Easiest LIVE Fish Food!

[@TazawaTanks]

If you want to learn more about how to care for a daphnia culture, check out this article: www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/daphnia-culturing-how-to-raise-daphnia

[@timchancey7859]

Ya I most definitely will, got some way better guggies coming than I can pick up at local pet stores so I want to grow them out right an check my skills lol..

[@kralupinensis]

Microfex is TOP! Most productive easy good for aquaculture!

[@BarrySuridge]

Daphnia are members of the order Cladocera, and are one of the several small aquatic crustaceans commonly called water fleas because their saltatory swimming style resembles the movements of fleas.

[@UncleLarryB52405]

I have wintered over daphnia outside in an above ground tub, in IOWA. Their life cycle is amazing, and the way I understand it, basically spring starts out with all females that hatch from eggs, then clone themselves all summer, then the shortening of day light and cooling temps, cause males to occur, and the females produce eggs that survive the winter - starting the cycle again - The first year I had the tub outside, I have a video of late DEC when I still had somewhat mild weather, nights below freezing, but Daphnia still swimming in the water!

[@TheRealPunisher]

Am i the only one that doesnt get notifications? Now i gotta binge watch lol

[@primesspct2]

I had these hatch out in my betta tank one summer, and decided to culture some myself! It was easy , I didn’t continue through winter, but definitely will start again.

[@pinoylakasradiostreaming5316]

Where did you get your daphia to start with? Thank you

[@meek_meek1942]

I put a 80G tank outside. I let the mosquitoes do the work for me. After a few days i harvest the larvae and toss it in my tanks. My tiger barbs go crazy for it!

[@handthing9709]

Have you ever had any hatch out in your house?

[@albert6049]

@@handthing9709I netted some larvae and fed them to fish. They can't swim as quickly as fish so they can't run away. They end up sinking to the bottom and becoming easy feed.

[@Carolina-ql1kn]

That's illegal in my country 😂

[@jimmygimbal]

That shirt is pretty slick.. i like the green. Loved all the broll shots too

[@sshep86]

True, daphnia is easy. But there is an easier live food where you don't even have to start the culture and have to do very little. This is of course Mosquito larvae. Literally just leave some water in any container outside to go stagnant. Sure enough I can guarantee it will soon have tonnes of mosquito larvae. Its a seasonal delicacy here in the UK (maybe 4-5 months out of the year) but is completely free, extremely low maintenance and completely self sustaining. By far the easiest live food going.

[@dymondlegss5398]

good idea! Thats next for me. I didnt even think about larvae!

[@Rpteak]

How do you harvest the larvae ? My source grows algae like crazy and dipping them out is a mess.

[@vb2377]

I’ll be trying this next week! Backyard aquatics will be instructing me!

[@BarrySuridge]

Daphnia has five trunk limbs (used in filter-feeding), two antennae and a pair of abdominal setae.

[@dymondlegss5398]

I got some by accident. I put some soil from outside in a tank for my fairy shrimp substrate. And it started with one. I was like, oh whats that little thing? Then there were 3. Then they started taking over. Turkey basted them out (as many as i could. They are fast) and put them in a container with some green water i had in the windowsill. Now that little container is filling up with these little things. I do nothing but watch them bop around. Great video and great shirt!

[@jonstfrancis]

I also keep a small pool for daphnia and I also put a tub of water out for mosquitos to lay eggs on and use the larvae as fish food.

[@vb2377]

New aquarium co-op shirt!?!

[@adieaf61]

Arround 2:40 I hadd to shout out "you know ~~~~ all about the science of daphnia. Fortunately I really enjoyedd the viddeo. 🙂

[@LouisGuagenti]

Thanks for the straight forward explanation! It’s been hard finding a video that explains exactly how to get a culture really going! Thanks again!

[@derekhart410]

I've been raising scuds in a 10 gallon tank, and they're ridiculously easy to care for. My yoyo loaches go apeshit when I feed them scuds. I've never tried, but I've heard daphnia are extremely prone to culture crashes.

