Re: NANFA-- Wild daphnia
R. W. Wolff (choupiqu_at_wctc.net)
Thu, 17 Jul 2003 21:18:53 -0500
I have daphnia all season ( other than the ice season which I don't want to
even think about now) in my tub ponds. These are small plastic containers,
all roughly 2 foot by 18 inches and between 8 and 14 inches deep. They all
have some kind of fish, which seems to eat the daphnia to extinction some
times. They do come back. Here is what is neat. I just set up some more new
ones. I dug them in, some of the black dirt even got in the tubs. I filled
them with the hose. I put some plants from the other tubs in them. Now that
the water has cleared, there is daphnia in them too. The plants I use are
some or, but not always all of , the following: hornwort, frogbit, water
lettuce, water hyacinth, elodea, azola, java moss, naid grass ( spelling?),
and maybe some others. I also let grass clippings and weed bits fall in the
water when trimming around them. Not to excess, but I don't clean every bit
out. This seems to work, and I really don't do anything , plus they are
being preyed on, so it must be a good system. The tubs are in the shade of a
pine tree, and get some direct light in the morning, but not for th erest of
the day. The most important thing, do not drain the water in the fall, do
not take out the ice in winter ( if you are unlucky enough to have ice) and
leave that all in come spring. The daphia eggs rest along the edges of the
water in the ice, and stuck to floating plants/ objects. If you take out the
eggs, they will not be back. Same with summer die outs, the eggs look like
tiny black onion seeds, about the size of a pin head, or a bit smaller.
Ray W.
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