Large daphnia (lat. Daphnia magna) is a permanent inhabitant of any fresh water body.
It is sometimes called the freshwater flea or water flea and is familiar to many aquarium hobbyists as it is an excellent food for aquarium fish. It belongs to the Daphniidae family of the order Onychura.
Habitat
The ideal place for daphnia to settle are village ponds, which contain a lot of manure and oxygen-depleted water. Water fleas are resistant to changes in the amount of oxygen in water. This is explained by the fact that they are able to independently synthesize hemoglobin.
When oxygen decreases, hemoglobin in daphnia increases. They turn bright red and their numbers increase. With normal oxygen levels, crustaceans have a yellow-pink color.
Small crustaceans are permanent inhabitants of fresh water bodies, deep lakes, and small puddles. Many of them move along the bottom of a reservoir or the leaves of aquatic plants, and some scurry along the surface, periodically flapping their antennae.
Small puddles and roadside ditches are good habitats for the water flea. In them, the water temperature is close to atmospheric and enriched with oxygen. The drying up of small reservoirs threatens the death of all its inhabitants.
Reproduction
The reproduction of daphnia is accompanied by a process of heterogony. In case of favorable conditions in the form of rainfall and filling of all depressions with fresh water, only females emerge from the fertilized eggs. After a week, they reach sexual maturity and begin procreation.
Up to a hundred eggs are laid in the female's brood chamber. The higher the ambient temperature, the faster they develop. Young daphnia are born in the brood chamber. After this, the mother moults and lays the next batch of eggs. After one week, a new generation of juveniles is ready to breed.
After two months, the water in the puddle is already infested with water fleas. Such overpopulation often leads to the death of large numbers of daphnia. Then the surviving females begin to lay eggs, from which individuals of different sexes emerge.
After mating, the female lays 2 eggs. Under their shell, cells appear that surround the eggs in a dense layer, and on top of these cells a chitinous shell is created, which causes the ephippium to appear in the brood chamber.
Eggs placed in such a capsule are supplied with a huge supply of nutrients and look larger than usual. They can remain for a long time in a dry reservoir or frozen in ice, while maintaining their viability.
Sticking to the paws of birds, clinging to the fur of animals, to frogs or water insects, they are easily transferred from one body of water to another. Under favorable conditions, a new generation of females emerges from them, giving birth to a new population of water fleas.
Daphnia are an excellent food for freshwater fish and other creatures that live near water. They reproduce with amazing speed. If all of its offspring survived, then in just one season it would reach 30 million individuals.
Behavior
Large daphnia populate water bodies in huge quantities, briskly scurrying around in the water column. They move with short nets, simultaneously flapping their antennae. For their spasmodic way of moving in water, they received the name water fleas.
Daphnia are active all day long. At night they swim closer to the surface of the water, and during the day they sink to the very bottom. They have from 4 to 6 pairs of thoracic legs equipped with setae. Such a filtering apparatus is used to obtain food.
The main food of water fleas is protozoa, algae, detritus particles and bacteria. Daphnia do not use their eyesight when hunting. Their eyes can only distinguish between light and shadow. During the movement of the legs, food enters the filter chamber along with the flow of water.
Morphology
The pectoral lobes of the pectoral legs are transformed into gills. Small claws are designed for cleaning the shell, and the back of the body is curved towards the abdomen. The transparent body of daphnia allows you to see its internal organs under a microscope - the esophagus, circulatory system, blood circulation and brood chamber.
The size of the female is about 6 mm, and the male is up to 2 mm. The round head does not have a cervical interception. One compound eye was created by merging two lateral ones. The first pair of antennas is small. The rear antennae are more developed and are used as oars. The body is strongly flattened laterally. The double-leaf oval shell hides the entire body, leaving the head free.
The brood chamber is located on the back. The shell is running out tail spine.The lifespan of large daphnia does not exceed 19 days.
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Daphnia magna
photo can be enlarged
Daphnia has long been used as a quality food for. In Soviet times, aquarists caught these crustaceans in natural reservoirs and used them live, dried or frozen. Dried, used in pure form or mixed with other dry foods.
It is difficult to keep large quantities of this crustacean alive at home, so freezing them during mass reproduction in nature would be optimal. Frozen food is almost as nutritious as live crustaceans. Nowadays frozen daphnia can be bought in pet stores and independent preparation of this crustacean is becoming a thing of the past.
