Moina Macrocopa

These worked great for me. Put them in dechlorinated water with a heater set to 81 degrees and they hatched in 24 hours.

I had these in a heated jar for 11 days and thought they didn't hatch. However, when I looked more carefully with light, I could see that they did. I shined my phone light below the jar and could seem them if I put my eyes very close to the glass. They're tiny and clear. I could very easily have not seen them and assumed that it didn't work. You only need a pinch of eggs, really, so you can easily get multiple hatches from these capsules. The hatch rate is low, but it's a lot of eggs. You only need a few to hatch to multiply to a large culture.

It's day 11 and nothing has hatched, at all. I used the capsules between 4 containers. I wanted to experiment and see which hatched out best. 2 Reverse Osmosis and 2 tap water (well water with a whole home filter system and treated with tap water conditioner). 1 R/O and 1 tap were under a heat light (water temp 82°F) and the other 2 were room temperature (72-75°F). All containers are under a grow light (with my plants). NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING has hatched. When day 14 rolls around without anything hatching, I'm packing up the empty capsules and sending them back for a refund. UPDATE: It is now day 14 and NOTHING has hatched. I just noticed that this item isn't returnable. So, I'm out $15 (taxes included). I just sent an email to Green Water Farm and I'll update if they reply. UPDATE: 03/02/2023 They finally started hatching about 2 weeks ago, so it took about 4 weeks to hatch. Not everything, but enough to start a culture if they survive. The ones that hatched were in a small bowl with R/O water at room temperature around 72°F (no heat light). I took advice from an old forum thread from someone who cultures them on a large scale and have been feeding them Sweet Potato baby food. About 1 tablespoon into a bottle of water (a regular sized drinking water bottle) and shake it up. I put about a tablespoon of that mix into the culture every day. They actually swarm to it. I also dump it into my daphnia cultures and they're populations are booming. I mix new food every day, and toss the baby food after a few days. I also top off the bowl with water from one of my Daphnia cultures. Every few days, I carefully siphon out 1/4 water with a turkey baster and scrutinize it for baby Moina and replace the water with fresh R/O water. It'll take a hour to do, lol. Once the babies get a little bigger, I'll transfer them into a larger container with an air pump--no stone--just air line with a regulator turned down to a couple of bubbles per second. I also would like to thank Sprite from Green Water Farms. I reached out to tell them that nothing had hatched and he sent me a new pack of eggs. I'll keep them in the fridge until I need to hatch them.

I saw a few reviews saying these eggs didn’t hatch, but I can confirm: they absolutely do hatch if you follow the right setup. I had Moina swimming around in less than 24 hours! Please read this before you try—it will save you frustration and wasted eggs: 1. Use clean, dechlorinated tap water. Avoid pure RO or distilled water—they lack essential minerals. Tap water is perfect unless your water is from a well or has very high pH. If your water is too alkaline (above ~8.5), you may have trouble hatching. 2. Water depth: Keep water at about 3–4 inches deep. Shallow water improves light penetration and oxygen exchange. 3. Light is critical: Place the container near a window with good indirect sunlight, or use a daylight-spectrum bulb (white light) about 3–4 inches above the container. Aim for 12–16 hours of light daily. I used an old aquarium white LED light. Yellow light is not as good. 4. Temperature: Around 75–85°F works best. Room temperature worked well for me. 5. Let the eggs float: Floating is normal and helpful! Don’t try to sink them. The eggs hatch best near the surface with light and warmth. 6. No aeration needed: I didn’t use any air pump or aeration, and they still hatched fine. Aeration might help, but it’s optional. 7. Don’t overdo the eggs! I used an entire capsule because of some other reviews, and it was way too much. I wish I had not done that. Half of one capsule is plenty to start a good culture. 8. Be patient: Hatch time is usually 24–72 hours, but I saw mine start moving in under 24! 9. Feed once they hatch: Use chlorella powder or pure spirulina powder, dissolved in water. Start with a very small amount—just enough to lightly cloud the water. Don’t overfeed! I’m really happy with the results. If you follow these steps, you should get a great hatch too. Don’t let the negative reviews discourage you!

