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Critterz Chewzit Culinary Cultures

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Critterz Chewzit Culinary Cultures

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07/10/2022

Just about the easiest live food to culture for your peas and other fish is mosquito larvae. Simply fill a container with aged tank water (or well water) and place it in a location that is somewhat protected from wind since mosquitos are not strong fliers.

If you add some leaf litter, you will likely soon have bloodworms (midgefly larvae) and possibly mayfly larvae as well.

This culture is just well water tannin stained by lots of oak leaves and twigs. It also contains daphnia and bloodworms.

I recently learned that adding about a half cup of milk per five gallons water will increase yield, and it certainly seems to work!

Six days after adding a cup of milk to this 20-ish gallon container (I was cautious and halved the amount), with some harvesting during the week, this was part of the day's harvest. I counted a couple dozen egg rafts as well.

I think the milk makes the larvae grow faster since it feeds bacteria which they feed upon, and there was a noticeable increase in egg rafts.

Mosquito larvae are a favorite food of my pea puffers and other fish, and are free from Mother Nature. By providing an area for mosquitos to lay their eggs and harvesting them before they pupate into adults, you are actually reducing the native population, and doing yourself and your neighbors a favor. 😉

02/10/2022

This little vase is one of my daphnia backup cultures. They are in the window sill in front of the kitchen sink and entertain me while I do dishes.

01/06/2022

Scrambled eggs are a hit with the grindal worms!

12/16/2021

My little Swamp Darter enjoying some grindal worms!

12/14/2021

Three orders shipped out today! Shayna, Wyatt, and Kerra are going to have some very happy little Murder Beans soon!

12/09/2021

Meet Big Mama, the mother of all of my grindal worm cultures!

Last night she started a dozen new cultures that will make for some very happy fish somewhere!

12/09/2021

***How to Culture Scuds***

Gammarus Shrimp or "scuds" are a fascinating little amphipod that are amusing to keep in their own right. I actually keep some in a little 3.5 gallon Topfin tank inside, and spend a ridiculous amount of time watching them.

Scuds are scavengers that browse on microscopic plants and animals, algae, decaying leaves, and detritus. Adding blanched dead leaves to their culture container ensures that they always have food available to them.

I supplement their diet with blanched vegetables and occasionally will give them snello, or a sinking fish food/algae wafer.

My particular strain are also great at cleaning hair algae off of plants, so when I trim back affected plants in my other tanks I toss the cuttings in with them. Within a few days, the cuttings are all cleaned up and ready to plant.

Male gammarus shrimp will grab an egg-laden female and hold a and carry her around (for a week or more!) until she molts, at which point they mate and the female swims away. Females have 50 to 60 young per month, which reach sexual maturity themselves in about 45 days, so the culture can grow quite quickly.

Newly free-swimming scuds are near microscopic in size, so when doing water changes either have a very fine mesh bag over the intake or outflow of the siphon, or better yet start another culture with it.

My secondary culture was started in just that way. I noticed tiny specks in the bucket of water that moved like scuds but were far too tiny to identify, so poured the water into a small storage tote. Several weeks later they were large enough to identify, and there were hundreds of them!

As with snails and daphnia, scuds can be raised in just about anything that holds water and do not require filtration or aeration. They reproduce best at about 75F, so a heater would be a good addition in the cold months.

12/09/2021

***How to Culture Grindal Worms***

Grindal worms are a tiny cousin of earthworms, are incredibly easy to care for and are very prolific once the culture becomes established.

My grindals are raised on a substrate of coco-coir, but organic potting soil is another option. A plastic mesh grid on the surface of the substrate makes collection easy, since they will adhere to it. Simply remove the plastic mesh and rinse the worms into another container to feed to your fish.

They can be offered a variety of foods, but the food must be moistened for them. I find that they do incredibly well on soaked dog or cat kibble, and it is easy to portion out for them.

Other options are flaked fish food, mashed potato flakes, or nutritional yeast flakes. These must be misted with water after being added to the culture. Cooked and cooled oatmeal can also be fed, as can yogurt.

For best results they should be fed daily, with any dried out or moldy food removed. They are very resilient, however, as proven by my husband when I was out of state for four weeks and he forgot to feed them. Upon my return and resumed feeding, the cultures rebounded immediately.