Structure
Photo can be enlarged
A little more about the structure of daphnia. Aquarists use this name for various cladocerans. You can get an idea of their appearance in the photo. In all representatives of daphnia, the body is strongly compressed laterally and covered with a chitinous bivalve shell fastened on the back. There are two eyes on the head, which in mature individuals can merge into one compound eye, and in some species there may be another additional ocellus next to it.
Also on the head there are two pairs of so-called antennas, the rear of which are large and additionally equipped with bristles that increase their area. It is due to the flapping of these antennas that daphnia move in the water. When stroked by the antennae, the body of the crustacean receives a spasmodic forward movement, for which daphnia received the second, popular name “water flea”.
Daphnia reproduce quite unusually from a human point of view. Females have a cavity called the "brood chamber" located on their back and protected by the upper edge of the shell. In the summer, if conditions are favorable, unfertilized eggs are laid in this cavity, in the amount of 50-100 pieces. That's where they develop. Only females hatch from them and leave the chamber, and the adult female then molts.
A few days later the process is repeated. During this time, young females also grow up and join the reproductive process. With a successful combination of circumstances, reproduction proceeds like an avalanche. This is where daphnia often swarm in small bodies of water in summer, and the water appears reddish in color.
With a decrease in air temperature, at the end of summer and at the beginning of autumn, males begin to emerge from some of the eggs, they fertilize the females and they have eggs enclosed in a dense shell. They are called ephippia. They are able to withstand drying out and winter frosts, and can be spread with dust. Next spring, warmth and moisture will awaken them to life. They will hatch into females and the cycle will repeat.
Kinds
Pulex
photo can be enlarged
Most often, daphnia are found in stagnant bodies of water - puddles, ponds, lakes, ditches, pits with water. Their massive quantity, suitable for independent preparation, can be detected by the coloring of the water red or gray-green. They feed on bacteria, ciliates and plant plankton, creating a flow of water using the movement of antennas.
When catching daphnia yourself, you need to take into account that they react strongly to lighting. When strong, they will tend to go deeper into the water, and when weak, upward or towards the light source.
In the middle zone, the following types of crustaceans are most often found:
the largest - female size up to 6 mm, male up to 2 mm, larva 0.7 mm, grows within 4-14 days, breeding interval 12-14 days, up to 80 eggs in one clutch, lives 110-150 days;
medium-sized crustaceans, Daphnia pulex, female up to 3-4 mm, breeding period 3-5 days, clutch up to 25 eggs, lives 26-47 days.
small crustaceans, up to 1.5 mm: types of genera, female up to 1.5 mm, male up to 1.1 mm, larva 0.5 mm, matures within 24 hours, litters every 1-2 days, up to 7 litters, up to 53 eggs, lives 22 days.
The stomach of freshly caught or freshly frozen crustaceans is usually filled with plant food, so they are useful for feeding aquarium fish deprived of a natural diet. The shell of daphnia, consisting mainly of chitin, is not digested, but nevertheless serves as a valuable ballast substance that activates the intestinal function of fish that are deprived of the opportunity to actively move in the aquarium. The smallest Daphnia moina, popularly called “livebearer,” is well suited for feeding grown-up juvenile aquarium fish.
Catching Daphnia
Moina
photo can be enlarged
When catching crustaceans on your own, you need to take into account that in the reservoirs where moina, pulex and magna live, there is a consistent change in the number of their populations. After the death of spring phytoplankton, a large number of moina appear, which are replaced by Daphnia pulex, followed by magna.
They catch daphnia with a regular fabric net, choosing the mesh size depending on the required size of fish food. You can do it differently, catch with a net made of very fine fabric, and then pass through sieves with different meshes, sorting the food by size. You can catch daphnia from spring to late autumn, until a crust of ice appears.
You need to choose areas of the coast protected from the wind or stand on the windward side. Usually this is morning or evening in calm weather, in the absence of bright lighting. In such conditions, daphnia rise closer to the surface of the water. Daphnia is transported in cans, into which they are shaken out of a net when fishing. It should be borne in mind that if the density is too high, the crustaceans may die on the way home. When sorting, washing and feeding, sudden changes in water temperature are not allowed; daphnia may simply die.