[@evilrooster9960]

Use Hornwort or some type of good plant that will suck up all the nitrogen and bladder snails to eat the dead ones, feed them an Algae culture instead of yeast to minimize CO2 production and waste because any algae that survive will spawn more for the Daphnia to eat. It's worked for 3 years for me and I feed them once a day and wait till they all get on the sides or they start making the little tornadoes for food

[@UncleLarryB52405]

It really depends on how your area is, and how you care for the tank, IMO. I use a 10 g tank, and have a bubble line going there, with a light that is often on 24-7. Room temp, I take 1-2 gals a week off the tank, filtering out any daphnia to feed fish, and replace with used aquarium water. I keep a couple 1g jars or 2 gal bowl, half full and have back-up cultures going, in case the tank crashes. I bought a culture off the internet 3+years ago, and have kept them going since, and I do little to the back-up jars, but intensive farm the tank, and sometimes I have a crash.... still works for me... I cant do BBS hatching due to allergic reactions, and these are like fresh water BBS!

[@kevinchan1408]

Do you run an airstone on the daphnia tank?

[@ivancho5854]

Don't. Just an airline as small bubbles get trapped under their carpace.

[@thomasashe2681]

Zenzo, would there be a way to create a 2 gallon refugium home for the daphnia and maybe some copepods and connect it to a 10 gallon tank in such a way where they can breed and occasionally escape from the 2 gallon into the 10 gallon to feed gulf coast pygmy sunfish in a self sustaining system?

[@TazawaTanks]

I’m sure there is a way. Seems like a lot of work compared to just having that two gallon tank in a handy location and scooping some in a net every now and then. I’d love to see your invention if you build it though!

[@user-ohmy]

You ever make it?

[@thomasashe2681]

@@user-ohmy no. I haven't.

[@skylerpond1714]

What creature is on the rocks (middle of screen) at 8:19? Never seen them before

[@riconguyen2476]

it is mudskipper :)

[@L1ttlef0ot]

In the winter, we are in central WA where it sometimes get below freezing, if I didn’t want to take the tank inside, would a water heater help? Or would that be insufficient?

[@Andreas-gh6is]

Generally, Moina macrocopa is considered easier to keep and will have a higher yield, especially if you don't have a lot of space or an outdoor tank. Really, no competition most of the time.

[@AwesomesMan]

Could I grow them in the same 5 tank with endlers or will they all get eaten up

[@tysonstightlines3082]

What are the fish jumping up on the rocks? Around 8:15 in

[@TazawaTanks]

Those are my Indian Mudskippers.

[@Panther8Cordeiro]

I use yeast for bread and vegetable leaves to feed.

[@kristinabarkovic4525]

If you have powerful filtration in the tank, probably best to turn all filters off for a while? Or those things get sucked in 😺 Just ordered live daphnia online and will be feeding it to fish for the first time 🤞🏻

[@jagtrader6433]

Where did you order from

[@SimplyBetta]

I’ve tried daphnia seriously like 4 times now, but the difference is that I’ve been keeping them inside under artificial light, so not with green water. I think there’s my flaw. I have to figure out how to keep green water inside!

[@ReneesZooTube]

I have a green water container on my kitchen table, no daphnia in it yet though. I have Ramshorn snails, a bit of java moss, and a tiny bit of gravel for maintaining beneficial bacteria. No filter, no airstone. I started it with aquarium water I pulled from one of my tanks. I put a bunch of aquarium plant fertilizer in. It's in indirect light but the dining room gets good light daily from windows. It went green and stays green. So I think if you did something similar and maybe kept a lamp on it during the day or kept it by a sunny window it would probably work for you.

[@TazawaTanks]

I remember talking to you about that before. Very strange. Maybe the green water trick would help. Check out the article I pinned in the comments.

[@Andreas-gh6is]

Try Moina macrocopa. They tolerate higher densities, dirtier water and have higher yields. Betta breeders in Asia prefer them over Daphnia and BBS because they are also smaller. They can be fed with yeast or chlorella powder, if you don't want to go through the trouble with the green water....

[@sshep86]

Just put it on a windowsill which gets full sun. If that doesn't give you green water then I don't know what will.

[@Andreas-gh6is]

@@sshep86 That works for some people, but it can be quite slow. You need some inoculation, and ideally some kind of fertilizer to speed it up. And sometimes the culture gets invaded by algae eating protists and goes rotten.

[@conniepeterson3004]

Great feeding video footage! Wow your fish are beautiful! What a treat for them!

[@MacPNW]

I like the OD green. Yuuut! I can't seem keep daphnia alive, but can luckily collect easy enough.

[@troychampion]

thank you for making this educational video, i sub'd because of it.

