>>We used to rear large quantities of Daphnia to feed to our
backswimmer
(Insecta: Notonectidae) colony. . . .
The cutures were fed a
blended mixture of trout chow and alfalfa. We also tried culturing
some
type of single celled alga (I don't off hand remember the species) but
this
was more trouble than it was worth. . . .<<
I have some of my daphnia in green water now, but I agree it's a real
pain to work with and very unpredictable, I have it in jars and
bottles in several places in my fishroom to see what results I get and
almost every jar of it has reacted differently.
I don't have access to trout chow, but I thought someone told me once
you could grow them with grass clippings, probably similar to the
alfalfa results.
Now on to the fun parts of your post.<g> How wonderful to have an
entomologist on the list. I would love to have the opportunity to pick
your brain someday. I'm very interested in not only fish but aquatic
ecosystems as a whole. I'm not a scientist in any way, but I do spend
a lot of time looking under rocks both in the water. I am amazed at
the large number of insects and small inverts in almost any permanent
body of water. I try to keep as diverse a population in my tanks as
possible, which includes gammarus, seed shrimp, etc.
I've found some very interesting large aquatic beetles in the salt
river here and also in a small creek up Sugar Loaf Mountain Road (one
of my favorite local spots). I would like to try to keep more aquatic
insects (I know most of these things aren't true insects) and other
small inverts. Would large aquatic beetles be able to live off of
daphnia too?
I have two other questions I have that I have brought up on the list
in the past that I would like to ask you also. Is there a good field
guide for North American aquatic insects? The best thing I've got is a
Golden Guides Pond field guide. Despite the fact the book is old and
very limited it's about the best thing I've found for an amateur like
me.
The other question regards the study of aquatic insect populations.
Considering that it seems that there are more non-native fish than
native in our waters and the general increase in recent extinctions of
higher animals, is anyone paying any attention to what's happening on
a smaller scale? Are there any major efforts to see what if insect
populations are changing in similar ways?
Thanks,
Rhonda
(right next door on the Mesa-Apache Junction border)