Freshwater Amphipods

[andyroo]

I found a couple (N= 4 or 5) in recent dip-netting, They seem frisky at about 3 or mm long (max).
a) any suggestions of feeding and propagation?
b) any suggestions on feeding to the fish, and getting them down past the angels and tetras to the loaches?

Same question on the small (<3mm) FW clams from the same water.

I'll not be putting anything in the main tank until the weather warms up a little more (and I get a nice population of these things built up). Too much Ich paranoia.
A

[turtleguy146]

I have recently been compiling materials with the intent to breed daphnia. I have no experience, but I have found this website to be very helpful. (http://www.aquaculturestore.com/info/daphnia.html ) It is actually a very interesting company. I am thinking about some of their darters and maybe some purebred daphnia lol.
With such a small number of organisms it would probably suffice to just drop in a mashed up mysis shrimp and an algae covered leaf.
I have loads of minute freshwater clams. At least as far as the few people i have questioned and I can tell, they are small clams. They couldn't be easier to keep. I started with two that snuck in on a plant from a local river. Now they are plentiful in my tank. I think as long as they are in an established tank they will live and thrive.

[palaeodave]

Got any pictures of the clams?

[Noto]

Hi, sorry for reviving an older thread, but I thought this article I wrote a while back might be helpful: raising scuds.

I'm not familiar with Jamaican fauna, but I would guess your tiny bivalves are fingernail clams (Sphaeriidae).

As for feeding bottom dwellers, one method I have used is pouring the food down a tube to the bottom, while the more aggressive feeders are distracted with floating flakes. If you consistently pour food to the same spot, the loaches may learn to gather there when they see the tube.

[andyroo]

Noto,
GENIUS!!!!
My scuds are in a 1gal container full of snails and aquatic plants, and the water has gone green for summer.... not perfect, but at least there will be lots of edible films. These clams are probably the fingernail ones- tiny. They're also in the green-water pail, so should do fine.
With my tiny starting population I imagine it's going to be a year before I get an edible population of either....
The search continues for a daphnea source on this island....
A