2100 live Russian Red daphnia culture 2 bagsw/ 2 bags of food w/cold pack

Description

The exact species unspecified:   (Daphnia magna and/or moina). We do not specify or guarantee the exact mixture or species as we raise them together and ship from whichever culture tanks are ready. There will occasionaly be a few red ostracods and/or bloodworms in the cultures. The red ostracods are eaten by all fish and the bloodworms are larvae of a non-biting midge fly species.
The daphnia cultures start out shipped in green water -- but will eat it before you see it. We have options to ship bags of green water separate from the daphnia. We also can insert small bottles of algae paste or capsules of powdered daphnia food -- look for the specific ad offering the food you want -- or message us.
The green water is live chlorella freshwater algae. The algae paste is concentrated nanochloropsis -- at a density of at least 20 billion cells per mililiter -- approximately 2 microns in size-- it is frozen when shipped and will be fine as long as you put it into a refrigerator upon arrival.
The daphnia will number at least the number indicated in the ad and will be shipped by Priority mail or FedEx.  This is a culture we have had for over 12 years and I was told it is from an original culture taken from the Moscow Zoo alligator pond in the 60's.
It has some adaptations to survive in adverse water conditions in the hobby all those years. They like but do not require the green water and will do just fine on Yeast.  Just a Pinch  Do Not Overfeed. We also make our own daphnia food using food grade algaes and the powdered all-in-one drink mixes. This type of feed is more expensive and prone to overfeeding so most people use the yeast or some similar hobby recipes. On established cultures we feed a little crumble pelletize food each day (available in bulk from us).
I typically have an airline bubbling and some snails with no heater. A functioning culture has detritus decaying and apparently producing bacteria and infusoria for the newborns. They can live down to freezing -- but at reduced vigor. Shipping temperatures are not a problem as long as it is under 90F.
The safest method of culturing is to use small tubs with only an airline and totally change the water ever day or every other day -- pouring the old culture through a brine shrimp net and replacing the daphnia into the tub -- now refilled with aged water.
Daphnia are small, planktonic crustaceans, between 0.2 and 5 mm in length. Daphnia are members of the order Cladocera, and are one of the several small aquatic crustaceans commonly called water fleas.
Be sure and look at videos on the web -- as these guys don't stop to pose for me and the videos capture the action and beauty of these bugs. They will all be females and probably clones of one ancestral female. If there are both species types -- the russian reds and moina -- there will be two sets of cloned females. If you want to have both sexes you have to stress them -- usually in really cold water for a long time -- then they will produce eggs -- ephippia -- and if you can hatch them there will be two sexes in the hatchlings. The moina are smaller -- buzz around like bees -- have an odd hooked tail end -- hide on the bottom when you change their water -- and have a black line/question-mark kind of like a spine down their bodies.
Shipping Info
We ship using Fedex or USPS depending on your location.  I ship Monday through Friday to help my customers who need the daphnia.
DAPHNIA CAN LIVE RIGHT DOWN TO FREEZING. THANKS   Let me know if you need your daphnia shipped on Friday -- as that I only do on special request.  Please don't leave negative feedback -- contact me first , thanks.  If you have a problem with your daphnia I need pictures  to reship your daphnia.   First contact me before leaving any Bad feed back Please.  We had to raise the price from a year ago as we are now sending all medium and large boxes with styrofoam liners and most are shipped through FedEx.