chriscoli
Administrator
For those of you that culture daphnia outdoors in the summer, what's your setup like? What do you do about mosquitos?
Becca
Members
I'm guessing that the aeration necessary to keep daphnia thriving would deter mosquitoes from breeding in your container.
Localzoo
Board of Directors
Mosquitos and moving water don't mix.
Can adult fish live in the daphnia culture?
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Jmty
Members
Localzoo
Board of Directors
Lol so having a Betta in the tank to eat the worms? Or a sorority of females. Maybe a gourami?
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chriscoli
Administrator
As Jose said.....any fish added would be really fat and happy!
chriscoli
Administrator
Indeed, I had forgotten about that part.
So, what size container are folks using to raise them?
jonclark96
Past CCA President
When Tony and I rode out to Gerry Hoffman's house, he showed us his outdoor tanks that he used to raise live foods (pretty sure it was daphnia). I think (but could be mistaken) that he said he would keep gouramis in his tank to eat the mosquito larvae. It may be worth a shot on the PVAS forum.
chriscoli
Administrator
Hmmmm will do that!
Localzoo
Board of Directors
I have been at the SPE over the weekend and have not had time to respond to this until now. If you want to see pictures of the PVAS booths at SPE go to the PVAS forum, I put some up there.
As for DAPHNIA outdoors, I do not do that except for trying to provide daphnia to fish I am trying to spawn out doors in ponds or wading pools. THere is always the concern about not only mosquito and their larva but also dragon fly larva, and there are tons of both insects in the swamps around us.
Which reminds me, I volunteered and did surveys for the Maryland natural resources department for like 3 years in the spring months and every stream we took plankton samples from that came out of Maryland swamps had lots of daphnia in them. But we were doing the sampling in March and April. One of the goals was to see if there was enough plankton to support the fry of native fishes.
So theoretically you could go to a swamp and collect daphnia locally. Might need a boat or hip waders.
But in the backyard, If you get a dense daphnia culture going, there will likely be no mosquito larva. There will be dragon fly larva, but they stay attacked to something so are relatively easy to avoid.
Back to the mosquitos. Apparently the female mosquitos have really good ability to smell. They can supposedly smell whether or not the water in which they place their egg cases will support their offspring. SO if there are not enough nutrients in the water, due to either being a freshly filled pool, like a wading pool, or having enough daphnia to consume the nutrients, she will not lay her eggs in that water. However, I do not know if that is a scientific fact or not. I do know I do not get mosquitoes in my outdoor cultures, and I do not feed my outdoor daphnia cultures. Perhaps if I did feed them, there would be enough nutrients to get mosquitoes.
The classic procedure, actually written up in the 1930s aquarium magazine, for growing daphnia outdoors, is to throw a dead cat into the middle of a small pond. About 2 to 3 weeks later there are tons of daphnia to harvest.
Any decaying matter, including meat or plant matter, creates large populations of bacteria. Bacteria along with green water, a specific kind of algae, are the normal foods of daphnia.
A kids wading pool filled with water and decaying (not fresh or dried) leaves would provide a perfect place to grow a culture of daphnia. However, you have to make sure it gets little or no sunlight. Well, maybe two or three hours a day of direct sunlight is OK, but in mid summer, it might not be. If the daphnia get too hot they will start producing eggs cases and the population will disappear. The egg cases will survive until the water temperature is right again and the daphnia may come back, but not if the temperature is only temporarily in the right range. You can provide shade by using boards or carport cover.
Table scraps that decompose quickly might be used as daphnia food. I used to raise daphnia on mashed sweet potatoes indoors.
All the daphnia I sell is raised indoors and so I can guarantee it has no dangerous insects or their eggs. I do get some blood worms occasionally, and some people can be allergic to something in these insect's makeup. Blood worm flys are also native to the DC area, so blood worms can be found in most swamps and slow moving water around here. Blood worm flys look something like mosquitoes when flying but are not a biting fly.
As for DAPHNIA outdoors, I do not do that except for trying to provide daphnia to fish I am trying to spawn out doors in ponds or wading pools. THere is always the concern about not only mosquito and their larva but also dragon fly larva, and there are tons of both insects in the swamps around us.
Which reminds me, I volunteered and did surveys for the Maryland natural resources department for like 3 years in the spring months and every stream we took plankton samples from that came out of Maryland swamps had lots of daphnia in them. But we were doing the sampling in March and April. One of the goals was to see if there was enough plankton to support the fry of native fishes.
So theoretically you could go to a swamp and collect daphnia locally. Might need a boat or hip waders.
But in the backyard, If you get a dense daphnia culture going, there will likely be no mosquito larva. There will be dragon fly larva, but they stay attacked to something so are relatively easy to avoid.
