Daphnia

http://www.aquaculturestore.com/info/daphnia.html

2 liter - 1 gallon coke bottles or jars work very well for culturing

A moderate amount of light can be used, but is not mandatory. They like a 16 hour light/ 8 hour dark photo period, but low light, and no light works too

Daphnia like algae, yeast, and several other small particulate type feeds.

Change water in all cultures once a week by dumping in a fine meshed net………Then replace the water in your culture with new water. 

I usually just start new cultures by making up two new buckets/bottles, filling them up half way with new water, then adding a few drops of plankton feed, or algae, and pouring the older culture into the new ones. Then if I have left overs I feed them to the fish!

reproduction is sometimes sporadic. Fresh water will spure them to produce

A decent culture can contain about 300+ daphnia per gallon of culture water

http://www.animalnetwork.com/aquafish/reference/af10.asp

Daphnia also like to gorge themselves on unicellular algaes, vegetable matter, yeast, dried milk, egg yolk and even manure

love to propagate, and are most enticed to do so in alkaline water (above pH 7.0) that is between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit, with medium light intensity. Incredibly, they are quite content in a relatively small volume of water as long as there is enough food and oxygen to support them

multiply quickly — from conception to adulthood takes approximately one week

Daphnia are a form of plankton

Basically, Daphnia provide two primary vitamins that are of vital importance to fish — vitamins A and D. Vitamin A is essential for the growth and development of fish, and it also serves as an excellent anti-infective agent. Vitamin D is primarily responsible for the production of bone, and all vertebrates are therefore dependent on it. Daphnia also offer small amounts of vitamins B and C, which vary in quantity depending on what foods the Daphnia have consumed. Vitamin B supports tissue growth and stimulates appetite. Vitamin C aids in skin formation and coloration. Finally, Daphnia provide protein, carbohydrates (sugars and starches) and fats.

Because they are a live food, Daphnia activate a fish's instinct to hunt.

a substantial portion must always be left in the jar to keep the species multiplying

Some additional foods that are readily taken by Daphnia include tiny pieces of the outer green leaves of lettuce, a tweezer-size pinch of baker's yeast or dried milk added once a week

http://www.thekrib.com/Food/daphnia.html

All Daphnia are extremely sensitive to metal ions and many dissolved

toxins in the water.

daphnia are very sensitive to copper.

Yeast is a good food, but must be dissolved in warm water which is mixed before adding it to the tank.  Only very lightly tint the water. I find it easy to be clumsy and  overfeed yeast. The daphnia suffocate.
 
One could of course feed them yeast...but you have to be very careful to not overfeed as you can kill an entire culture in a matter of hours by overfeeding and depleting the oxygen in the water.
 
http://www.petfish.net/daph.htm
 
The culture jars need to have an open airline running to them, doesn't need to be deep in the jar, just enough to keep the surface agitated and keep the water circulating around. This is very important because it keeps the daphnia food circulating around so they can eat. Don't use an airstone, they create too many fine bubbles that can stick to the daphnia, thus taking them out of circulation, and leaving it hopelessly floundering around the jar.
 
Other items I've read about (but haven't tried) that are used to feed daphnia are graham bran, alfalfa powder ( both from healthfood stores), blended spinach, liquid fry food, blood meal (yuk) and rabbit pellets. Another food I have just heard about is Gerbers Baby Food, Sweet Potatoes. It is said to be an excellent food for the daphnia with the added benefit of indirectly feeding the fish some high carotene food that will enhance their color. Other foods consisting of various manures have been suggested, but I really don't want to get into that crap
 
One trick that I find especially pleasing is to put 10 to 20 or so adult daphnia in a fry tank. Though the daphnia are too big for the fry to eat, any baby daphnia they have will make good food, (they are smaller than baby brine shrimp) and the daphnia help keep the water clean.
 
I have read that it's not good to keep the lights on a daphnia culture all the time, but as a constant experimenter, I tried it anyway. The results were outstanding, the daphnia have doubled to tripled their production. I've been doing this for 2 months now, so there has to have been several generations raised in constant light. So far there are no bad side effects, other than having to feed the daphnia everyday as opposed to once every 3 days before.
 
http://freshaquarium.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fhome.clara.net%2Fxenotoca%2Fdaphina.htm
 
I find the best food is Gram flour (obtainable from any Indian food shop ) which is made from chick peas. A tablespoon of the flour is mixed into a smooth paste with a little water then made up to a pint (1/2 litre) with water and stirred well. This cloudy mixture is added to the cultures until the water in the culture is slightly cloudy but the bottom of the container can still be seen. Any excess mixture can be stored and used as required.
 