Preserving live daphnia at home is not easy. The fact is that they are demanding on the oxygen content in the water. Therefore, it is necessary to keep crustaceans in large, low enamel or plastic vessels with a large surface, in a cool place, out of direct sunlight. To increase the planting density of crustaceans, you have to do aeration, like in an aquarium.
Breeding
Photo can be enlarged
If necessary, a small number of daphnia can be propagated at home. This is quite complicated and is more exotic in nature than actual feed production. When breeding daphnia, baker's yeast is usually used as food. In this case, you can focus on the color of the water in the vessel where the crustaceans are bred. It should be light brownish or greenish.
If the color becomes saturated, then adding yeast should be stopped temporarily (for 1-2 days) until the water clears. You can also use a magnifying glass to inspect the brood chambers of females. If they are empty or there are few eggs, then feeding is not enough and yeast must be added. When breeding daphnia, you need to avoid getting other inhabitants of local water bodies, including cyclops, into this vessel.
Finally, a recipe for breeding crustaceans, used by aquarists since Soviet times:
Use a glass or plexiglass vessel with a water temperature of 20-24°C, dH 6-18°, pH 7.2-8. Aeration is weak, does not raise turbidity from the bottom, the light is not bright, diffused for at least 14-16 hours a day. As food we use baker's yeast, frozen until brown and diluted in warm water at the rate of 1-3 g per 1 liter of water. Feeding should be done 2-3 times a week.
The optimal density of crustaceans is 100-150 pcs/l. Every day you need to catch 1/3 of the juveniles. Once every 1 - 2 weeks, the vessel needs to be washed, removing all dirt, the water should be changed and the culture should be re-diluted. Multiple vessels can be used, running them with a delay of several days, allowing for a continuous production line of daphnia.
There are other feeding options. You can use dried lettuce or nettle leaves. Crushed into powder, they are filtered through cheesecloth and dipped into water. We provide bright light for the development of algae. When the water turns green, transfer it to a cool, shaded place and start a culture of crustaceans. The process also has to be repeated 2-4 times a month. You can also use blood or meat and bone meal at the rate of 0.5 -2.5 cm3 per 10 liters of water.
Genus: Daphnia = Daphnia
Daphnia is the common “folk name” for all species of Cladocera (CLADOCERA). Under this name there are about 420 different species of cladocera, belonging to about 10 families. The most common are: Daphnia magna, Daphnia pulex, Daphnia longispina, Moina, Bosmina, Hidorus, Sida, Simocephalus, Ceriodaphnia. The body of most cladocerans is strongly compressed laterally and enclosed in a bicuspid chitinous shell, fastened on the back and diverging on the ventral side. Daphnia periodically sheds this shell and replaces it with a new one. The front of the daphnia's head is elongated into a sharp "beak" or "proboscis." There are two eyes on the head, which in fully developed specimens merge into one compound eye. In many species there is another small eye next to it.
There are two pairs of antennas on the head. The anterior antennae are rod-shaped and very small. But the rear antennae are disproportionately large compared to the body. They are branched, and each branch of the antenna is equipped with long feathery bristles. The rear antennae serve as the main organ of locomotion for cladocerans; simultaneously flapping both rear antennae, the crustaceans are pushed off by them and thus swim in short leaps. By adjusting the frequency of antenna flapping, daphnia can not only “hover”, but also rise to the upper layers of water or, conversely, go to depth. Thus, they make vertical movements (migrations) associated with the search for food, changes in water temperature or time of day. The thoracic region of cladocerans is shortened and consists of 4 - 6 segments, each of which is equipped with a pair of legs. In females, between the dorsal surface of the body and the dorsal edge of the shell there is a large cavity that serves as a brood chamber. Eggs are laid in this bag, where they develop.
In summer, in warm weather, unfertilized eggs are formed in the female’s brood chamber (50-100 eggs for each individual), from which only females emerge and very quickly leave the mother’s body. Therefore, as a rule, all daphnia caught in the summer turn out to be females. Throughout the summer, females reproduce parthenogenetically. With the onset of cold weather, males are born from some eggs, and females begin to form eggs, which can develop only after fertilization by a male. Males of daphnia are rare, usually appear in the fall and are always much smaller than females. After they fertilize the females, eggs are formed (usually no more than two), rich in yolk and completely opaque. The shell containing the eggs forms a saddle, or ephippium. Ephippia swim freely or sink to the bottom, they tolerate freezing and drying. Dried ephippias are carried by the wind. Warmth and moisture awaken the eggs to life; from them females are hatched, capable of reproducing virginally for many generations. The coloring of daphnia depends on the composition of the food consumed and the oxygen content in the water of the reservoir. Color varies from green and brown to red and black. Cladocerans feed on unicellular algae, bacteria and ciliates, which they draw into their mouths with a current of water created by the movement of their legs. Typically, in nature there is a sharp increase in the number of daphnia following the death of phytoplankton.
