need daphnia culture

[Romi]

@juanico

I have always believed that yeast is not the right thing to feed them due to their subsequent poor nutrient value for fish. Spirulina powder (sold as Sunova in India, among various brands) is a good option, since that would make them highly nutritious. Dried egg yolk is another good thing, and chicken manure is cheap and full of nutrients (Gardeners classify as is an extra 'rich' manure, in the same glass as other highly potent manures like world famous Guano manure that is mostly seabird droppings)

caudata.org says

'' In terms of nutritional information, Daphnia have a protein content of around 50% dry weight and a fat content of 20-27% for adults (4-6% for juveniles).''

I think we can trust their judgement, since they are a premier live food website, used by biologists and other scientists in addition to amateurs and hobbyists like us.

[juanico]

caudata.org says

'' In terms of nutritional information, Daphnia have a protein content of around 50% dry weight and a fat content of 20-27% for adults (4-6% for juveniles).''

I think we can trust their judgement, since they are a premier live food website, used by biologists and other scientists in addition to amateurs and hobbyists like us.

i have no reason not to trust them, i agree with them completely.
dry weight is dry weight...not the weight of the living creature...and with daphnia it is very low.

[Romi]

caudata.org says

'' In terms of nutritional information, Daphnia have a protein content of around 50% dry weight and a fat content of 20-27% for adults (4-6% for juveniles).''

I think we can trust their judgement, since they are a premier live food website, used by biologists and other scientists in addition to amateurs and hobbyists like us.

i have no reason not to trust them, i agree with them completely.
dry weight is dry weight...not the weight of the living creature...and with daphnia it is very low.

Brine shrimp is 55% protein dry weight. How much would u say is a satisfactory protein dry weight? And is it possible to take protein content assessment of a live food without drying? I feel brine shrimp's salinity requirement is a deterrent for hobbyists interested in sustainability and recycling, because all that salt water goes down nowhere but the drain. Too much of saline water renders the ground it seeps into infertile. ... That weighs on my mind.

[juanico]

Brine shrimp is 55% protein dry weight. How much would u say is a satisfactory protein dry weight? And is it possible to take protein content assessment of a live food without drying?

i do not know what is a satisfactory content.
but since you mention brine shrimps, lets compare them with each other.
1 gram daphnia: 93% water content = 7% nutritious content (dry weight)
50% protein out of 7%= 3.5% protein = 0.035 gram protein

1 gram brine shrimp: 83% (not really verified...found only 2 sources in the net) water content = 17% nutritious content (dry weight)
55% protein out of 17%= 9.35% protein = 0.093 gram protein

so if you feed 1 gram of living brine shrimp it will give you 0.09 gram of protein...3 times more than 1 gram of daphnia (0.035 gram)
i would say that's better...and much less effort to "produce" it

I feel brine shrimp's salinity requirement is a deterrent for hobbyists interested in sustainability and recycling, because all that salt water goes down nowhere but the drain. Too much of saline water renders the ground it seeps into infertile. ... That weighs on my mind.

i use approx 40 grams a week for a constant, good running culture...i would say that's negligible.
1 farmer using commercial fertiliser on his fields outnumbers all aquarists in india easily, when it comes to salinisation of soil.
detergents, soaps, bleaches, spoiled engine oil, not to mention all industrial sewage waters...that's something to think about

[Romi]

@Juanico

The figure of 83% protein for Brine Shrimp seems very optimistic considering that the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations, their credentials verge on the unimpeachable) says:

''The adult brine shrimp has a protein content of 60% of the dry weight. Nauplii, Instar I, have 40% protein content.''

I think we do not usually grow the shrimp to adulthood when we feed, but use freshly hatched shrimp larvae (nauplii). So effectively we feed larvae to fish fry and these have 40% protein only. That is a full 20 percent less than adults, and even those max out at 60% protein content as per FAO.

Here is the page for you

http://www.fao.org/docrep/field/003/AB907E/AB907E00.htm

Could this 80+ figure be a self-serving hobbyist myth??? Brine shrimp are indeed convenient and less trouble for us. Daphnia have no standard ephippia (egg) collection system that i know of, that could allow their eggs to be put in sachets and sold worldwide like brine shrimp are..

I agree with what you say about the pollution we make with detergents, engine oil, soaps etc. ... But the idea we make so much already does not lessen the anxiety in my rather simple and pensive mind. ... I have done my best in the last 10 years, in my humble way, sorting our garbage into two bins, plastic and biodegradable separate and making vermicompost of the kitchen waste which i scatter or use for potted plants, using soapnuts in the washing machine (Reetha i think we call it in India), using the metro and rickshaws about three times as much as most people. I might be deluding myself, but i feel even this tiny bit must count ..