[@Worldnews-km4vs]

Why daphinia egg so expensive

[@andreasventer4267]

Do another fish room tour

[@mr.octopus6972]

My daphnia tank crashed because of a cyclops bloom. Finally I had found the perfect technique with high yield just before those invaders came and genocided every single daphnia (1000s of them) in only 72 hours. I never knew where or how they got in there ... maybe dormant eggs (?) Daphnia are very easy to raise outside (you litterally have to do nothing) but having them inside may be a bit of a struggle. They do need space and won't yield much in a small container. The bigger a container the greater their numbers. They do prefer shallow water on a larger surface. Take bubbles or a sponge filter in there so the water won't foul but set it to minimum to minimise current (they are born and thrive in ponds and swamps). Feed with spirulina powder and/or yeast when water becomes clear. It is surprising how much they can eat! Green water won't be enough. They have many ways to reproduce. Normally they mate. In hard times a female can reproduce without a male and be pregnant with only females until the colony is back to a greater number. In really hard times (temperature drops too much or water evaporates - meaning that fall is comming) they will lay eggs that can dry and wait half a year for the next season. They will have ~10 babies every ~8 days so in no time you can have so much that you won't even know what to do with them 🙂👍 If you need the tank to be aesthetic you can add snails in the tank. Snails will eat algaes on the glass but won't compete for the food contained in the water. I strongly suggest you take out any insect that isn't a daphnia in the tank as soon as you see it. I was careless for a couple of hours after spotting the first cyclop and now here I am without daphnia waiting for next summer to get new ones.

[@markhunter2244]

Great timing with this video. Was thinking of using the daphnia from the Loch that’s half a mile from my house, but I was worried about bringing in parasites and disease’s. Will now try and start my own culture 🤓

[@Helveteshit]

Just make sure you only get daphnia and not something else. So I suggest quarantine in a smaller tub to ensure you don't get things you don't want.

[@soundwaynes3885]

What you have is magna daphnia the bigger variation that grows as big as monggo size..

[@tonyturner6948]

Surprisingly, big Frontosa love them and see them as a delicacy.

[@kissedbysun2517]

Thanks! Nice to see bumble bee gobies. Love those little guys. Haven't seen them in 30 years.

[@ashenwalls3558]

I love watching my young betta go after live food! 💚

[@jopurrin]

Very informative, enjoyed the video

[@LushSaltyAquariums]

Hey brother, I get my daphnia from carlos at Backyard Aquatics too!

[@BlakeAdamsCO]

Beautiful Bolivian ram! Do yours ever have issues eating from the water column? I find mine only eat off the ground, even live black worms when I fed them the other day. Find it odd, as I noticed yours was eating no problem.

[@chrisrusso4512]

I’m trying to develop a pond tank and use that for top ups and water changes

[@timchancey7859]

Good info, im sold making arrangements asap to get them started, just need the culture...

[@rickfromthecape3135]

Great video! I'd totally forgotten about daphnia... now I'm on it. Miss that beard bro!

[@Tenner2340]

Tried infusoria, for🐠 fry they actually, really enjoyed it. Daphnia sounds great too. kind of in a pinch as fry begin to free swim. Not sure where to get daphnia starter culture on such short notice....

[@chasewyatt2014]

I see a power head in the daphnia tank? Do you find it more beneficial to have the water movement? I'm culturing in gallon jars and a 2.5 gal tank.

[@TazawaTanks]

It was a cheap Amazon solar pump that I didn’t know what do to with. Doesn’t really do much except keep the algae moving.

[@teddyjackson1902]

You can feed them yeast too.

[@Tohm_Cat]

did you have a filter or something in the tank outside ?

[@babartahir9004]

Very nice👍 !! unfortunately, illegal to grow here so i use frozen.

[@-8_8-]

What about scuds(amphipods)?

[@dragonladyx3924]

Do you have a airstone with them?

[@PaulsKoipond]

thanks for the information, going to start my own culture now

[@aidanmcelvogue4697]

Where can I get this product to get a culture going

[@bluecavemen]

What about scuds?

[@pablomuzzobar8940]

What about red cherry shrimp is healthy?

[@brandonsaquariumsandterrar8985]

Hey zenzo great video!!! I was wondering where you bought the Indian mudskippers? And do you recommend the store?

[@TazawaTanks]

I had a friend order them from a wholesaler. You can try www.aquariumfishsale.com

[@elvinsworld11]

Thanks, good informative video.

[@catherinecrabtree]

I’m thinking my axolotl will enjoy these! Thank you!!!

[@johngorham9580]

Thank you.... very helpful

[@judydeangeles9516]

If you have the in your house for the winter do they stink?