Cladocerans are present in almost every body of water. But the largest number of daphnia are found in stagnant waters (ponds, lakes, ditches, pits with water) rich in decaying plant organic matter with a small population of fish. The peak of the maximum number of daphnia in water bodies occurs in spring and summer. Sometimes there are so many of them that the water turns red-brown from their quantity.
The largest representative of the genus Daphnia magna (Daphnia magna Straus). Lives in small bodies of water (ponds, pits, forest puddles). Females reach 5 - 6 mm in length, males - 2 mm, larvae - about 0.7 mm. They ripen at the age of 4 - 14 days. They produce up to 20 litters every 12 - 14 days. There are up to 80 eggs in a clutch. Life expectancy is 110 - 150 days. Daphnia pulex De Geer is widespread in shallow water bodies. The crustaceans are medium-sized, their size is up to 4 mm; They produce up to 12 litters every 3 - 5 days. Each clutch contains up to 25 eggs. Life expectancy is 26 - 47 days.
Daphnia longispina Muller their size is up to 4 mm. Lives in both shallow and deep reservoirs. Has a number of different forms.
Simoctphalus are flat crustaceans, often colored red. Habitat: shallow ponds with standing water. Their body length ranges from 2 to 4 mm.
Ceriodaphnia is similar in shape and size to previous species. The habitat is the same.
Moina - “live-bearer” – (Moina macrocopa, M. rectirostris). Females reach a length of up to 1.7 mm, males - up to 1 mm, larvae - about 0.5 mm. They ripen in 3 - 4 days. They produce up to 7 litters every 1 - 2 days. There are up to 53 eggs in a clutch. Life expectancy is 22 days. Moina as a food item has a number of advantages over other species of daphnia. The size of an adult moina rarely exceeds 1 mm, which makes it possible to use it when feeding fry, while the size of other species of daphnia reaches 4 mm. The chitinous shell of moina is much softer. Juveniles of various species of aquarium fish when fed with moina grow much faster and reach puberty earlier than when fed with other types of food. Biochemical analysis showed that the nutritional value of Moina macrocopa is 20% higher than Daphnia magna. Moina's body contains more than 50% protein. Its reproduction rate is approximately three times higher than that of Daphnia pulex.
Bosmina is one of the smallest representatives of cladocerans with long beak-like appendages on the head. Bosminas are often caught when fishing for daphnia - they are very similar to them, but twice as small. These black crustaceans are found in huge numbers along the shores and in clusters of aquatic plants.
Chydorus are small crustaceans, characterized by their round shape and small size. Cladocera (Cladocera) is one of the best aquarium foods for small fish species, as well as juveniles of almost all species. Fish eat them willingly, with appetite, and grow on them much better than on many other types of food.
Some species of Daphnia are specially cultivated in fish farms as highly valuable food for young fish. Daphnia are one of the most complete aquarium foods in terms of composition. High protein content, a large number of trace elements and vitamins, optimal amino acid composition of protein - all this makes daphnia a very popular food for aquarium fish among aquarists all over the world.
In principle, everyone is familiar with daphnia. But the depth of acquaintance varies. For example, when I heard the word “daphnia,” I always imagined dry fish food that in no way resembled a frisky cladocera, and somehow I never associated it with the daphnia that is depicted in a biology textbook.
Daphnia - research in microphotography
It all started with the fact that I decided to start a car. Along with the first hatch from the egg, something tiny appeared in the aquarium, completely different from a triops. It moved jerkily through the water and aroused my keen interest. There was no doubt that this was daphnia.
The question was different: how would This better to capture.
Since it is almost impossible to photograph a tiny, frisky crustacean in a volume of water, I had to catch it with a syringe and place it on a glass slide:
The results turned out to be more interesting.
