Tilapia Fry

Due to a rather over achieving female Nile tilapia, we have tilapia fry for sale.
For $1.00 each you can raise your very own tilapia. Easy to grow, these fish start reproducing in 4 months.

If you have larger orders we can produce large numbers of these fry with 1 months notice.

Care and Keeping of Red Wigglers

Red wigglers are a useful little critter. Not only do they eat your kitchen scraps but they make terrific fish food. For example oscars, tilapia and and lots of other cichlids devour these when they are allowed to float down in the water column.

But, how do you keep them? I've seen these kept in everything from a styrofoam box to high tech worm apartments consisting of removable trays.


Here's what you need to grow red wigglers at home and culture your own vermiposter.
1) Start with the fruit fly traps. Fruit flies are the main reason people quit growing worms so we'd best address them first off. 2L pop bottles (plastic soda bottles for our American friends) are excellent for this. Cut the top off the bottle just where it widens out . Flip the top upside down and replace in the top of the open bottle. You now have a fruit fly trap. It works on the same process as a lobster trap. Stupid fruit flies get in...but can't find the way out. Tape around the top edge of the trap to seal it. Pour in 1/4 cup of some fruit vinegar and you've got your fruit flies under control. I build two of these for each container of worms.

2) Get a large plastic container (the size depends on your space availability) with a lid and a second lid for a tray on the bottom. Compost makes lots of juice that you don't want dribbling on your floor so make sure the base will have some holding ability.
Drill several 1/4" drain holes in the bottom of the container and cover these holes with landscaping fabric. Old panty hoes fabric works just as well. This fabric may be glued down with silicone or hot glue or just left to sit.

3) Add compost and worms. Torn strips of newspaper can be added to different layers of your compost. Some people claim this minimizes the fruit flies (really....traps minimize the fruit flies!) Worms like soft clean kitchen scraps. Don't add citrus, egg shells, or bananas (they carry fruit flies like crazy!). Potato peelings, watermelon rind, apple and pear cores etc. are perfect. If you're lucky you'll find that you get a tiny white worm too. These are great for feeding baby fish...that's another story!

4) Be patient. Worms take a bit of time to get comfortable. Check you compost occasionally. It should be a wet mushy mass, not too dry, and yet not pooling juices either. Use a turkey baster to such the juice out of the base and water your house plants with it. (My wife loves it when I use the turkey baster! She even bought me my very own! Not really sure why!)

Caring for and culturing Gammarus

Gammarus, or scud, are a freshwater shrimp that are easy to raise and make terrific food for all kind of fish. Gammarus can be cultured in a shallow container. Duckweed growing on the surface provides an excellent food source as well as habitat for the shrimp. They feed well on algae but also enjoy a piece or two of lettuce in their tank to munch on.
Aeration does enhance the culture but, as with daphnia, should be very low; 1 bubble per second seems to work well.
Gammarus can also be used in science fair projects investigating movement or survival of invertebrates.

Caring for Your Daphnia

Care and maintenance of a daphnia culture is really straight forward as long as you follow some simple rules.

1) Be patient.
2)  Change water very slowly.
3) Never use water that contains chlorine. Let tap water sit out at least over night to allow chlorine to gas off.
4) Be patient.

Set up your culture tank early. Let the water age. Toss in a pinch or two of flake fish food and some aquarium plants to get the bacteria started. Daphnia eat bacteria and algae. A 12 hour/day light source may make your culture grow more quickly but is not necessary.
You can provide aeration for your daphnia but don't over-do it. Any current in your culture will upset them so try to keep it to 1 bubble / second.
Daphnia can handle many different qualities of water, they just don't handle transfer between water quality well. Slowly drip water into a new culture. After the culture is at least 5 time the volume you started with you can transfer the daphnia into their new home. Don't rush this transfer. Daphnia don't need lots of space and they can survive in their original culture dish for a long time.

Water changes are not needed. Simply top up your culture with dechlorinated water to replace loss due to evaporation.

Need daphnia for a science project or fish food? Contact us!