AMAZONAS
Various experimental
setups for culturing
Microfex with Cyclops.Expanded clay pellets
with red and white
Microfex.Bauer, I began to view the Cyclops not as competition for
the Microfex, but as food, and collected them diligently
in order to start culture trials.
I placed the Cyclops in a 0.5-gallon (2-L) glass
containing Microfex wastewater and added microalgae.
I placed the glass on the windowsill in the sun. In a
1-quart (1-L) glass I kept a maximum of 100 Cyclops
with a few Microfex worms and a spinach stalk in
Microfex wastewater. The glass was not in full sun, but
exposed to the light next to an aquarium. In both jars,
I replaced half of the water daily with fresh Microfex
wastewater to determine whether the Cyclops fed on the
Microfex excretions in the water. To the half-gallon glass
I also added some Selco Sparkle or grated green algae
food tablets every day.
In both vessels, a slight increase in numbers was
observed after two weeks, but not enough to use them
as food. In the 1-quart (1-L) glass the Microfex even
formed several clumps, so their population was growing,
but this had no visible effect on the Cyclops. I therefore
assumed that culturing them in the glasses had failed.
I kept one of the Microfex vats completely dark for
two weeks. I wanted to establish whether the Cyclops feed
on algae. Obviously, they do not; the darkness had no
effect on the number of Cyclops in the tub. I removed the
Microfex completely from another tub and continued
to supply lettuce and spinach; I saw no increase in the
number of Cyclops. The Cyclops reproduce very well when
the Microfex do well, too. This is particularly successful
with lettuce. If the lettuce is removed to clean the tubs
and set aside in a bowl, the bottom of the bowl is later
full of Cyclops.
The reproduction rate of the Cyclops in the Microfex
tubs continues to be pleasingly high. Five to seven days
after cleaning, there are many Cyclops, and two weeks of
standing time is the optimum, in my opinion. At that
point you can harvest a lot of Cyclops. Therefore, thedecisive factor for a high rate of propagation appears to
be the Microfex. On several occasions, I saw the Cyclops
going after individual Microfex worms, so I started pay-
ing more attention to how they feed. I placed quite a few
Cyclops from the harvest of a three-week-old Microfex
culture in a 1-quart (1-L) jar and fed them a slice of
shrimp. Many Cyclops gathered on the slice, and I had
the clear impression that they were eating it—but they
did not manage to eat the whole slice, of course. In ad-
dition, I put about 10 Microfex worms in the glass, and
they were completely gone the next day. After a few days I
added some Artemia shrimp and these, too, had disap-
peared the next morning. The Cyclops also ate micro-
worms. Clearly, they are carnivorous.
The Cyclops in the glass did not proliferate much
within two weeks, but did not decline either. However,
the number of females with egg sacs increased signifi-
cantly, so I still hope that after some time there will be a
population explosion.
Since then, I have succeeded in culturing Microfex
and Cyclops together in canning jars, but the yield of both
species is lower than it is in the tubs. If you want to grow
both species in glass jars, you must do water changes at
strict intervals. If the water starts to smell, it may happen
that the Cyclops die out and only the Microfex survive. I
grow the Microfex worms on expanded clay pellets, as I
do with Grindal worms. The worms have turned white.
However, due to their different size, I can easily see that
they are Dero digitata. This is not a plague of the smaller
Grindal worms. Also, not all Microfex are white; some of
them are red.
Although in the beginning I tried to remove the
contaminants from my tubs, by chance I found a way
to reproduce this Cyclops species in large quantities.
Certainly, my method could be improved upon to ensure
a stable population of Cyclops. My freshwater pipefishes
love them!