Sophia Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 Don't give up, change something like less lettuce or milk and get some more bugs. One of my batches died after a really hot day, after which I moved them to part shade. They then ate lots of the really green algae in the bottom and it didn't regrow but now there is a population of brown algae stuff that they eat anyway and that doesn't seem to go away. I think it takes a little while to get the bugs in the right spot with the right conditions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 Maybe try not to feed too much. My 150L daphnia tank runs all year round and I feed them out to the fish all year round. They survive under the ice and they survive the hottest canterbury days. I never do water changes - I only top it up when it gets low. I only feed them once every 10 days or so on a half teaspoon of dissolved yeast granules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 I kept mine in a small pond as I found daphnia do not do well in small containers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted March 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 A 54L tank is not a small container Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 mine are in 2 10 litre buckets Jen - do you drop the yeast straight in or do you dissolve it first? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 To me it is Joe, for this purpose. Unlike Sophia, I could not keep daphnia alive in buckets or anything smaller than the old bath I use, or a fibreglass pond. That is all I meant - I had more success in containers with larger surface areas. I believe daphnia use a lot of oxygen. It can obviously be done though, Sophia is proof! 8) Just trying to come up with ideas of why you had all the sudden deaths. Nobody sprayed anything nearby have they? Drift from neighbours? Perhaps it was the milk. I have never added milk before but I would have thought, in direct sun, it would go off and perhaps pollute the water? I fed my daphnia green water, yeast, and/or dried blood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 I am building up to something bigger 8) . Was scoping out those 120L fish bin type things at the warehouse last night, and deep toy bins. So much plastic to choose from Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 A lot of plastic bins go brittle if left sitting in direct sunlight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 Do you think they would if they were hidden in a wooden box? My husband wants to make a box for said trough that slides over the top and has a wooden top edge that covers the top plastic edge. You would see a sort of planter box pond rather than a selection of grubby buckets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted March 18, 2011 Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 I suspect not. I presume it is the direct sunlight that turns them brittle (buckets eventually have the same problem) so covering them with something should stop the sun breaking down the plastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoon Posted March 18, 2011 Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 i wondered about milk as its known to be ecotoxic to aquatic organisms, i dont know wether its the milk itself or wether it causes a massive spike in the growth of bacteria , depleting the water of o2 quickly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer Posted March 18, 2011 Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 Jen - do you drop the yeast straight in or do you dissolve it first? I dissolve it first in a cup of warm water. There are lots of other things you can feed, like pea flour, spirulina flakes etc. but the yeast granules are pretty cheap, $3 lasts me over a year. Whenever I add other foods, I tend to get die offs so I stick to the yeast becasue it works for me. I also tend to harvest the daphnia heavily for a couple of days after I feed so they don't have a terminal population explosion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted March 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 Well I just won't give them milk again Which doesn't matter anyway, because I already have lots of nice green water for them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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