[@Charlie-zt8ei]

Zenzo, are you using some sort of filtration on their tank, or just an airstone for circulation?

[@TazawaTanks]

I had nothing for 10 month. For the last month I have had a solar powered pump in there. An air stone would be fine though, but isn’t necessary.

[@ivancho5854]

Don't use an airstone, just use an airline, as the smaller bubbles get under their carpace (?) and they then can't swim and instead get stuck on the surface of the water. Aeration really helps population growth, apart from that overfeeding can easily crash the colony. All the best.

[@shankarkhairnar9527]

Nice information sir thanks

[@ndbyers23]

@tawaza tanks Hey Zenzo! Is daphnia small enough for most nano fish such as chili rasboras?

[@TazawaTanks]

The smaller ones (younger daphnia) would be.

[@ndbyers23]

I just picked up some Threadfin Rainbowfish and they have small mouth’s and smaller throats. What would be a good option for them. I found a gal who hatches her own bbs and I am going to buy some from her. With only one tank I don’t want to set up a whole system.

[@ivancho5854]

@@ndbyers23 Vinegar worms? Good luck.

[@Lulu.G-61]

So informative, thank you for sharing!

[@savrip]

A few times I thought you were going to drink it!

[@MDestron2282]

I was just waiting for it.

[@bailywhiting5207]

Really helpful thank you!

[@49ersfan127]

Is the tank covered from rain outside? Or do you let the rain pour in the tank?

[@TazawaTanks]

It’s open to the rain.

[@nousagi_r5455]

Will replacing the crushed spirulina flakes with fish pellets works?

[@TazawaTanks]

If it is crushed to a powder, yes. Also, just the extra food in the water that turns to algae and green water will help.

[@desireeallen3805]

Do you filter the tank or no

[@TazawaTanks]

No

[@ST62382]

I haven’t had luck with daphnia in the past and I was feeding spiraling powder

[@TazawaTanks]

Hmmm...check out the article I pinned at the top of the comments. Maybe there is something there that can help.

[@ST62382]

Tazawa Tanks I’ll have to give it a shot again one of these days

[@spencer5082]

Filter? Air stone? If not, how do you keep from breeding mosquitos?

[@dyansulek610]

What were those white things that jumped outta the water into the rock????

[@FireflyXOXO1]

Thank you

[@beatap6250]

Great video 😉👍🙋‍♀️🤗

[@sirenadellopera]

So, if I want to raise Daphnia in a tank that does not get natural sunlight, how much artificial light would you say they need? I've got a tank in my basement that's about 12 gallons which I'd like to use to grow Daphnia. I assume that the tank needs a filter, right? What kind of filter do you reccomend?

[@TazawaTanks]

I have yet to try indoors. I would imagine that the tank would need about 10-12 hours of high/bright light and a lot of nutrients to grow algae and green water.

[@telk5748]

Hi. I have an old 25 Litre tank and filter. Would they get sucked up by a normal (not a foam) filter?

[@TazawaTanks]

Yes, they would get sucked up by the filter. You can put a piece of foam on the inlet of the filter.

[@telk5748]

Tazawa Tanks, Thank you.

[@EyezLikaFox̌]

WAITTTTT what were those cute things you fed first? They were zipping all around!!!

[@alexkarasoulos]

I think White Worms are the easiest, Rachel O' Leary has a video on them

[@xXkamaXxKazi]

I wonder if you still have that daphnia colony after the freeze at the beginning of this year “2021”

[@TazawaTanks]

I have the same daphnia culture going for almost two years now. We didn’t freeze here in California.

[@xXkamaXxKazi]

@@TazawaTanks that’s great!! I knew most of the US got hit with the freeze at the beginning of the year and even fish farms out in Florida were struggling to get back up and running afterwards. Here in Texas we were hit pretty hard and can only imagine what central and northern states went through during that time frame.

[@shortsyoutubeshorts5420]

Big like 😀 Very nice video 😁

[@ThePeacePlant]

Is daphnia the same as sea monkeys?

[@TazawaTanks]

No. Brine shrimp are sea monkeys

[@ThePeacePlant]

@@TazawaTanks Thanks for the help

[@sunriseeyes0]

I really want to culture daphnia but i have to figure out a way to prevent mosquitos from getting in that also my cats don’t think they can sit on… lol

[@TazawaTanks]

You can cover your daphnia culture tank with a screen. This way nothing can get in or out without moving the screen.

