siphons. Should hurt water fleas.

Should say "Should NOT hurt water fleas". Sorry for not catching sooner.

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#20 Guest_donkeyman876_*

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Posted 26 July 2009 - 05:07 PM

I tried stating a daphnia colony a few months ago, partly out of curiosity and partly for goldfish food. Long story short, I failed. I might try again to feed to my little pumpikinseed.