moina salina

[aquagrrl]

ARGH! I have tried about a half dozen times with Moina salina and they never really do well for me. They usually fizzle out rather quickly, though one time I did manage to get them producing at a pretty good rate in a 5 gallon bucket, but I had maybe a month of good success and then they died out.

I'm using tetraselmis as the algae. I've tried them at different salinities from 1.016 to 1.024 and neither has made a difference. I have tried big containers, small containers, middle sized containers.

My most recent ones which I purchased off ebay arrived in apparently great shape. Because it was a small number, I decided to put them in a half gallon "kritter keeper" until their numbers increased. They looked great the first few days, and I even saw babies. But they've been dwindling again, now I only have a few left.

I really want to culture these bad boys, but they keep dying on me.

Any thoughts?

[Luis A M]

I wish I had any,Tami,but I am also a Moina killer Sometimes they did well,and laid lots of eggs (ephippia),but never found a sound way to store and hatch them.What they are not is easy as FW Daphnia.I killed my last batch from Algagen,while I was slowly acclimating them.And I do have some experience with bugs

[aquagrrl]

Well, at least I'm among good company.

[DanUnderwood]

Even the suppliers run into issues trying to keep their cultures up!

Dan

[aquagrrl]

Well, I feel a bit better. I don't know that it helps me much, but at least it isn't me.

As I said, one time I got them to reproduce in reasonable numbers. But that was only for a short while. I couldn't say what was different either.

Luis, to your point about storing and hatching them, my first batch came dried in marine sand. I don't know if that helps you at all. They did actually hatch from that and I was able to keep them for a short while before they crashed again. I've also had them restart in a 5 gallon bucket on their own, but then they crashed... again.