The Hunt for live food: Cladocerans

Cladocerans are collectively called water fleas. In nature, they are most abundant in spring and fall. The best time to collect is early morning or late afternoon.There are about four dozen species, but only a few are cultured by aquarists. The sexes are separate, with mostly females being produced. Eggs can be seen as small spots on the back of the female and can range between two and three hundred. The eggs hatch in two days at 25 degree Celsius. A females lifetime is 50 days and she may have 25 broods in that time. Nutritive value is directly related to what the eat. It is now easy to have a year round indoor culture. Cladocerans is very sensitive to contaminants and even dechlorinators can cause problems. Optimal temp. range is between 18 and 26 degrees Celsius. They require hard alkaline water with measurable kH and neutral to basic pH between 7pH and 8 pH. Aeration will produce better and denser results. It is good practice to filter and remove waste materials. Sponge filters is ideal, to protect the young.

Species to look at:
Daphnia magna
Moina macrocopa (much smaller, bit bigger than BBS)
Ceriodaphnia dubia (by far the smallest of the lot)

Dahnia



Moina



Ceriodaphnia



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