Daphnia was actively using its root-like limbs, trying to get out of the drop, so there was a video too:
Under a microscope, all this looked even more interesting, but my attempts to take a more or less successful shot were a fiasco: the entrance pupil of my camera was too wide to photograph through a microscope.
The problem of compatibility with the microscope was solved radically: by borrowing a camera with a small lens diameter, and here things went much better:
I also highly recommend watching the following video, where several daphnia of different sizes very successfully turn to the viewer both in frontal view and in profile (in textbooks, for example, almost always only a profile image is given, so then, when you see the crustacean in frontal view, you can and not find out).
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Daphnia invasion
A couple of days later, several tiny daphnia were jumping merrily in the aquarium - the larger one apparently gave birth to offspring. The triops had also grown up, so in general it all looked like unbridled fun: something was moving, moving, twitching, jumping everywhere. It was very interesting to watch this riot of life.
And some time later, all the daphnia disappeared without a trace. Either this is due to the replacement of part of the water, or the triops grew so much that they were able to compete in agility with tiny crustaceans and quickly exterminated the entire population.
Some more photographs and observations
Here are a few more successful photographs of Daphnia pulex.
In the next frame, the already hatched nauplii and the white beard of ciliates covering the surface of the crustacean are clearly visible.
Daphnia in reflected light, covered with colonies of ciliates
And yet, daphnia looks amazing from the front. It's someone else's! Or an alien ship, definitely:
Daphnia in full view - alien ship
Some dry facts about daphnia
In fact, there is no guarantee that our hero is Daphnia pulex; it is possible that it is, for example, D. magna, but little depends on the exact classification; the essence is the same for all of them.
So, the generic name is daphnia(according to Wikipedia):
Type : arthropods
Superclass: crustaceans,
Class: branchiopods
Superorder: Cladocera
Squad: Daphniiformes
Suborder: Anomopoda
Family: Daphniidae
Genus: Daphnia
So, we use the word “daphnia” to refer to all crustaceans of this genus, without particularly understanding their species.
Where do daphnia live and what do they eat?
Daphnia are small crustaceans (the body size of adults is from 0.6 to 6 mm). They live in stagnant bodies of water (including puddles) and slow-flowing rivers. Daphnia spend most of their time in the water column, feeding on bacteria, unicellular algae, ciliates and other microorganisms, as well as organic debris.
Daphnia is very voracious: the daily food consumption of an adult D. magna can reach 600% of her body weight.
Daphnia move in jerks, making sharp movements with their branched antennae (it’s not for nothing that they are classified as cladocerans).
Daphnia from the front - another shot. How good!
Reproduction of Daphnia
I think a schematic image of daphnia could well become an emblem of feminists, because under normal conditions Daphnias do not have males.
The female gives birth to female clones of herself, which are formed inside her from unfertilized eggs and emerge into the brood chamber, and from there into the world.
Everything changes when conditions become unfavorable, i.e. winter is coming or the reservoir is drying up. Noticing that something is wrong, some females begin to give birth to males, while others begin to produce resting eggs - ephelipiles. For the formation of these eggs, external fertilization by the male is precisely necessary.
The female sheds the ephippium along with the integument during molting. When the ephippium is laid, the females often die.
Resting eggs are durable, chemically resistant, and can withstand drying out, freezing, and passing through the digestive tract of animals.
For aquarists, D. magna and D. pulex are of greatest interest as fish food. I attributed the hero of our story to Daphnia pulex due to its small size and based on information that D. pulex is more widespread. Although, considering that daphnia appeared in my home, most likely, having been brought in a bag from an American kit...
It’s not for nothing that the instructions for triops say that all accessories should be disinfected before being thrown into the trash: you never know how the overseas creature will behave when it gets to another country (and there are more than enough precedents for this).
Well, in conclusion, I’ll say that in some way Daphnia and its “gesticulation” reminded me of a memic bear, so here it is:
There are more than 150 species. Any self-respecting aquarist knows what they look like Daphnia crustaceans, as they are a popular food for many species of aquarium fish.
Features and habitat of daphnia
Depending on the kind daphnia, their size can range from 0.2 mm to 6 mm, so study structure of daphnia only possible under a microscope. The body of these crustaceans has an oval shape, it is covered with a special shield of two valves (carapace), which protects the internal organs.
