Daphnia Cage question

[JasonO]

Hey I was wondering if "Lee's net breeder" will work as a daphnia cage for Daphnia pulex. If anyone knows if the holes are two big and they can swim through or anything about it, because I was looking into getting one online. (I am not sure the daphnia species is pulex but it is either that or another similarly sized species from my reading)

Or if someone has a better method for constructing a daphnia cage that would be cool.

I want to raise daphnia in my tank but they get eaten or sucked into the filter intake if if place them directly into the tank.

If another net breeder works that would be great to know also.

I do have other cultures of them going, but I would like to keep some in the tank because of their effectiveness as filter feeders.

Thanks for any advice, links would be helpful also if you find anything.

 

[tanker]

The cage is too small to raise daphnia. Get a small tank or an old tub.

 

[JasonO]

I am confused on what you mean by to small. It says it has dimensions of 6.5" long x 4.75" wide x 5.25" high, it would be going in a 29 gallon tank and would enough water movement to prevent them from starving.

I already have a few cultures going in small tanks, and tubs. I just kinda was looking to micro-culture, and add a culture to my 29 gallon tank in a breeding net or something, in case the other cultures ever crash or anything.

If you could elaborate on why it is too small that would be great.

 

[tanker]

It is not just the water movment and food, they need room to move and grow. An area that is 4X6X5 inches will only hold about 10-20 Daphnia--and then assuming that there is enough algae in the water as food. .

 

[JasonO]

Thanks for the insight.

I wasn't really looking to keep a whole ton of daphnia in a tank, and I probably could provide greenwater to them.
One of my main reasons for wanting to culture them this way, was the fact that I have heard of using this technique when rearing fish fry, allowing the daphnia adults to breed in safety, but the young daphnia that are much smaller to swim through a net and be fed upon by newly hatched fry.

Do you by chance have a Lee's net breeder? I was wondering how the size of the mesh compares to a standard brineshrimp net for example, or any other description would be useful. Actually any net breeder that would work for this would be great.

 

[tanker]

Sorry, I do not have any of those (Lee's breeder, BS net, ect).

 

[JasonO]

anyone know about using a net breeder?

 

[JasonO]

Ok, So I am just updating this thread. I bought a "Lee's Net Breeder", the wholes on it are small enough to keep the daphnia in it. However, I trouble feeding the daphnia because the net feeder will get nasty if you put to much stuff in it. Fish were trying to get the daphnia from the outside and kept running into the net breeder but didn't seem to damage it at all. It however didn't really work as well as I had planned, but I may try again later.

This may be a good solution for people who are suffering from greenwater.