[ishaan]

looks like something is fishy happening here

[Romi]

[juanico]

The figure of 83% protein for Brine Shrimp seems very optimistic considering that the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations, their credentials verge on the unimpeachable) says:
''The adult brine shrimp has a protein content of 60% of the dry weight. Nauplii, Instar I, have 40% protein content.''

romi, please read my post properly. i never said 83% protein.
i said 83% water content...which results in 17% dry weight. you have to combine protein and dry weight, only then it makes sense when talking about live food.

I agree with what you say about the pollution we make with detergents, engine oil, soaps etc. ... But the idea we make so much already does not lessen the anxiety in my rather simple and pensive mind. ... I have done my best in the last 10 years, in my humble way, sorting our garbage into two bins, plastic and biodegradable separate and making vermicompost of the kitchen waste which i scatter or use for potted plants, using soapnuts in the washing machine (Reetha i think we call it in India), using the metro and rickshaws about three times as much as most people. I might be deluding myself, but i feel even this tiny bit must count ..

well, then i last consequence we all have to give up fish keeping.
it consumes a lot of energy, which causes CO2 emissions, all the goods have to transported from A to B, it pollutes the environment, lakes, rivers, oceans get raided, all the meds, incl. antibiotics we use eventually end up in our water system and become useless, bacause bacterias develop resistances towards this meds...and and and.

everyone has to make this decision on his own

[Abhi]

The figure of 83% protein for Brine Shrimp seems very optimistic considering that the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations, their credentials verge on the unimpeachable) says:
''The adult brine shrimp has a protein content of 60% of the dry weight. Nauplii, Instar I, have 40% protein content.''

romi, please read my post properly. i never said 83% protein.
i said 83% water content...which results in 17% dry weight. you have to combine protein and dry weight, only then it makes sense when talking about live food.

I agree with what you say about the pollution we make with detergents, engine oil, soaps etc. ... But the idea we make so much already does not lessen the anxiety in my rather simple and pensive mind. ... I have done my best in the last 10 years, in my humble way, sorting our garbage into two bins, plastic and biodegradable separate and making vermicompost of the kitchen waste which i scatter or use for potted plants, using soapnuts in the washing machine (Reetha i think we call it in India), using the metro and rickshaws about three times as much as most people. I might be deluding myself, but i feel even this tiny bit must count ..

well, then i last consequence we all have to give up fish keeping.
it consumes a lot of energy, which causes CO2 emissions, all the goods have to transported from A to B, it pollutes the environment, lakes, rivers, oceans get raided, all the meds, incl. antibiotics we use eventually end up in our water system and become useless, bacause bacterias develop resistances towards this meds...and and and.

everyone has to make this decision on his own

[Romi]

@juanico

That was an oversight when i took 83% for protein content, indeed Gram for gram, brine shrimp does seem superior protein. I wonder how much protein fish need?

There are around 50 species of Daphnia, and i remember reading that one species is found exclusively in the sacred cement tank of a temple in Madurai. It does not swim but hangs onto the leaves of plants and grazes on them. Sounds rather useful.... This i take to mean that most of the species have not been researched properly and some might be actually more useful that the ones we find on sale or collect ourselves. A dozen species are tropical, so they are more likely to be resistant to hot weather than D. pulex or D. magna. There is yet another dozen species of Daphnia that are technically not daphnia, look exactly the same but tiny, but are Ceriodaphnia. Some of theset have adults as small as brine shrimp nauplii and can be raised in jam jars! So there is likely to be great scope for future aquarists to find sometime more useful and easier that what we have now.

''well, then i last consequence we all have to give up fish keeping.
it consumes a lot of energy, which causes CO2 emissions, all the goods have to transported from A to B, it pollutes the environment, lakes, rivers, oceans get raided, all the meds, incl. antibiotics we use eventually end up in our water system and become useless, bacause bacterias develop resistances towards this meds...and and and.

everyone has to make this decision on his own''

That description suits me as well as my fish! hehe. I have no plans to give up on me, so i will at present not give up on fish either. .. And for the record, the only 'medicine' i use is salt. I did buy a bottle of ich medicine when three very pretty pearl gouramis i own were covered in spots, but i didn't stop the salt, heat, and darkness treatment; and the day i was to add the medicine and got my dropper out, i found the spots already gone! Wish i could get a refund on that unused bottle.

i have low light tanks only, do 20% weekly water changes only, my pack of Tetrabits lasts ONE year, , most of my fish food is home-made (oats converted into grindals, mini tubifex, mosquito larvae, egg yolk, meal worms, compost worms that only eat kitchen lefovers etc), and many fish are home-bred too. So my conscience is manageable currently