Ktttk Posted August 19, 2006 Report Share Posted August 19, 2006 I had a look in a bucket thats been left outside for a while now and noticed some little orange dots swimming around. Upon closer inspection, they appear to be little orange mites. They can swim fairly quickly through the water and also run along the sides and bottom of the bucket. They are oval in shape and appear to have feelers at the front of their heads. I put a few into a glass tube and tried to take a picture - but its not very clear. The biggest is about 1-2mm in length and the smallest is just a dot. I am not sure if they are daphnia because after some online searching, I have learnt that they are also called water fleas and should 'hop' through the water. The ones that I have appear to 'run' through the water! The pic is not great - but shows the size difference. The dots are the little ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucid Posted August 19, 2006 Report Share Posted August 19, 2006 Hey there, you will know it's daphnia by the way that it swims, they will swim in jerky movements ( or little bursts maybe more precise) the daphnia will usually be clear depending on what they have been eating, if they have had strwbrry's they go a reddish pink, and if they are feeding on green water they go a light green in colour hope this helps B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted August 19, 2006 Report Share Posted August 19, 2006 Can't say without a much better picture than that. But if they're actually running on the bottom or anywhere, then no. Daphnia don't have legs to run. All they have are two antenna they use as to swim around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ktttk Posted August 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2006 hmm.. looking at them, they don't have any legs.. only feelers at the front - and they seem to use this to propel themselves along. I say that they look like they are 'running' because they move fairly quickly and in a coherent manner. The smaller ones tend to move in a jerky manner especially when they are swimming up and down the water column. How big do they get? I guess I could try and culture them and see what happens.. I'm a bit reluctant to feed them to the fish until i know what they are.. :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted August 20, 2006 Report Share Posted August 20, 2006 Not sure what they are but I get them in my daphnia tanks. They are not daphnia. The fish will eat them whatever they are Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke* Posted August 20, 2006 Report Share Posted August 20, 2006 I found some of these in a big puddle that had formed at a local school, thought I'd found daphnia, unfortunately not. I am not sure either what they are but the fish like chasing and eating them. They will crawl out of the fish's mouth and this makes for quite a funny game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keri Anne Posted August 20, 2006 Report Share Posted August 20, 2006 Sounds like live food anyway, if you're worried put a few fish you're going to cull in a small tank or container and "Test" feed to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke* Posted August 20, 2006 Report Share Posted August 20, 2006 Sorta like they did in the old days where the slaves would test the food before the kings and queens ate it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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