Back to the mosquitos. Apparently the female mosquitos have really good ability to smell. They can supposedly smell whether or not the water in which they place their egg cases will support their offspring. SO if there are not enough nutrients in the water, due to either being a freshly filled pool, like a wading pool, or having enough daphnia to consume the nutrients, she will not lay her eggs in that water. However, I do not know if that is a scientific fact or not. I do know I do not get mosquitoes in my outdoor cultures, and I do not feed my outdoor daphnia cultures. Perhaps if I did feed them, there would be enough nutrients to get mosquitoes.
The classic procedure, actually written up in the 1930s aquarium magazine, for growing daphnia outdoors, is to throw a dead cat into the middle of a small pond. About 2 to 3 weeks later there are tons of daphnia to harvest.
Any decaying matter, including meat or plant matter, creates large populations of bacteria. Bacteria along with green water, a specific kind of algae, are the normal foods of daphnia.
A kids wading pool filled with water and decaying (not fresh or dried) leaves would provide a perfect place to grow a culture of daphnia. However, you have to make sure it gets little or no sunlight. Well, maybe two or three hours a day of direct sunlight is OK, but in mid summer, it might not be. If the daphnia get too hot they will start producing eggs cases and the population will disappear. The egg cases will survive until the water temperature is right again and the daphnia may come back, but not if the temperature is only temporarily in the right range. You can provide shade by using boards or carport cover.
Table scraps that decompose quickly might be used as daphnia food. I used to raise daphnia on mashed sweet potatoes indoors.
All the daphnia I sell is raised indoors and so I can guarantee it has no dangerous insects or their eggs. I do get some blood worms occasionally, and some people can be allergic to something in these insect's makeup. Blood worm flys are also native to the DC area, so blood worms can be found in most swamps and slow moving water around here. Blood worm flys look something like mosquitoes when flying but are not a biting fly.
Becca
Members
You could probably culture them in a colorful plastic tub with some lilies and other pond plants. That way you have something that is pretty and functional: http://www.amazon.com/United-Soluti...F8&qid=1395685139&sr=8-8&keywords=plastic+tub
chriscoli
Administrator
Hmmmm thanks, Frank. I might try a bin of them outside (i've only got dappled to dense shade in my yard anyhow) but I won't get rid of my indoor cultures.
Becca, I like the way you think!
Becca, I like the way you think!
Becca
Members
I wish I'd known your plans when you were helping me move. There's a whiskey-barrel water garden at the old place you could've had. I didn't move it because, even drained, it is ridiculously heavy. Not sure how my friend Amanda, who is renting the place, currently feels about it, but she might want it gone in the summer when it starts to attract mosquitoes.
It's half a JD barrel lined with an acrylic container with a layer of gravel between the two on the bottom and soil around the edges so that plants grow around the edge of the water and water can drain out of the bottom of the barrel, if it needs to. I didn't think about how heavy it would be when I came up with that plan... oops.
chriscoli
Administrator
sounds heavy!
as much as I've wanted to grow water plants outdoors....I haven't found anyplace with enough sun in my yard.
as much as I've wanted to grow water plants outdoors....I haven't found anyplace with enough sun in my yard.
Becca
Members
sounds heavy!
as much as I've wanted to grow water plants outdoors....I haven't found anyplace with enough sun in my yard.
My parents have a pond that's heavily shaded and have had great success with water hyacinth. They had a shade lily that did pretty well for a while, too. Lizards tail and parrots feather also grew OK. My whiskey barrel got a lot of shade and I managed to grow dwarf lilies in it like crazy and a little bit of hyacinth. Dwarf lilies are tropical, but they were cool while they lasted and I was able to propagate them and put them in fish tanks when it got cold.
Jmty
Members
interesting article frank and what is the right temp. for daphnia?
b considine
a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude
Have to wonder how the author of Frank's 1930s article settled on a dead cat for starting the culture. Did they try other dead animals that didn't work so well?
Chicken? Nope.
Dog? No luck there.
Squirrel? Nothing.
Cat? Well, what do you know!
Blaise
Chicken? Nope.
Dog? No luck there.
Squirrel? Nothing.
Cat? Well, what do you know!
Blaise
There are actually quite a number of different daphnia and Moina species. They are found around the world in swamps and I suspect there are species that have adapted to most any temperature range. The common one in the hobby is daphnia magna and is the one I have. Its optimum temperature range of 68 to 78 is probably what makes it great for the hobby and its size of course. The baby daphnia are comparable in size to baby brine shrimp.
chriscoli
Administrator
I heard from one of our previous speakers that dead squirrel does work quite well. Probably upsets the neighbors less.