[@sunriseeyes0]

@@TazawaTanks i have to make the screen cover strong enough to hold the weight of two cats 😅 or make it arched or angled in some way so they can’t sit on it. Or pokey/spikey so it’s not comfortable. Do you think a solid glass or acrylic cover would be ok for the daphnia? Or do they need that free-flow of air?

[@TazawaTanks]

@@sunriseeyes0 the free air flow will be better. Plus, they prefer cooler temps than too warm, which the cover would do by trapping heat.

[@sunriseeyes0]

@@TazawaTanks ah! Ok! Mahalo for clearing that up for me! I will look into a way to make a screen lid that is also cat-proof 🙏🏽

[@BamaHama914]

How is your culture doing now? I'm in north Alabama and the extreme heat has really knocked my numbers way down.

[@TazawaTanks]

Still trudging along with the original colony from 2-3 years ago. When it thins out, I leave them alone for a month or two.

[@raylanbenjamin6943]

I've tried Daphnia a load of times and I cannot get it to succeed, my colony never takes off

[@luckydays8239]

How to culture bro I'm need kind of u have

[@Turkforlife123]

is it necessary to have an air pump for oxygen or can they survive without one

[@TazawaTanks]

They can survive without one, but it will help if you live in a very warm climate by keeping the water cooler.

[@slavalavi7865]

​@@TazawaTanks Very good answer . I live in such place. Very very hot 🔥

[@FatherFH]

The outside cultures survive being completely frozen also. Inside cultures are tricky.

[@Tom_Hensley]

Feathery. They are called - FLAGGELLA USED FOR LOCOMOTION. 😷

[@JustDoinFlorida]

Tom Hensley sorry to break the news Tom, but those are not flagella. Flagella are much longer structures that rotate like a gear to create a whipping motion and allow the animal to move. Flagella typically only occur as the sole structure for locomotion. The feathery structures really are just antennae that double as the daphnia’s locomotion. Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2042/

[@yourlocaltoad5102]

Flagella are something different. Don’t try to correct people when you dont know the right term

[@Tom_Hensley]

My mistake, I was thinking smaller, like microbes, u are correct that are antennae

[@kannadiga3644]

Do they stink? Also can we culture something in the main fish tank itself.. Like they could hide in substrate or aquascape and whatever comes out get hunted by fish? Is it risk of overfeeding by fish?

[@ivancho5854]

Daphnia don't burrow, they always swim in the water column. They do best in their own tank or even a big jar!

[@luckydays8239]

Bro my java moss is still green About 2 months passed but no improvement what. I do

[@PoojaPandey_MissDecember]

I bought 1kg fish food pallets, but my fishes did not like it and also I don't want to throw it away...where else can I use this fish food???

[@frank88ster]

Don't throw, I grind pallets with flakes, add dried dog pallets, Chinese freezed dried anchovies, dried bread crusts into fine powder and use small micro scoop to feed my fishes. Now add that with home cultured daphnia, mosquito laves, my fish food last a long time.

[@a180combatbowsergamepro6]

will a betta eat them

[@TazawaTanks]

Yes. I feed these to my two bettas.

[@peterock1313]

That black spot on their back is an egg that they lay cause they think their going to die, it’s a sign the culture may be in trouble.

[@J.Olivers_Guppies-Aquatics]

Great information

[@Jotto999]

What? Daphnia are NOT the easiest live food. Daphnia cultures often crash for no particular reason, even for experienced keepers. Obviously e.g. vinegar eels are easier to culture.

[@TazawaTanks]

That may be the case for you, but mine have been going non-stop for over 5 years now. Sometimes they will die back a little, but I always have some in the tank.

[@nathanly8761]

Am I the only one who thought he would accidentally drink from the glass?

[@EmperorDragon6]

nathan ly Same 😂

[@gladboy7722]

thank you for sharing but are you running to the tank...💯💯💯...

[@avawithers5522]

I hear mosquito larvae is also easy.

[@MoreChannelNoise]

tried multiple times, find them the hardest. Harder than fruit fly, white worms, micro worm etc etc

[@bettyb.7971]

IMO, the easiest live food are microworms. Great for small fish but my betta is also interested.

[@SshivamKhopkar]

How to get dhapnia or moina without culture. We don't get those here in India! Ugh!!!!

[@russwigley1433]

Harmful bacteria will breed in stagnant water if it's put in a spray bottle and a fine mist is used it could be fatal but would be ok for aquarium if you use a UV sterilisation bulb

[@theanimaladdiction]

I think that's the hardest one out of all of them