Occasionally grindal worm cultures will get mite or drain fly infestations, so we include a small vial of food grade diatomaceous earth to treat them. Just sprinkle a bit of the DE in a plastic bottle cap and place it in the culture, and the mites or flies will dehydrate and die after coming in contact with it.

Our cultures are well started and fed for several weeks prior to being shipped out. They come in their established habitat which has a plastic mesh collection grid and a vented lid with scouring pad hot glued in place to allow airflow but prevent insects from invading the culture.

12/09/2021

***How to Culture Daphnia***

Daphnia are an excellent food for your fish providing protein of 45-70% and lipids of 11-27%, as well as the thrill of the chase! The tiniest of daphnia are excellent food for young fry or nano fish, and the largest are enjoyed by all omnivorous or carnivorous species. They are also excellent food for many amphibians.

HOUSING

Daphnia can be raised in anything from a mason jar or vase in a sunny windowsill to large tubs or pools of water outdoors. They do not require aeration or filtration.

I keep floating plants in all of my outdoor cultures to provide passive filtration. Snails are also an important denizen, as they will act as your janitorial crew by feeding upon the shed exoskeletons of the daphnia.

When kept outdoors, you will want to keep the cultures covered by fine mesh or screen to keep insects with predatory larvae from laying eggs in the cultures. Dragonfly and damselfly larvae love daphnia as much as our fish, and can quickly wipe out your entire population of daphnia.

My cultures are on the east side of the house in a shaded location. In the winter months it would be best to maximize sun exposure, so a southern location would likely be optimal.

LIFECYCLE

In a healthy colony, daphnia reproduce asexually, producing all female young. The female produces eggs which are released into and hatch in her brood chamber which is under her carapace. At her next molt, the free swimming young are released. Those female clones start reproducing after four to six instars (molts) which takes about six to ten days depending on water temperature.

When conditions become adverse such as a lack of food, insufficient oxygen, temperature extremes, or ammonia spikes due to overcrowding, (such as when a vernal pool starts drying up), they produce male young which will then fertilize the eggs of the female.

Often called "resting eggs" these are encased in a hard case (ephippia) on top of the carapace, and are released when the female molts and then sink to the substrate. When conditions become favorable again (spring rains, presence of food in the water column) they will hatch and begin the life cycle again.

For this reason, should you inadvertently "crash" your culture, do not siphon the bottom of your culture container. This is where the eggs are. Instead, do a water change and fill with fresh greenwater and the culture should rebound in a matter of days.

The same applies if you have harsh winters and the culture freezes. Even if allowed to dry out completely, in the spring when conditions are favorable, your colony will miraculously come to life once again.

TEMPERATURE TOLERANCE

My cultures have done well outdoors in a shaded location even when temperatures reached 110F, and the morning water temperature currently is reading 50F. One culture has been iced over twice this year with no ill effect.

Production has slowed down with colder weather, but the colonies are still producing adequately.

FEEDING

Daphnia are very easy to raise when fed greenwater, but it takes some trial and error if you have to feed spirulina algae powder and/or activated yeast. My first two attempts resulted in culture crash due to being too generous with the feed. Less is definitely more when it comes to giving them "prepared" foods.

GREENWATER CULTURING

To culture greenwater you simply need to set a container of water in full sun. Daphnia are very sensitive to chemicals, so if you are on municipal water it is best to use aged tank water. Adding some filter mulm or the detritus from gravel vacuuming helps by adding bacteria and infusoria, which the daphnia also feed upon, and snails will produce waste to fertilize the algae. A bit of blanched cabbage, banana peel, or straw will provide even more food for the microscopic life in the culture.

If your greenwater culture is outdoors and you add some dead dry leaves to form a layer of detritus on the bottom, you will likely be able to harvest bloodworms (midgefly larvae) from the container as well. When harvesting greenwater from an outdoor container that lacks a cover, make sure to strain it through a fine mesh media bag (or go to Dollar Tree and buy a pack of mesh party favor bags!) in order to ensure you are not introducing predatory larvae to your cultures.

Some people add urea fertilizer to the water, but my attempts resulted in high ammonia. Occasionally I will add some rabbit manure which is an excellent natural fertilizer.

