Things You'll Need:
- Daphnia Magna
- Greenwater
- Aged Aquarium Water
- A Healthy, Cycled Aquarium
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Step 1
Add the Daphnia Magna into a healthy, cycled aquarium.
The daphnia tank should have a substrate such as sand or aquarium gravel. The tank should also have clumps of filter floss, plastic plants and aquarium decorations inside of it.
A daphnia tank should never have fish in it. Fish and sucking filtration devices will suck-up and kill the daphnia.
Any water that's added into the daphnia tank should be the following types of water :
* Aged aquarium water. This type of water should have been dechlorinated before adding it into your fishtank, then aged inside of the fishtank for at least one week, then the water is "aged" and can now be added into the daphnia tank.
* Tap water that has been dechlorinated using a reliable dechlorinating product. Then the water will need to sit and age for at least 8 days, before adding it into the daphnia tank.
* RO water (reverse osmosis).
* Bottled water can be used for daphnia (anytime in any amount).
* Small amounts of rainwater can be used for daphnia magna but not too much, since rainwater is "soft" with a low PH.
Chlorine, chloramines and other harmful chemicals are highly toxic to daphnia. Avoid introducing toxins into your daphnia tank at all costs. If you suspect that a harmful substance has been introduced into your daphnia tank, perform a 80% water change using bottled water. (Only use bottled water if it's in a sealed water bottle.)
Good tankmates for daphnia include : California Blackworms, Microfex worms, Tubifex worms, and Pond Snails.
You can try adding live aquatic plants into your daphnia tank such as Java Moss. The plants will remove nitrates, which may or may not be a good thing for daphnia (considering that greenwater needs nitrates to grow.) -
Step 2
Feed the Daphnia once or twice a day with a sufficient amount of greenwater.
Daphnia eat greenwater. Greenwater will grow in any body of freshwater with organic material in it, as long as the water is brightly lit by the sunlight or by an aquarium light.
Greenwater will need to be cultured separately from daphnia. Culture greenwater in a different tank than your daphnia are cultured in. This is because daphnia can eat an entire tankful of greenwater in less than 24 hours. -
Step 3
Refill the water that's lost to evaporation using aged aquarium water. Do this every 2 or 3 days.
Perform a 25% partial water change on your daphnia tank, once every week. -
Step 4
Harvest a batch of daphnia using an aquarium net. The smaller daphnia can be harvested using a turkey baster.
Feed the live daphnia directly to your fish.
