Hello Threadmates!
Thank you all for your various replies so far.
@ Helene. I know that my use of the word ‘cysts’ is inexact and that I should properly be using the term ‘ephippia’, i.e. the eggs that Cladocera produce in adverse conditions. With multi-layered cell walls, they give their parent species the chance of surviving periods of cold or drought. I’m positive we both understand this.
However the term ‘ephippium’ is not understood by fishkeeping hobbyists and isn’t used in conversations between the trade and hobbyists (not in the English language anyway!). Instead, the term ‘cyst’ is used – presumably because of its familiarity in other contexts.
Ephippia of Moina salina are pretty easy to get hold of – they’re (relatively) widely cultured by marine fishkeepers. I feed Artemia occasionally to my other fish and I wash them several times in RO/DI water before feeding : in that context it doesn’t matter too much if not all of the salt is washed out. However, I’m slightly worried about incomplete washing if I were to feed to Paros, given the narrow conductivity tolerances (apparently) involved. Hence my search for ‘freshwater’ Moina as a preference. Again, rightly or wrongly, some tradespeople do seem to make a distinction between ‘freshwater’ and ‘saltwater’ Moina. Maybe I’ll come back to that when I get to Peter’s reply.
@Little. Yes – I had an exchange with Florida Aqua Farms about a week ago. They said : “we do not carry them in cyst form so we could not ship”. From here (UK) I haven’t so far been able to trace other commercial outlets in the US that sell Moina, so I’m extraordinarily glad of your attention and presence ‘on the ground’, so to speak!
re Carolina Biological : now there’s a coincidence! Getting nowhere with my enquiries, I tried a little sideways thinking which led me to contact one or two fish-farming outlets and a trade body ; and also companies that specialise in selling biological supplies to schools etc. One of the latter was Blades Biological Ltd. Its reply to my enquiry came in with the subject header: ‘Carolina Information’. This baffled me until I read that they “are proud to be the UK official supplier for Carolina Biological Supply! Anyway, their reply was: “Thanks for your email. I am afraid it is quite difficult to import living cultures, there are so many restrictions. However leave it with me and I shall make some enquires [sic]”.
@Paul. [Great to hear, btw, that your bintanarrived safely and in good health. I’ll reply to your e-mail when I’ve completed arrangements re my opallios]. Thanks for your links. I’d looked at the first two. Livefishfood said: ” Hi Andy Sorry only Bloodworms, Daphnia or River Shrimps”. My PC won’t display any contact details for TropicalAquatica, so I wasn’t able to progress that.
I hadn’t come across your third link, though. I’ll certainly give them a bell later today and see what they say. Biggleswiggle isn’t too far away from me here so, in the unlikely event of a miracle happening, it would be quite convenient. [Edt : just phoned and they’re not replying. Will try again later].
@Peter. My reading has led me to believe that the Moinidae are taxonomically identified as being a family within the order Cladocera (as are the Daphniidae) one of the features of which is the ability to form ephippia. I could very well be wrong, of course!
The final paragraph of this document seems to support my understanding.
I’ve come across many references to ephippia in Moina – this or this for example – and I know that I can buy them from commercial outlets that supply the marine hobby (as I mentioned above). I’m not comparing the biologies of Artemia with Moina – many apologies if I’ve given you that impression ; the only relevant biology in this context is the ability of both Daphnia and Moina to form ephippia.
So (again from my reading and interpreting what you have written) it appears we may have a number of ‘freshwater’ species of Monidae. Some/most/all of them can survive in saltwater of various salinities. If that’s the case, it may follow that I should, in fact, be able to source ephippia of (say) Moina salina and successfully rear them in freshwater! That would be a good result! Do you think it’s worth giving it a try and seeing what happens?
Do you remember what was the ‘British address’ that you referred to – will I find it if I search the site for ‘Moina’ ?
All Best to everyone
Andy