You will need to keep your daphnia in a separate container than your greenwater culture or they will eat it all in a matter of days. This happened to my primary greenwater tank when I was out of town for a month and my husband was caring for all the critters- somehow he "contaminated" the greenwater vessel with daphnia.

Upon my return, I was flabbergasted because the tank was clear. "How in the world did you manage to kill off my ALGAE, of all things?!?" Upon closer inspection, I saw that there were thousands of daphnia in the tank. To prevent that from happening again, I added a couple of mosquito fish to eat any interlopers.

SPIRULINA ALGAE/ACTIVATED YEAST

When I fed spirulina and yeast due to the contamination of my greenwater tank, I mixed a teaspoon of algae, 1/4 teaspoon of baker's yeast, and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to a gallon of water. This fed cultures comprised of about 180 gallons of water. I only mixed up enough food for one feeding- for some reason the spirulina will turn blue if left sitting, and I am unsure if that renders it unsafe.

To prepare the mixture, partially fill a jug or bottle with water between 100-110F. This temperature will activate the yeast or make it "come to life." Add the sugar and allow it to dissolve prior to adding the yeast. Allow the yeast ten minutes or so to consume the sugar and then add the spirulina powder, shaking the bottle vigorously since the algae tends to clump up. Fill the balance with tepid water.

Feed only enough to cloud the water in your culture slightly, and add more once the water clears. Remember to be very sparing and do not give in to temptation to overfeed or your culture will likely crash.

INSURANCE

Always have several back up cultures in case one colony crashes. I have a vase with houseplant cuttings and a few ramshorn snails in a sunny windowsill which is fed only by topping off periodically with greenwater.

CONCLUSION

You should now be ready to start your very own daphnia cultures! They are fascinating little crustacean that are fun to keep in their own right, and an excellent and prolific choice of food for your aquatic pets.

12/08/2021

The Party Pack is a great starter culture set for your Pea Puffers or other aquatic pets, and is customizable to your needs.

The kit includes:

A well started grindal worm culture and habitat and your choice of any combination of four bottles of aquatic critters. The Party Pack can also consist of eight bottles of aquatic critters (no grindal culture) or two grindal cultures and four bottles of aquatic critters!

Aquatic critters are shipped with duckweed and/or frogbit, and each bottle contains:

25+ bladder snails
25+ Scuds
100+/- Daphnia of assd. sizes

Vial of Spirulina algae for daphnia
Strainer to harvest mature daphnia
"Secret Slurry" mix to feed the grindal worms
Vial of food grade diatomaceous earth in case of drain flies or mites invading the grindal culture
Spray bottle to mist food for worms if fed flakes

$95 to your door, continental US only.

Smaller orders can also be purchased at cost plus shipping.

12/08/2021

***How to Culture Bladder Snails***

Wild caught snails can serve as the intermediate host of parasites which affect fish, so maintaining your own cultures free of waterfowl and fish is important when using snails as part of the diet for your pufferfish, loaches, or predatory snails.

If collecting snails from a natural waterway visited by waterfowl and inhabited by fish, you can still create a parasite free culture by collecting only egg sacs or by collecting mature snails and removing them from your culture once they have laid eggs.

Identification

Ramshorn snails are easy to distinguish from other snails due to their distinctive "ramshorn" shaped shell, but there is often confusion between bladder and pond snails.

Bladder snails have a shell that spirals to the left and have long thin tentacles, whereas pond snails have shells that spiral to the right and have wide triangular shaped tentacles. This is an important distinction, since pond snails will feed upon live plants while bladder snails will only consume dying or dead plant matter.

Bladder Snail Lifecycle

Bladder snails are hermaphrodites and can produce young both asexually and sexually. Their preferred method is through cross fertilization (mating), but a single snail is all you need to start a colony since they have both male and female organs. Interestingly, snails can change their preferred gender, sometimes doing so in the same breeding cycle.

They have a lifespan of three months to a year, living longest and producing the most young at lower temperatures. Sexual maturity occurs when they reach about 1/4" in length which takes anywhere from 18 to 34 days.

Egg sacs contain from a dozen to 45 eggs, and hatch in about one week.

