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!