Cultivation of daphnia and microfauna

Freshwater microfauna specially bred for a healthy aquarium!

Seeding your aquarium with microfauna is the ideal solution. Spending most of its time buried in the aquarium’s substrate or sand, microfauna plays a vital role in preventing infestation by cyanobacteria, combating invasive filamentous algae, eliminating waste matter and keeping the aquarium clean. Your aquarium consequently stays clean and healthy.  

Since freshwater microfauna and zooplankton are of paramount importance, for the past 30 years we have been feeding all our fish with our daphnia and freshwater microfauna. We seed our aquariums every month, and the results are spectacular.

Two possible ways! 

Seed your aquarium directly:

Freshwater microfauna does not simply appear, you have to seed the aquarium with it. This kit will allow you to establish freshwater microfauna during various stages in the life of your aquarium, such as starting, resetting, moving, changing aquariums or when adding new plants or delicate fish. The live microfauna will then make a home for itself in the substrate, giving you attractive plants and a healthy aquarium. 

Set-up process:

Using our kit, you can grow daphnia and feed your fish with live food, full of vitamins, protein and carotenoids. There is no better food, as it is entirely suited to the needs of your fish. Fish fed on live daphnia live longer, have iron constitutions and vibrant colours. Food in the form of flakes or granules can constipate fish, whereas daphnia and microfauna are laxatives. This is significant in view of the fact many fish suffer from overfeeding.  

You will find below simple instructions and tips, tried and tested over 25 years, which will maintain your freshwater daphnia and zooplankton cultures.  

Kit composition

This kit includes a bottle of freshwater zooplankton (daphnia, ostracods, cyclops, rotifers and other micro-organisms invisible to the naked eye) and a bottle of Daphnia, which is a specific food for daphnia and freshwater zooplankton.

Instructions for use and recommendations

The Freshwater Daphnia and Zooplankton Production Kit will provide you with a permanent supply of live food that all your aquarium fish love, whether they are freshwater or saltwater! Daphnia Food, to be used every two weeks, will help maintain this food.

It is normal, at the reception, not to have a lot of daphnia otherwise they die from lack of oxygen and even some losses.  Don't worry, we put in seeded daphnia ready to spawn: be sure that once in their new habitat they will reproduce abundantly.

Daphnia dosage:

Pour every 15 days until you get a greenish colour (check the colour of the tablet on the bottle).  

Cultivation and set-up protocol :

1. As soon as you receive the bottle of daphnia and microfauna, acclimatise them by drip in a container of your choice, with a minimum of 30L of water: a northern aquarium, a plastic or wooden barrel, a flowerpot, a jar, etc. (Any container is suitable, but make sure that the water temperature is not too high, and protect them from the sun in spring, summer and autumn). Preferably use aged water without chlorine or directly from your aquarium water changes, as long as it is not too full of organic matter.  

2. Place 1 or 2 small oak, willow, fruit tree or other leaves in the bottom of the container. 

3. Then pour in the bottle of Daphnia Food, referring to its dosage. 

4. The daphnia are harvested twice a week with a fine-mesh net, but you should always leave at least 1/3 of the population to replenish. 
The larger the container in terms of water volume, the more daphnia you will have.

Note that the colour of daphnia can vary from an orange-red to diaphanous green.

Storage

Use as soon as you receive it, but keep refrigerated.