The head is also covered with a chitinous shell and has a beak-like outgrowth (rastrum), under which are located the anterior antennae, which perform an olfactory function.
The size of the rear antennas is much more impressive compared to the front ones; their main task is the movement of daphnia. By flapping both antennae at the same time, daphnia pushes off from the water and swims, making sharp leaps. For this feature common daphnia often called "water flea".
On the head of the crustacean there is a compound eye, an unpaired organ responsible for vision. The number of facets depends on the species and ranges from 22 to 300. In predatory representatives, the structure of the eye is more complex and there are more facets. The nauplial ocellus is located just below the facet ocellus.
Daphnia thoracic legs, covered with many bristles, serve as a kind of filter through which the crustacean passes unicellular algae and bacteria suspended in the water. The legs make up to 500 strokes per minute.
Photo of daphnia taken at high magnification, make it possible to clearly see the internal structure of the crustacean. Thanks to the translucent shell, the heart, intestines, and, in females, a brood pouch with several embryos are clearly visible.
Daphnia of one kind or another can be found in almost any standing body of water - from a small pond to a deep lake. There are certain representatives of this genus of crustaceans in Eurasia, South and North America, and even in Antarctica.
An important factor in their normal existence is standing water, in which there is a minimal amount of soil particles. Once in running water, daphnia filter out the soil along with algae and gradually clog their intestines.
The eaten grains of sand accumulate and do not allow the crustacean to move normally, and soon it dies. Daphnia is extremely sensitive to environmental pollution, so it is often used when testing water quality in reservoirs.
Character and lifestyle of daphnia
Daphnia prefer to spend most of their lives in the water column, where they continuously filter water saturated with single-celled microorganisms. Some species stay near the bottom, feeding on the remains of invertebrate animals and dead parts of plants. In the same way, daphnia survives the winter cold if it does not hibernate.
Nutrition
Blue-green algae, yeast and bacteria are the main food of daphnia. The highest concentration of unicellular algae is observed in “blooming reservoirs”; there, in the absence of a large number of fish, daphnia lives well and reproduces especially intensively.
Reproduction and lifespan
Interesting reproduction Daphnia - to the class Crustaceans are characterized by such a feature as parthenogenesis. This is the ability to reproduce offspring without direct fertilization.
When the living conditions of a given genus of crustaceans are sufficiently favorable, female daphnia reproduce through parthenogenesis, giving birth only to females.
On average, one individual gives birth to 10 nauplii, which in turn become capable of reproduction already on the 4th day after birth. During her life, a female daphnia produces offspring up to 25 times.
As environmental conditions worsen, males are born, and the next generation of crustaceans will reproduce eggs that need to be fertilized. Daphnia eggs, formed during such a period, grow into small embryos, they are covered with a special protective shell and go into hibernation.
In this form, daphnia embryos are able to survive both drought and severe frost. When environmental conditions return to normal, they develop into adults. The next generation will again produce only females that are capable of parthenogenesis.
Another interesting feature of Daphnia is cyclomorphosis. In different seasons of the year, individuals with different body shapes are born in the same population.
Thus, summer generations of daphnia have an elongated tail needle and a growth on the helmet. Among the many hypotheses about the feasibility of such changes, the main one is considered to be protection from predators, which are more active in the summer.
The lifespan of daphnia is short and, depending on the species, ranges from 3 weeks to 5 months. Large species such as Daphnia Magna live longer than their smaller counterparts.
The lifespan of daphnia also depends on the water temperature - the higher it is, the faster metabolic processes occur, the body develops faster, ages faster and dies.
Price of daphnia in the form of food
Along with others crustaceans, daphnia and Gammarus are bred commercially. Breeding Daphnia at home does not bring much trouble.
It is enough to take a plastic or glass container, connect the aeration and create conditions for good reproduction of blue-green algae - good lighting and stable temperature.
The photo shows dry daphnia for fish
Live daphnia, frozen and dried, is an excellent food for aquarium inhabitants. Dry daphnia for fish serves as a good source of protein, because its content exceeds 50% of the total weight of the feed.
Gammarus, Artemia, daphnia - food more than affordable. So, a 100 ml package of dried gammarus or daphnia will cost no more than 20-50 rubles, frozen - a little more expensive - 80-100 rubles.
Live food is also not uncommon in modern pet stores, but they do not last long and differ little in nutritional value from their frozen counterparts.
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