Live food colonies

Thinking of getting some gammarus shrimp and various tiny crustaceans to start colonies in some of my tanks. I finally found a place to just buy them instead of trying to culture them myself (I've been trying to magically attract copepods and rotifiers in my infusioria cultures)

https://www.nilesbio.com/cat284.html

They supply labs, so I'm guessing it's safer to buy from these guys than from some culture center that may or may not have weird stuff in their water.

They actually have a mixed crustacea package as well, which I'd want to add to my betta breeding tanks as food for the fry and parents (the one set of girls never eats anything that isn't alive).

The tanks are all heavily planted, so I see this working. At least in my head. Anyone else have thoughts? Anyone tried something similar?

 

I personally dislike scuds because of aesthetic looks. However, cyclops are fine for me.

 

They also sell nymphs, snails, and insects... so tempting to try a real true ecotope.

 

Every few months I stock my tank with shrimp. I'll add up to 100 at a time. The ones that make it to cover sometimes last for months. It's sort of a medium term feeding strategy. Especially for my sleepy cod which will only eat live prey.

 

We can't get shrimp were I'm fro so I'm jelly

Does this take ur cost of food down

Would u call guppies fry live food haha

 

If you order from them, let us know how it goes. Looks like they've got a pretty wide range of stuff, even selling fish pretty cheap.

 

They have wild type guppies for 80 cents each. I'm soooooo tempted. lol! They also sell Anacharis and Cabomba and a few other plants.

Woot woot jackpot lol.

I asked them for details on how a package of small crustaceans works, so we'll see how it goes. It's so cheap though, I might just order them anyway. Will definitely update if and when I do Haha maybe the betta girls will finally have some real food.

 

I asked them for details on how a package of small crustaceans works, so we'll see how it goes. It's so cheap though, I might just order them anyway. Will definitely update if and when I do Haha maybe the betta girls will finally have some real food.

Did they respond? Any updates?

 

I ordered from them. Only thing I've heard so far was a request for my street address, though judging from their shipping days, they should be sending the package out tomorrow. I assume I'll get a tracking number (I did figure out shipping for my order but apparently it's very dependent on how much you spend)

Overall, not thrilled with the communication, but we'll see what the product is like (just a note - they do have their phone number listed and ask that you call with questions. I emailed because they were closed)

 

I have an update, everyone!

So I got my order today. The lady from the company said my original email with my address had gone into their spam folder... not sure how since they emailed me first. Anyway, I'm very pleased with the packaging.



My dog decided he wanted to preen for the camera... right after he ripped up that tissue behind him. So sorry about that lol.

Anyway, this was all nicely packed into a small box with newspaper and peanut insulation, and I peeked into the bag of gammarus and the container of mixed crustacea, and things are swimming around, so it must be good lol. I also ordered several plants from them, a Riccia culture and two packs of 7 camboba plants. We'll see how those do, I'll be adding the camboba to several different tanks

The various crustacea are going in the betta uberis tank, so they will finally have some food lol.

 

Are you planning to cultivate any of these critters in a separate tank, or just turn them loose in the betta habitats and see how long they last?

 

Also, if you don't mind my asking, how much was shipping?

 

Shipping was free because I ordered more than $25 of stuff. I think my total was like $35 all costs included.

And I think what I'm going to do is order another culture, this time of cyclops and a second of rotifiers and daphnia and add them to the shrimp tank once it's finished being planted. However, I am really hoping that a small colony survives in the uberis tank. Would just make my life easier lol.

Also I just wanted to say yay :3 I got to watch my babies eat just now and it was awesome. I literally have only seen these fish eat once before, and they were hunting microworms, so I couldn't actually see it, just watched them darting around the tank.

 

Okay, cool. Next question: on the site, it says -- for example -- "Gammarus - class 12." Any idea what the "class" is? Is that how many you get?

 

Okay so yeah. It took me a while to figure that out lol. I ordered gammarus - class 30 and got 30 scuds. So what I think it is, is these folks sell mostly to educational purposes. They're selling a class of 30 kids' worth of shrimp.

What I'm liking right now is that even though these guys are tiny and were left out for an hour and a half because UPS didn't update delivery status -.-' every single one of the critters was alive. \

Their shipping is hard to figure out, I'll say that :/ When I got the email back from them (finally) they told me it's best to call them to figure things out.

 

Righto. So: I guess my final question -- for now -- is, if I'm looking to start a breeding colony of gammarus, would you recommend this site as a supplier? Fish Gobble just has "8 oz." quantities listed, which doesn't tell me much.

 

yeah I think I shall I'm going to order my second culture from them and oh! just realized I can get two going, one in the shrimp tank and one in the extra 2 gal!

And yes, that's the main reason I went with these guys instead of fishgobble. I dunno what 8oz worth of shrimp is lol.

 

Thanks so much for your info on this!

