Jorge O'Reilly
Member
The theory I stand by is what the Aquarium Science.org bloke wrote. Every tank is full of pathogens, you can't avoid them. Keep them healthy, and that's what an immune system is for.
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Experienced fish keepers: What are you feeding your fish?
- Thread starter Mr.Shenanagins
- Start date
Bradders
Member
Thanks, everyone. Appreciate the comfort.
Wookii
Member
Now's the time to get a tub or two set up in your garden - a big shallow plastic tub works great for daphnia. Add a few hand fulls of oak leaves and some ferts, leave it for a couple of weeks, and then seed it with a bag of daphnia from your LFS. You can culture green water too if you want to increase production levels.
I have repashy Morning Wood. I got that kind by mistake. I find it useful for shrimps and fry as it's so easy to use it small or as a paste that separates. It seems to last well and I usually flake off some dried pieces, which the shrimps love. Corys also. For Cory fry I use that and also ground up granule food. The embers will nibble at it as it floats down. I enjoy it as an extra which I remember to use now and then., and when I need something fine.
MichaelJ
Member
Yes, that is actually the name of the product:
Now we are at it, they also have this:
Yes, they make good food! Recommended.
Cheers,
Michael
John q
Member
Soilent Green: Cory's, Otocinclus and Plecs love it, Amano shrimp will also steal small pieces if they get the chance.
For me it works better mixing at 1 part powder to 2 parts water; 1:3 ratio can become a bit sloppy.
Added as a treat rather than included in the day to day diet.
Ah, @Wookii , I kept meaning to post about this, after the abject failure of my Project Daphnia '23.
My Project Daphnia '24 has a 65L plastic container and some frogbit ready to go. Just lacking a bit of know-how:
- lid on or lid off, or bit of both (implied by your pic)?
- sunlight or shade?
- absent oak leaves (handful or even a single one), what to substitute?
- hopefully possible to get away with no airstone?
- water changes? (!)
Sorry for all the questions, keen to make a go of it this year...
And someone in their marketing department has a sense of humour
MichaelJ
Member
Yes, and smokes a lot of pot.
... well, they are in San Diego, so there is that. Cheers,
Michael
Jorge O'Reilly
Member
Come on... Every man has a twelve-year-old inside, they seem determined to bring it front and center
simon_the_plant_nerd
Member
My fish completely wasted the live food I bought for them last month. Two tetras shared a bloodworm. Everything else (brine shrimp, daphnia, the rest of the bloodworm) was completely ignored.
I bought some good quality cichlid pellets - ignored. Fluval bug bites - ignored. Courgette - mostly ignored.
Algae wafers, the entire tank goes mad for it. Bristlenose plec will fight the others off for it. The gouramis chow down on it. Also, the cheapest flakes, the tetras love them too. I have no idea why but they seem to prefer these foods.
I bought some good quality cichlid pellets - ignored. Fluval bug bites - ignored. Courgette - mostly ignored.
Algae wafers, the entire tank goes mad for it. Bristlenose plec will fight the others off for it. The gouramis chow down on it. Also, the cheapest flakes, the tetras love them too. I have no idea why but they seem to prefer these foods.
Le duke
Member
I keep a 5g outside all year, with a heater in it, to raise bladder snails.
Top it up with plant trimmings and tank water after a water change. Toss an occasional strawberry top in there.
Lots of food for my loaches.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Top it up with plant trimmings and tank water after a water change. Toss an occasional strawberry top in there.
Lots of food for my loaches.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Jorge O'Reilly
Member
Found this on my backup Moina culture. Transferred to a small bottle and shall be raised by mimicking this study. Good opportunity to gut load... Apparently, they lay from 350 to 3000 eggs, species dependant, so it might actually be quite the find. Four or five of these masses could give you a month's supply once reared and frozen. If they hatch, I might start a thread to share the experience. I always end up collecting adults from really mucky places, I'm not afraid of pathogens since they are "clean" places, but sorting through detritus is a bore really.
Wookii
Member
Ideal starting size, the bigger the better - the two tubs up front in my pic above are 84L, the one at the rear is a 165L plasters bath.
I started with the lid on for about six months when I set up the first two tubs with a view to reducing evaporation and reducing temperature swings at night, but eventually I found things to be a lot better with the lids off - I'm not sure exactly why. The rainwater top off are helpful too.
I would go for at least partial sunlight, but if the tub is big enough I don't think it matters too much if you have more sun. Definitely go for more sun than less if you have a choice - I have another plasters bath in another part of the garden and that is South facing and gets full sun for 80%+ of the day, and that's fine (its arguably the most productive). The sun helps generate more green water for the daphnia, and the higher temperature probably improves production rates.
Any leaves that are usable as botanicals in an aquarium will be fine, beech is another good option, and commonly used as hedging. Go for a walk in a local park or woodlands with a spare plastic bag and you should be able to find plenty of oak leaves - they have the advantage of being easily identifiable from other leaves. Now is a good time to collect them if you can get a dry day to two. The main reason for the leaves if just to get a nice bit of mulm substrate in the bottom of the tub to aid microbial stability - stability helps in the tubs just as it does in a tank. If I were throwing out some old substrate from a tank, I'd use that as well. The daphia also feed on the microscopic particles released into the water column, along with any free floating microbes feeding on the leaves, as the leaves beak down I believe.
It's not essential, it just helps maintain higher oxygen levels and keeps the water circulating gently, which I think helps the daphnia. My tubs are too far away from a power point, so I have a couple of solar powered ones that have an internal battery, from Amazon, they work great, and year round whenever there is a bit of sun. During the high summer the battery keeps them going most of the night too.
No, not really. During the summer I culture green water in a separate tub (I can outline that if its of interest?), so I have to take some water out of the tubs in order to add several litres of the green water and prevent them overflowing. Other than that, its whatever the rain replaces, and an occasional top off with tap water if needed during the summer.
Not a problem, ask away!
Mr.Shenanagins
Member
Before I read your post I was dying 😂😂😂😂