Update - I have kept the culture alive for 4 months now. I have changed how I culture it, instead of a 5 gallon bucket I use a few 1/2 gallon juice bottle. I use mostly chlorella culture to feed and propagate the moina. Every day I completely empty one bottle on a mini coffee filter and feed that to my fish. Then I fill the empty bottle with chlorella culture - the moina that stay stuck on the bottle are enough to repopulate that bottle in about a week. I have anywhere from fresh bottles and about week old bottles. If needed, I supplement feeding with a solution containing brewer yeast, spirulina and chickpea flour. Original post: Eggs hatched as expected. I used only about 1/3 of one vial in a 5 gallon bucket and had a lot of moina, in a population that did not crash right away. I am feeding them chlorella from a culture I started about 2 weeks before I started the moina. I have been keeping them for about 3 weeks and I feed my fish about 3 times per week. My fish - mostly tetras, rasboras and Corys love the live food!

First, the directions aren't very clear. Do I use an air bubbler before they hatch? After? And there are so much conflicting information out there. I had a fish bowl laying around, and thought it would be perfect. I have fish, so I used the tank conditioner to clear out any chlorine or chloramine that might be in the water. I set up a heater, a thermometer, and grow lights. I put a few eggs in, and noticed they immediately stuck to the side of the tank. No matter what I did, they stuck to the side. I tried using the bubbles to keep them from sticking, but that didn't work. I tried stirring them, but nope. On day 5 I saw something moving, so I put spirulina in the tank, but I think it died. I think on day 8 I saw another one, but that one died too. I used up a whole capsule on that tank and it was a bust. Ok, after doing some more research, I realized no one was using one of those round fish tanks for their moina, so I found a different fish tank. One thing I read was moina like calcium in their water. I only filled it half way with water. I also had some cuttlebone laying around from when I tried to get more calcium into my snails diet. Spoiler, my snails ignored it. I broke up a little bit of cuttlebone and put it in. I also saw that someone said they had some great success by not using an air bubble, at least in the beginning, so I didn't even bother with it. I put a small amount of eggs in the tank, and on day 3 I could see movement. Instead of adding the spirulina directly to the tank, I mixed it in water and let it sit for a few minutes. I used a pipette to put a little of the water in the tank. I then added more eggs, but not even half. I also got yeast, so on the second day, I mixed a little yeast in some warm water and let it sit for about 10 minutes. I added more spirulina in with the yeast and used a pipette to give them some of this food. I also noticed more babies in the tank. They are all healthy and moving around and having a little water flea party. I am so happy. I already gave my betta some and he was like "Ooh, something is moving!!" I had my betta in with some shrimp, but he was having too much fun hunting them, so I had to move him to a different tank. He looks so bored, so I wanted to give him some live food that he can hunt down. Because moina can live it the same water as my betta, I knew they wouldn't die if my betta couldn't find them all, and can actually benefit the tank since they are filter feeders. So far they are still tiny... I think we are on day 5. They seem to be thriving in the little tank. I think I am going to try a 2 liter bottle as a 2nd "tank" so I can keep a decent supply. Even though I failed with the first batch, I think this is a good value, especially if I can keep them going. I only used about half of the 2nd container. Going to see how big I can get this colony, and save the eggs if the who thing crashes. Only time will tell how long I can keep them going. I will update if I have any major changes. The first 2 pictures are of the failed attempt, but the other pictures are of how many there are after 5 days. They are so small it is hard to get a clear picture, but those little specks are the moina.

I tried hatching a few different ways, but success was limited. I didn't need that many to start a culture so at least it worked in the end.

Hatched within 3 days. I filled a little jar with declornated tap water, dumped the eggs in, and set it next to a light. 3 days later, there were tons of free-swimming Moina that I moved into my 5-gallon green water cultures. I dumped the whole jar and the left over eggs in the culture to make sure the late hatchers made it.