Daphnia do not like any higher forms of plant life in the water with them and any growing plant, including thread algae, in the container will have a detrimental effect on production.
 
http://fins.actwin.com/killietalk/month.200206/msg00502.html
 
When a culture dies off, I keep the mulm and refresh with old tank
water. This blooms within a week or two and the daphnia culture starts
itself off again within a few weeks.
 
http://fins.actwin.com/killietalk/month.200210/msg00512.html
 
I've had good luck with Gerber's Baby food (especially sweet potatoes)  which I mix 1 tablespoon with 1 quart water then pour in the tank
 
http://fins.actwin.com/killietalk/month.200304/msg00168.html
 
sweet potatoe baby food works great…..I mix the baby food with water and squirt into the aquarium. Don't try to ad just the baby food - it is very thick and sinks to the bottom.
 
http://wako.aka.org/articles.html
 
To make a weeks supply of daphnia food I blend 1 tsp.. (or 3 tablets) of brewers yeast with about 25 frozen peas, several spinach leaves, a tablespoon of sweet potato baby food and 1 quart of water. Blend until liquefied. I keep this refrigerated and feed 1/8th to 1/4th cup to each 30 gallon daphnia tub per day, depending on the amount of daphnia in the tubs.
 
what doesn't get eaten stays alive in the tanks
 
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/Childers_Raising_Daphnia.html
 
When the tank is dark the Daphnia seem to go to the bottom and become inactive which is bad for Daphnia production, so rule number two is to give them some light 24 hours a day.
 
mix one package of dry active yeast with one cup of soy flour. (Kroger carries the soy flour). Once or twice a day I stir 1/4 teaspoon of this dry mixture into a cup of warm water. I pour this into the Daphnia tank, which clouds the water. When the Daphnia have made the water clear again by filtering out all the food, it is time to feed them again
 
Overfeeding will cause a crash. Crash = all dead.
 
The snails are also a good indicator of water quality. When water quality is really bad (a crash is at hand) all the snails will go to the top of the tank.
 
 
http://fins.actwin.com/killietalk/month.200304/msg00224.html
 
I have found that I can keep Daphnia/Moina at a higher density with air.  Needs to be large bubbles.  I do not use airstones,
 
 
http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cache:h9sDbDidNX4J:www.caudata.org/daphnia/+daphnia+survive+in+tank&hl=en
 
daphnia …. feed on particles found floating in the water (phytoplankton, but also attached vegetation or decaying organic material), but the predominant foods are free-living algae (eg Chlamydomanas spp, Volvox spp, etc), bacteria and fungi
 
daphnia reproduce by parthenogenicity, bearing, on average, ten live young per individual
 
new females reproducing as early as four days old at intervals as often as every three days, for up to twenty five times in their lifetime (though this number is usually far smaller, and females tend to produce a lot less than one hundred offspring
 
There are often pulses of population growth, when numbers increase almost logarithmically by parthenogensis, using up a lot of food and causing overcrowding
 
The average life span of Daphnia pulex at 20oC is approximately 50 days.
 
though not very demanding, Daphnia appreciate a good oxygen supply
 
For someone who only wants a modest amount of Daphnia per week, cultures can be maintained in two litre bottles
 
Some people like to keep a light on 24 hours a day for their daphnia tank as this can encourage faster growth and reproduction.
 
 
http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cache:6PFPXYHh21IJ:www.max-discus-dream.de/mddnew/DAPHNIA.HTM+daphnia+survive+in+tank&hl=en
 
a female may produce more than 100 eggs per brood, repeating every 3 days. A female may have as many as 25 broods in its lifetime, but the average is about 6. The female will start to reproduce at about 4 days old with a brood size of 4 to 22 eggs
 
Continuous cultures can be maintained in two liter bottles
 
Daphnia feed on various groups of bacteria, yeast, microalgae, detritus, and dissolved organic matter. Bacteria and fungal cells are high in food value, but all foods rank second to microalgae
 
http://fins.actwin.com/live-foods/month.200303/msg00030.html
 
         I use spirulina flakes by itself as food with exellent results.  I did not notice any difference in Daphnia tank with addition of Spirulina.
 
 
http://fins.actwin.com/killietalk/month.9810/msg00103.html
 
http://www.actwin.com/fish/aquatic-plants/month.9509/msg00333.html
    control of green water with daphnia
 
http://www.wku.edu/~stokes/zoology/225daphnia.html
    Physiological Ecology of Daphnia magna
 
http://www.unibas.ch/dib/zoologie/ebert/hostpara/index.html
    daphnia-parasite picture gallery
 
http://users1.ee.net/tfrench/livefood.htm
    article on live foods including daphnia
 
http://www.utoronto.ca/env/lecture5.htm
 lecture on LITTORAL ZONE MACROPHYTES
 
http://www.gene.com/ae/AE/AEPC/WWC/1993/ecological.html
 Daphnia as poltion detector (CuSO4)
 
http://www.eduzone.com/tips/science/jones.htm
    Jones Biomedical; culture tips
 
http://www.epa.gov/grtlakes/arcs/EPA-905-B94-002/B94002-ch6.html
    ARCS program toxicity testing; daphnia, etc.
 
http://biodidac.bio.uottawa.ca/Thumbnails/CRUS028B-GIF.htm
   superb line drawing of a daphnia (GIF)
 
http://www.holidayjunction.com/aro/prices.html
    price list for organisms
 
http://miraclemile.com/dalecombp/cultures/
    daphnia and other live food cultures to purchase; good pictures/directions
 
http://www.netins.net/showcase/killies/food.html#Daphnia
    general live and dry/paste foods; some detail
 
http://members.aol.com/jonbio/fshfd.htm
    buy live foods; kits
 
http://www.diwalk.demon.co.uk/pond/ponmap1.htm#map1
    line drawings various live foods; basic