Growing Moina

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Mon May 01, 2006 7:07 pm

Moina are really small water fleas. These are the king of microfood. Loaded with protien and calcium. It also gets your critters so excited that you just can't believe it.

I'd strugged for a long time, and actually got into shrimping because of these buggers. I was looking for tank cleaners and got hooked.

I have to credit Mike at Aquaboy Aquatics for giving me the hint.

Anyway, get a big plastic garbage can, and a weighted foam filter. Discard the foam so it is just a bubbler tube. You'll need an air pump. Don't use a bubble stone as the fine bubbles kill the moina. I'm also using a 200 watt stainless steel submersable heater to keep 78 degrees. No lights are needed, but it help to be able to see.

Get a start of moina. There is always someone selling on aquabid. If you want, pm me and I'll tell you who I've had good luck with.

Go to the store and find some sweet potato baby food with no preservatives.

Start filling your garbage can from your water changes. Don't use conditoned tap water, reconstituted water or anything else, ONLY your water changes. Once you get about 20 gallons in the can you can put in your moina starter, add about 1/2 tsp of baby food mixed with a pint of water and let it go. Stir the bottom daily. Feed no more often than every other day and don't feed unless the water is clear. Add no more than 1 tsp of babyfood at a time. Always mix the baby food with water before adding. Each week siphon off the bottom, let it settle and harvest the moina for a wind-fall. You can then add more water change water. Once you get a good population you MUST do daily harvests or the population will grow so large it will crash.

I've getting several thousand moina each night from one can with my daphnia net. catch them in the net and transfer them to clean water. Don't use the water from the moina tank.

That's about it. Ask questions about anything that isn't clear and I'll try to clear it up.

zapisto · Post by **zapisto** » Tue May 02, 2006 12:07 pm

i will sure give it a try

demented_lullaby · Post by **demented_lullaby** » Tue May 02, 2006 3:29 pm

Only use aged water(1 week+)or tank water for your daphnia. They are very sensitive to metals.

Use some yeast in that food mixture. Or suppliment with some Kents Microinvert

.

Good luck, Dapnia/water fleas are good food. You'll see them colour up with the baby food stuff

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Tue May 02, 2006 6:09 pm

I also grow green water and I dump that in a few times a week. The sweet potatoes seem to be all they really need. I pulled out probably 20,000 tonight. Everyone had a feast. I put a few in the tank with my bamboos. They all come out of hiding and perched on the driftwood. Then I dumped a bunch in and they had a ball!

They may not need moina, but I don't need half the stuff that makes me happy either. It looks to me like they are having a much better time.

amber2461 · Post by **amber2461** » Tue May 02, 2006 8:38 pm

Thanks for the tips

zapisto · Post by **zapisto** » Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 am

Badflash
you culture is inside or outside ?
and what size of garbage Can ?

thanks again

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Wed May 03, 2006 3:31 am

I use a standard 30 gallon rubbermade garbage can. It is inside next to my 300 gallon "pond". The sweet potato smells a little piney, but not bad and nothing like some of the other stuff I've fed them. I'm steering clear of using yeast, egg yolk and rotirich as all have resulted in foul water in my previous trys. I once used infusoria, but making that stunk up the place too. Before my culture would get going really well, then crash after a week. This has been running a month and is really producing.

The beauty of this system is the simplicity. Just baby food and not that much of it. A 50 cent jar of baby food will last me 2 weeks. Just keep stirring the bottoms so that they can get at all the food.

raptor83 · Post by **raptor83** » Fri May 05, 2006 5:24 pm

Thanks for the info Badflash

Just a few questions:-
Does the water have to be heated? (any water left to stand in my home seem to end up at about 18oC)
How do you manage to siphon the bottom of the trash can if its on the floor?
Can you grow them in a 6 gallon tank?
Thanks in advance

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Fri May 05, 2006 5:41 pm

The water does not need to be heated if it can be maintained between 65F and 88F by other means. I find that 78 is optimal.

Siphoning off the bottom is easy. As long as the bucket you siphon to is below the surface of the water, it doesn't matter where you take suction from. The siphon works from suurface level to surface level, so you cn suck off the bottom with no problems.

Here are a couple of pics of my setup:

This last is my foam filter minus the foam with a long replacement tube to give better circulation.

To harvest each night I stir up the bottom first and that seems to bring them up for easy scooping.

fishgeek · Post by **fishgeek** » Fri May 05, 2006 11:06 pm

i do similar and simplier
i had a bathtub outside with water in and used to add old fish water o this daphnia grew very well in here
no heating
no feeding
no circulation

they recieved sunlight and algae grew as the bathtub was outside
i harvested with a net , the daphnia tended to congregate close to the sides , i assumed eating from the algae on the bath tub walls

i now have a water butt outside with similar occuring , not growing as fast as smaller surface area and deeper water so i assume less light for food production, then it is only early in the year for outdoor cultivation in england
i never worry about a temperature , they do obviously slow down as it gets colder though and will overwinter without production to start all by themselves as it gets warm again

andrew

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sat May 06, 2006 1:43 am

Lots of people report things like yours with wading pools, etc. but I've never had any success doing it. This finally worked and I can do it year round. It gets too cold in NY USA to do much outside october-may.

raptor83 · Post by **raptor83** » Sat May 06, 2006 6:14 pm

Thanks Badflash, great info

So do you think I would be able to sustain a large enough population in a 6 gallon tank? (for shrimp food)
Also, how do you know when your 'density' of moina is at the right level?
Thanks again

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sat May 06, 2006 7:37 pm

People have reported success in as little as 1 gallon, but the container shape is important. Rectangular shapes are not good for circulation.

As far as density goes, that is not how you judge it. Feed only enough so that it clears after 2 days. Feed little and increase slowly. Overfeed even a little and the population will crash. 1 teaspoon every other day for a 30 gallon tank, for a 6 gallon you would need just a drop or two.

IndianaSam · Post by **IndianaSam** » Tue May 09, 2006 6:37 am

Badflash,

How many Moina did you use to intially innoculate your culture?

I'm very interested in setting up my very own Moina culture. Your information has been great.

IndianaSam

bulrush · Post by **bulrush** » Mon May 15, 2006 7:05 am

I have cultured daphnia in a 10g tank, 2.5g tank, and a 2g waste basket (plastic). I think the best shape is a tall, skinny shape (like a trashcan or waste basket) where the airstone will circulate the water from all areas of the container, which will keep the food in the water column for the daphnia.

So I agree with Badflash that a tall, skinny container is better.