Daphnia Info.

So I am thinking of making my 15 gallon self-sustaining(I know you are supposed to put the prey in first) but any way, I can buy a bag of daphnia for about 75 cents. How quickly do they reproduce? How to acclimate since they are so small? And how many bags should I get?

 

In my experience they don't make a good self sustaining live food source. The population never gets large enough without green water.

 

I had a huge colony, but my shrimp ate them all. =[ I want to learn how to care for them too.

 

I don't think you can make it self sustaining for long, but i’ve seen cory from aquarium co-op fill a big tub with water and place it right where the sun hits, which was basically kinda self sustainable.

You can also feed powdered yeast instead of green water if you can’t produce it. They reproduce pretty fast if in the right conditions.

You would acclimate like how you would with any other fish or invertebrate- temp then match water parameters.

 

So after acclimated I just dump all the bag water in?

 

What would you guys recommend if not daphnia?

 

I've grown daphnia indoor for years. Regular cleaning and water changes are key.
Green water and yeast if the green culture crashes