Culturing pond arthropod feeders for Utric traps

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I was having a discussion with Bonfield a while back about feeding bladderwort traps with arthropods and other microscopic fauna, harvested from our local ponds.

Visible arthropods in fresh water ponds include: Daphnia, cyclops copepods and seed shrimp, among others.

Cole mentioned growing them in a green water aquarium or other tank, green with algae.

www.w9xt.com/page_live_foods_green_water.html

He even mentioned making a infusoria, to feed cyclops copepods.

www.thesprucepets.com/what-is-infusoria-1379895

The concept stuck with me, but I didn't pursue it at the time.

Today I was out looking at pond life in a ditch and was able to collect seed shrimp and some cyclops copepods to observe.

It turns out that the seed shrimp are easy to keep and multiply in numbers.

Here is a helpful YouTube video showing just how easy seed shrimp are to keep.



They are a perfect feeder size for some of my Utric's traps.

I am going to try to keep a few cultures of these seed shrimps going.

And might even look like into culturing some cyclops copepods too, if they're not too much effort.

One year, a full 5 gallon of pond water, with them in it was tossed into a rain barrel here.

All summer long and into the fall, everytime I filled a pail or watering can from that rain barrel, copepods could be seen swimming in the freshly poured water.

So they do thrive in our rain barrels, in summer here.

Does any one else use green water tanks to raise arthropods as feeders for fish, fish fry or CPs? 









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[dvg]

Just took one of the jars that was collected last weekend and looked at it closely under some fluorescent lights with some magnifiers on to view the inhabitants of the jar better.

And it dawned on me finally that I have a full house in there - seed shrimps, cyclops copepods, and daphnia.

The daphnia are rust coloured red, and about the same shape as a flea, hence their common nickname, water fleas.

Watching them feed on some fish flakes at the surface, they were just vertically bobbing up and down.

The cyclops in the jar, are much smaller, and translucent in appearance, and move abruptly in a jerky motion, like a digital watch's second hand.

The female cyclops drags a dark colored egg sack trailing behind her, one on each side of her body.

The seed shrimp are shaped like and the same color as sesame seeds, and they are mobile and fluid in their motion, like the second hand of an authentic Rolex watch.

Now that ive got a full set of crusteceous ditch critter athropods in my cultures, will have to observe how well they all play together in their collective sandboxes.

Have also introduced these pond arthropods in with my ren-nel, U. gibba, and U. fulva bladderwort's water dishes and containers, and am not embarrassed to admit that i've spent a lot of time, watching these little guys move about underwater, in rapt attention, completely lost in fascination with everything about them.















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[ellsie]

Although I've never tried culturing any of these arthropod feeders for CP food, has anybody tried brine shrimp? I used to culture these to feed small freshwater fish. They don't take long to hatch, and the size of the freshly hatched nauplii seem to be suitable for CP food.

[dvg]

Hi Ellsie, Varun mentioned in one of the aquarium threads here that he had tried brine shrimp as feeders before.

As a kid, I received some brine shrimp cysts with a microscope kit.

The brine shrimp hatched out in a small amount of briny water - and it is that salty water that they thrive in that concerns me now with regards to being compatible as Utric feeders.

On the feeder front here, I have managed to keep collections of cyclops copepods, Daphnia, pond snails and seed shrimp.

The cyclops copepods are tiny enough to fit into the smallest of bladderwort traps.

They are also so tiny, that it is very difficult to completely keep them from being tankmates with my Daphnia or seed shrimp, though they seem to get along with the others.

I currently have 9 containers of cyclops copepods, and them only.

And i just have to accept that the copepods will be in with my other two feeders.

The Daphnia are easy to keep, if they are fed and have occasional water changes.

They are still alive in my ren-nel water tray, as well as a few other Utric containers.

The seed shrimp have finally sprung to life here in an enclosure that had been built for them, complete with rocks, moss, baby snails and the ubiquitous cyclops copepods.

For a while there were no seed shrimp swimming around, but with a little patience, some cysts produced a handful of them a few weeks ago, and now there are many more of varying size.

These will soon be separated into a few more breeding chambers, to help keep them going.

I have been feeding all of the cultures a yeast/spirulina mixture that is fed to fruit fly feeders.












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[ellsie]

That's so neat dvg !
I will definitely keep this in mind when I add aquatic CPs to my collection
The only experience I have so far is hatching brine shrimp from cysts, and right before feeding, thoroughly rinse the freshly hatched nauplii in fresh water before feeding freshwater fish fry.
If you want to try this out, let me know, I have some brine shrimp eggs that you could experiment with
 

[dvg]

A small bodied moth had gotten onto the surface of the seed shrimp enclosure.

A couple days later there was nothing left of the moth, except for its bare wings and powdery trail spreading out and away from it.

Those seed shrimp need a mineral source for their shells, (and are a great calcium source for bladderwort's), and fed like ravenous piranha on that poor moth's body.

Well that gave me an idea; i remembered seeing that a large blue bottle fly was floating dead in a water pail in the garage.

It had been a few days, but with a trusted set of forceps, the big blue fly was plucked out of the water.

But something had already gotten a head start on it...

...a thick, white, filamentous fungus, now wet, so that it was a gelatinous blob! 

Gross, right?

But still curious if the seed shrimp would scavenge the blue bottle's body, that fly and its furry white sweater were tossed into the seed shrimp tank.



And the seed shrimp ♥️LOVE♥️ it!



There are many more on the underside of that fly-based fungal buffet!













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[dvg]

These hungry champs have already revealed part of the big blue bottle fly,



and that's why they get called "The Cleaning Crew".

As a plus, it looks like they arrive in numbers...

There is also a cyclops copepods visible in this last pic...

...it looks like a ghostly tadpole.

Can anyone spot it? * 














*The cyclops copepods is located halfway between the centre of the pic and the lower right hand corner.


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[ellsie]

I see 2 cyclops copepods!

Thanks for sharing dvg!  You've inspired me to go and collect some ditch water this weekend to see what I can find/culture.....

[dvg]

Aug 7, 2020 13:50:01 GMT -5 ellsie said:

I see 2 cyclops copepods!

And a Gold star to Ellsie for being that observant!

There is another cyclods copepod visible in the lower left corner of that pic, and it is a bit blurrier, so good eye there Ellsie.











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[dvg]

Aug 7, 2020 13:50:01 GMT -5 ellsie said:

Thanks for sharing dvg !  You've inspired me to go and collect some ditch water this weekend to see what I can find/culture.....

Haha! No problem.

It was Bonfield that originally suggested to collect from a clean pond, if it's possible to get that far away from the beaten path.

My suggestion is that if ducks have been swimming there, you'll find all three (daphnia, cyclops copepods and ostracods) in sufficient numbers.

Good luck with your collecting... it'll be interesting to see what you come up with; there is a whole lotta biodiversity in pond/ditch water.

A specimen net will come in handy, and if you can collect some material from the benthic zone on the pond bottom, you'll end up with a raging block party in your collection pail, once the dust settles.

www.greatscopes.com/act014.htm












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[Hal]

Interesting. I just built a pond. I should look for some hardy Utrics for it.

[dvg]

If hardy Utrics thrive for you in your pond, you'll have to share what they're feasting on to help boost their growth spurts.












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