 

No problem It's a fun little experiment. I just checked on the tank, and there are still lots of little guys swimming around the tank. The fish have stopped eating for now, so I'm hoping the little guys find hiding places and start breeding.

I'm very interested to see how the culture reproduces with the three adults in the tank. We'll see if it survives their fry (it probably won't lol) but it's still nice to know

 

Who here keeps live food cultures?? If you do, what do you keep and if you want to share photos of the set ups you have that would be awesome.

I am waiting on starter cultures to come in of vinegar eels, microworms, and grindal worms. I also have a baby brine shrimp hatchery. I'll post photos once I get everything set up!

 

Who here keeps live food cultures?? If you do, what do you keep and if you want to share photos of the set ups you have that would be awesome.

I am waiting on starter cultures to come in of vinegar eels, microworms, and grindal worms. I also have a baby brine shrimp hatchery. I'll post photos once I get everything set up!

I do baby brine shrimp and microworms!

 

I do vinegar eels, no photo but it just looks like a row of bottles of pee.

 

I will share my culture set ups. The things I have learned and the things I need to learn. Thank you for starting this thread e-watson09 .
Tomorrow in daylight I will post some photos and write my routine with each culture . I am definitely still learning some but have others to a point I feel I can contribute?

 

I will share my culture set ups. The things I have learned and the things I need to learn. Thank you for starting this thread e-watson09 .
Tomorrow in daylight I will post some photos and write my routine with each culture . I am definitely still learning some but have others to a point I feel I can contribute?

Please do! We are always learning so I think sharing experiences regardless of where you are in the journey is beneficial

 

I am not going to apologise for two days of water changes as the fish come first, but I will apologise for not starting my contribution to this thread.
I like the saying a picture paints a thousand words.
My successful cultures are . Green water. Mosquitoes. Micro worms,Baby brine shrimp , adult brine shrimp and grindle worms.
I don’t include cherry shrimp as a culture because I raise them in the grow out tanks that fish breed in.
The culture I am still learning is white worms. The thing is l believe there are more ways than one to culture many creatures and there is no correct way. Some work better than others . Take micro worms as an example. I use dry potato as my preferred media with white bread as something that I have been equally successfully with but it’s a hassle to have white bread in the house refrigerator and dry potatoe mix is very convenient with no smell.

 

I culture flightless fruitflies. Had the same batch going for 3 years now.

Also, microworms.

And scuds. Just started a colony.

Sometimes do brineshrimp hatches.

 

Brine shrimp hatchery is finally expanded and operational. Completely DIY! Still awaiting a pump so for now I'm stealing air from a sponge filter pump on my sorority tank (it has a second filter on it so no big deal of the reduced flow)

It holds 4 - 2 liter bottles on a wooden stand. The pump will have a 4 way splitter and each bottle has its own little flow nozzle (can be seen in the photo) to make for easy collection. I plan to really only use one or two bottles most of the time but I wanted to set it up for 4 bottles as once the fish room is done I have some big breeding plans.

I also have my microworm culture started but unfortunately it came in and I didn't think it would survive so its a little sad looking but at least starting to grow. I'll take pictures of that set up once I have it really going. For now its in a recycled container deli meat sometimes comes in with some organic soil.

I am still waiting on my microworms and vinegar eel cultures to come in.

 

I would be interested to know if anyone has figured out how to keep a brine shrimp colony that propagates itself.

I don't mean hatching from dried store-bought eggs, but actually having brine shrimp grow up and make more brine shrimp....

I have tried and failed a few times. They die off and don;t make babies.

 

We all find our own routine for the daily tasks of fish keeping . I would not begin to say I have found the best routine for brine shrimp. Nor would I say it’s my final routine. This is what is working for me currently.
With 2 two litre soft drink bottles and a ziss hatchery bottle.Each morning I pour a bottle into the hatchery that has the dispenser in the bottom. Pouring reasonably slowly leaves a lot of egg shells behind. I rinse the soft drink bottle and add cold unconditioned water with 3 teaspoons of marine aquarium sea salt. Throughout the day I can sieve off baby brine. At the end of the day I empty the ziss and rinse it saving the salt water for the adult brine shrimp tank. I then add new eggs to the now tropical temperature water in the bottle from that morning.
Having 3 bottles on the go means the eggs are 36 hours old each morning and finished feeding at 48 hours. Although it’s really only two bottles of eggs and one of water warming up in a warm room.

Frank the Fish guy.
Each day I have 2 litres of salt water to add to an adult brine shrimp tank with the last of the egg shells and gunk that is not suitable for feeding. This gives me a tank of juvenile and adult brine shrimp to sieve out 2 litres of older water each day. Currently I have full size adult brine shrimp that are mating but no way of knowing if they are laying eggs or if the eggs hatch. Nor do I really care as each day more baby brine are added from the gunk at the bottom of the hatchery. I feed brewers yeast when the water has cleared from the last lot of yeast Approximately 1/8 teaspoons of yeast every second day.
I found table salt did not keep the adults alive but marine aquarium sea salt did. No water conditioner is being used.No PH up is being used . My PH is around 7.4 out of the tap.

