I did the same for the culture of Daphnia sp. in the laboratory where the most important thing to be maintained is the get rid of alcohol and its products because then the culture will be expoiled.

Hello Richard,

One of the most important aspect of culturing zooplankton through isolation from natural quasi-panmictic communities is to properly identify and isolate as many healthy individuals as possible so that the group contains both sexes. Perhaps the most essential feature of any zooplankton culture is the ready availability of their feed, i.e. phytoplankton, which can be supplied through commercially available feed or by mass culturing on your own. The latter saves a lot of money but the former, as obvious, saves time and any threat of introduced pathogens. The fish pond water can be a very good source of dissolved nutrients for the microalgae, you just have to make sure that they are first mass isolated through filtration and then the filtrate more or less sterilized by using ultrasonic water baths or even the application of a synergistic or self made composite antibiotics. The composition/dosage for the antibiotic or the frequency of the ultrasonic water bath varies with the species intended to be cultured and should be looked up by you prior to embarking on the task.

Once you have achieved a stock of phytoplankton you can proceed with your actual objective of zooplankton culturing. The very crucial parameter to be maintained relevant to the culture is the high level of dissolved oxygen saturation and constant removal of faecal matter in order to avoid any potential crash due to accumulated toxicity. The water used should be, in all intents and purposes, made free of chlorine and chloramines administered aggressively in municipality waters. There is really no need to use TDS balanced RO water as any tap water can be made optimum for any mass culture simply by conditioning with commercial water conditioners and dechlorinators. A simple act of keeping the tap water in a bucket with the lid open for 48 hours with occasional swirlings should reduce the chlorine by 70 - 90% but this will not remove the chloramines.

Apply food sparingly to prolong the build up of ammonia and try to grow benthic microalgae on rocks or slabs and put them in the zooplankton holding vessel. In that way the natural behaviour of the zooplankton to graze on the aufwuchs will be maintained and they will be less stressed out. Never put together zooplankton species that are carnivorous in a mixed species culture. Maintain a gentle but constant circulation of the water and the zooplankters can withstand a lot more sheer stress than you think. Do not expose the culture vessels to constant strong lights and a diffused lighting will help you a lot and lastly provide vessels with depth and not length since zooplankton will try to migrate vertically. This provide them a feel of safety. The quintessential parameters such as pH and temperature need to emulate the fish pond where the zooplankton were collected from as much as practicable and any large swing in either of them should be refrained from since both will be fatal for the culture and hence needs to be monitored diligently by the person culturing. A commercial thermostat eliminates the risk of overheating greatly and during water changes the temperature has be maintained at or near constancy (by preheating the water to the temperature of the culture).

With regards and best wishes for your endeavours

Dr. Abhishek Mukherjee

yes freshwater zooplankton can be isolated.bit tedious job becoz in live state they are quite active.proper identification is also v important as species of same genus are having v specific differences.