freshwater artemia

[wrm130]

Spent some time staring into my local swamp.found these guys.gonna try to breed more.

[cdylnicki]

Where?!  I'm gonna go fishing for some!

[blueknight0303]

nice find! goodluck on breeding!

[cdylnicki]

What are you feeding them btw?

Thanks again for your assistance in helping me catch a batch!!

Awesome!

[blueknight0303]

now im curious. where did u find them?

[cdylnicki]

they were in a flooded area in a local park.

Ive spent the last 2 days inspecting every puddle on the military base where I live but nothing seems alive!

This "pond" was amazing!

[wrm130]

What are you feeding them btw?

Thanks again for your assistance in helping me catch a batch!!

Awesome!

No problem:-)   i'm feeding mine greenwater at the moment but i'm sure artemia food sold at als would work

[BillD]

What you have there is fairy shrimp, which looks much like a brine shrimp, but gets bigger. They appear very early in the spring, even before the ice is all gone. They normally will grow, breed, lay eggs/cysts and disappear until the following spring. Sometimes they will skip a year. I haven't collected them for a number of years, but they make a good food, and sometimes you can get quite a few, especially when they first hatch and before the ice is all gone, without too much effort.

[wrm130]

In reading up on these the other day I also came across another term.  Vernal pool.  These have also been areas where I've found my daphnia cultures.  Though unlike the fairy shrimp, the dapnia were around all summer.  LOL FURTHER reading tells me "carnivorous insect larvae" and other predators soon wipe out the fairies as the water warms.

So, those of you interested in finding your own cultures, get out to a flooded area this weekend while critters are still around!