 

I do daphnia in small plastic totes with snails. For food I add a few veggie pellets a day and the snails eating them along with other decomposers feeds the daphnia. Drain with a flashlight to attract them into an airline that's siphoning in a jar, dump em in the tank, replace with fresh water. This ones fairly new but it's the cleanest.

 

I have a banana worm culture, brine shrimp hatchery on the go 24/7 and an infusoria culture

 

I would be interested to know if anyone has figured out how to keep a brine shrimp colony that propagates itself.

I don't mean hatching from dried store-bought eggs, but actually having brine shrimp grow up and make more brine shrimp....

I have tried and failed a few times. They die off and don;t make babies.

My understanding is the time and set up you'd need to actually create it isn't very efficient and most people just hatch out shrimp and raise them to adults before feeding instead. I am sure some people do it but the research I did when looking up good efficient self sustaining cultures said not to go down that route.

So I'm positive its possible, but how that looks as a set up I'm unsure.

I do daphnia in small plastic totes with snails. For food I add a few veggie pellets a day and the snails eating them along with other decomposers feeds the daphnia. Drain with a flashlight to attract them into an airline that's siphoning in a jar, dump em in the tank, replace with fresh water. This ones fairly new but it's the cleanest.

Daphnia is one I've been wanting to try out! Does it smell? I finally found some frozen which my baby fish LOVE but its really not the best because the price is insane for a tiny single cube pack.

I have a banana worm culture, brine shrimp hatchery on the go 24/7 and an infusoria culture

I've been considering banana worms as well! Do your fish like them pretty well? Do you feed them to adult fish?

 

I use it for fry but tetras and danios do eat it. Its good cus it stays alive for a long time. Its a lot easier than hatching bbs every day but tbh i think bbs is better, i have bananaworms as a back up.

 

I use it for fry but tetras and danios do eat it. Its good cus it stays alive for a long time. Its a lot easier than hatching bbs every day but tbh i think bbs is better, i have bananaworms as a back up.

I'm waiting on my culture of Microworms, my understanding is they're a tiny bit larger than bananas and I was really hoping I could feed them to my guppies and such so hopefully they like them.

 

My understanding is the time and set up you'd need to actually create it isn't very efficient and most people just hatch out shrimp and raise them to adults before feeding instead. I am sure some people do it but the research I did when looking up good efficient self sustaining cultures said not to go down that route.

So I'm positive its possible, but how that looks as a set up I'm unsure.



Daphnia is one I've been wanting to try out! Does it smell? I finally found some frozen which my baby fish LOVE but its really not the best because the price is insane for a tiny single cube pack.



I've been considering banana worms as well! Do your fish like them pretty well? Do you feed them to adult fish?

I never noticed a smell with my setups. I usually end up getting seed shrimp contaminants in the culture so they keep it clean.

 

Micro worms can go at least a month with only a small smell of yeast. Using this method works as does using instant potato mix . I can’t get the oatmeal mix to work for a fortnight .

 

Micro worms can go at least a month with only a small smell of yeast. Using this method works as does using instant potato mix . I can’t get the oatmeal mix to work for a fortnight .

I've heard that potatoes are a good choice of medium for microworms, I was going to try oatmeal and potatoes and see which way I like best. I saw a couple YouTube video experiments with microworms and different mediums. On of them did a side by side day by day comparison of microworms in oatmeal and microworms in potatoes. They both produced a lot but the oatmeal culture produced 2-3x as much. I really don't want super stinky oatmeal in my house and I don't have a ton of fish I have to feed it right now so I'm leaning towards potatoes right now but we shall see.

 

Finally got my vinegar eels and microworm starter cultures in! The microworms you can't see anything yet, I'll take photos in a couple days when they start crawling up the sides. For now it just looks like oatmeal in a container.

I set up my vinegar eels in a couple glass bottles. Normally I try to upcycle these bottles, remove the label, and make it look all fancy but I figure the vinegar eels don't mind the labels haha!

 

All I can say about vinegar eels is don’t throw them away like I did.
Apart from a smell of vinegar in my garage that I had no problem with but my wife could not handle I think I threw them away without looking extremely closely at the liquid perhaps I had some and did not see them? At first glance I saw nothing.

 

All I can say about vinegar eels is don’t throw them away like I did.
Apart from a smell of vinegar in my garage that I had no problem with but my wife could not handle I think I threw them away without looking extremely closely at the liquid perhaps I had some and did not see them? At first glance I saw nothing.

Haha yeah I don't plan to, I'm going to give them a good week or so before I even try to see them! They should be able ready when I pair off my next pair of bettas so hopefully they'll be ready to harvest for the fry!