Effects of Temperature on Bladder Snails

A study was done on growth rates, lifespan, and reproductive rates of Physa Acuta (bladder snails) kept at varying temperatures. The results might surprise you.

Kept at 15c/59F:

34 days to sexual maturity
Lifespan 403 days
Average shell height 6.1mm
Shell growth per week 0.2mm
Duration of egg laying 54 weeks
Reproductive rate per week 115.6

Kept at 25C/77F:

20 days to sexual maturity
Lifespan 193 days
Average shell height 5.1mm
Shell growth per week 0.4mm
Duration of egg laying 15 weeks
Reproductive rate per week 104.1

28C/82.4F:

18 days to sexual maturity
Lifespan 87 days
Average shell height 4.7mm
Shell growth per week 0.5mm
Duration of egg laying 9 weeks
Reproductive rate per week 24.6
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/31491969_Effect_of_controlled_temperatures_on_gametogenesis_in_the_gastropods_Physa_acuta_Physidae_and_Bulinus_tropicus_Planorbidae

Housing Requirements

Your snail habitat can be as simple or fancy as you like, all they need is a container that holds water. Plastic storage bins or buckets, glass jars or vases, or an aquarium are all fine. There is no need for filtration, aeration, lighting, or a heater. As with aquariums, containers that are wide rather than tall are preferable due to increased gas exchange, but snails are not as finicky as fish since they can crawl upside down on the water surface to take in air.

Adding live plants will provide passive filtration to the container. I use floating plants primarily because they are so prolific and snails like to lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves. I will also toss trimmings from stem plants into my cultures.

Driftwood or dead dry branches lacking bark are a nice addition to their habitat, as they will graze on biofilm and infusoria on the wood. Collection of the snails is also easy simply by pulling the branch or wood from the water.

Slightly blanched dead leaves not only improve the visual appeal of the culture, but provide a valuable food source for them. Leaf detritus will not foul the water unlike other "foods" will if fed too abundantly, so are a great way to ensure that your snails always have food available to them.

Hard water is optimal for snails as they require calcium to grow their shells. If you have soft water, adding cuttlebone, eggshells, or crushed oyster shell will improve shell health. You can also add crushed calcium tablets to their food if you are one that prepares "snello" for them.

FEEDING

Bladder snails are omnivores and will consume dead or dying plant matter, dead insects and fish, fish food pellets or flakes, and miscellaneous detritus.

As mentioned in the Housing section, blanched dead leaves should be a staple in the culture(s), ensuring that there is always food available to them.

My breeding cultures are kept in outdoor "pond" type setups and primarily eat leaf detritus, algae, and dead or dying leaves from aquatic plants.

Blanched vegetables are also very good for them- broccoli, carrot, yam, sweet potato, winter squash, pumpkin, zucchini, green beans, and cabbage will be relished. I periodically blanch an assortment of vegis for them and then store in the freezer to make feeding quick and easy.

If you are feeding snails to your other aquatic pets, it is wise to offer them a wide range of foods to ensure that the snails have a good nutrient profile, so spoil those snabies with a healthy and varied diet if they are destined to be dinner!

12/07/2021

Pea puffers enjoying some daphnia!

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Milk+Water=Mosquito larvae in abundance for your fish!

Just about the easiest live food to culture for your peas and other fish is mosquito larvae. Simply fill a container with aged tank water (or well water) and place it in a location that is somewhat protected from wind since mosquitos are not strong fliers. If you add some leaf litter, you will likely soon have bloodworms (midgefly larvae) and possibly mayfly larvae as well. This culture is just well water tannin stained by lots of oak leaves and twigs. It also contains daphnia and bloodworms. I recently learned that adding about a half cup of milk per five gallons water will increase yield, and it certainly seems to work! Six days after adding a cup of milk to this 20-ish gallon container (I was cautious and halved the amount), with some harvesting during the week, this was part of the day's harvest. I counted a couple dozen egg rafts as well. I think the milk makes the larvae grow faster since it feeds bacteria which they feed upon, and there was a noticeable increase in egg rafts. Mosquito larvae are a favorite food of my pea puffers and other fish, and are free from Mother Nature. By providing an area for mosquitos to lay their eggs and harvesting them before they pupate into adults, you are actually reducing the native population, and doing yourself and your neighbors a favor. 😉