[Public Alias]

So I looked around and I don't think anyone has posted this technique.

I have been feeding Hikari freeze dried daphnia to my green neons. The difficulty is that the dapdnia are like little air filled shells and they don't want to sink. My neons dont eat from the surface.

I tried releasing them underwater and they just float up before the neons even notice them. I have tried soaking them for several hours, and even then only about 20% would sink - the rest would float up and get lodged in the roots of my duckweed.

Lately I have been soaking the daphnia in a syringe for several hours. I would put in the daphnia first, then stick the tip into the tank, pull back the plunger and suck in some water. Then I would leave the syringe for at least five hours so that some daphnia would sink.

Yesterday I added some daphnia to the syringe. After adding water I pointed the syringe up and pushed out the free air. Then I let the daphnia soak for about an hour - just to soften the shells. Here comes the cool part. The syringe was about half full with water, I held my thumb firmly over the opening of the syringe (to make a seal) and pulled the plunger about 1.5" inches out. Of course this decreased the pressure inside the syringe. The air came right out of the daphnia and at least 95% sank!

I'm sure this technique could also work with any other dry food that is hard to sink.

 

[slavecorps]

Nice technique! It's so obvious, why haven't I thought of this?

 

[jkan0228]

I wonder if that's possible without the hour long soak?

 

[slavecorps]

Probably, I think just sucking the air out of them would cause them to sink. If you go into a swimming pool and exhale all the air out of your lungs you will sink immediately, no soaking required. The same principle works here. Sucking the air out will cause water to rush in to the daphnia or dry food and sink it.

 

[Dany08fa]

I gotta try this! Lol

 

[10gallonplanted]

NIce find!

 

[msjinkzd]

i just squish freeze dried foods against the glass of the tank, that pushes the air out and they sink.

 

[Public Alias]

I try not to squish many things against the glass. I have already scratched it.

I haven't even thought of trying to skip the hour long soak. I figured the softening must play some role, but maybe it doesn't at all. I'll try skipping it tomorrow.

 

[lochaber]

I wonder if that's possible without the hour long soak?

I can't say for certain, but I think this is a simple gas volume/pressure bit, and I think soaking time would have little (if any) affect on this.

sorta brilliant in a really simple sorta way, which just serves to make it seem even more brilliant, so thanks for sharing, Public Alias

 

[m00se]

It works! Terrific discovery! No soaking needed. Thanks

 

[Public Alias]

Thanks everyone. I'm glad to see that it still works without any soaking! I had a feeling all the disposable syringes I ordered on amazon would become very useful at some point.

 

[vqfive]

That odd your Neons won't eat from the surface. Never had that problem with Neons before. Maybe you need another type of tetra to teach your Neons to eat from the surface.

 

[Public Alias]

That odd your Neons won't eat from the surface. Never had that problem with Neons before. Maybe you need another type of tetra to teach your Neons to eat from the surface.

That would be fun! Getting more tetras. My tank is at full capacity though. Actually I'm sure some would call it overstocked.

I sort of like when feeding my fish involves a bit of preparation. It's like coming home and cooking them dinner.