Dried Daphnia 100g

These are whole animals, freeze-dried, and nothing else. Not a formulated recipe pressed into flakes but the daphnia themselves with the structure intact, which is the reason they work as well as they do in an invertebrate enclosure. Freeze-drying also removes the one real drawback of live food: there is no parasite or pathogen risk to introduce alongside the meal.

The numbers

Fifty per cent crude protein, ten per cent oils and fats, seven per cent fibre and eighteen per cent ash. The fibre figure is chitin from the shells, and the ash covers the mineral fraction of the whole animal. For an animal that rebuilds its cuticle every few weeks, protein and chitin arriving together in one mouthful is a sensible thing to offer.

Worth noting against the obvious comparison: this is higher in protein than our fish flakes, at fifty per cent against forty-six, and considerably higher in fibre. The flakes are the denser, chewier option; daphnia is the lighter one that gets broken down faster.

Who takes it

Isopods across the board, and the larger Porcellio in particular, since fast-growing species get through the most. Millipedes take it readily. Snails will clear it. Springtails work over whatever falls into the litter, which gives the fines at the bottom of the bag a useful second life.

Feeding

A pinch will do. Not a spoonful. Put it on bark or a jar lid instead of directly onto wet substrate, twice a week at most, and clear whatever remains next day.

Do not overfeed this one. Dried daphnia sitting in a warm humid enclosure will take up moisture and grow mould inside a day. The rule that works is small amounts cleared within twelve to twenty-four hours, never large portions left to sit. If you are seeing fuzz regularly, the colony is telling you it wants less.

Calcium, honestly

Daphnia shells are thin, so treat this as a protein and chitin food rather than a calcium source. For calcium, cuttlebone should simply live in the enclosure, and treat the daphnia as the supplement it is.

Storage

Resealed, cool and dark. Humidity and warmth are what spoil it, so a cupboard, not the shelf beside the enclosure, and press the air out of the bag before sealing. Stored that way it holds its condition for a long time, and 100g typically lasts a small collection six months or more.

What to pair it with

Magnolia leaves and rotted wood remain the foundation of the diet, with everything here sitting on top of that.

Dry goods travel alongside everything else in the order, overnight and tracked, leaving us early in the week.