Dicrossus filamentosus care

**Arron Miyuki** · 16th Nov 2013, 23:45

Hello guys,
I got myself some Dicrossus spp. few days back and I tried to feed them flake feed but they ignored it. I then tried frozen food and they kinda tried to eat it but spat it out soon after. I have bloodworms, mysis and brine shrimp now. I'm trying get my hands on daphnia but its currently out of stock so I'll try next week.
What else can I feed other than daphnia guys? Cause I know a varied diet is best and daphnia shouldn't be fed on the long run cause of how it clears the gut and all. I'm trying to avoid live feed cause it might foul my water and all I need is probably just a little so getting live feed doesn't seem to be a viable choice either.
P.S. They are all juveniles.
Thanks in advance!

**stormhawk** · 19th Nov 2013, 15:47

Young Dicrossus typically will not take any prepared foods except maybe small sinking granulate food. Live food in most cases is a necessity for their long term survival. Moina or live BBS will do, as will Tubifex/Grindal worms. In the case of Grindals you can culture them yourself. Frozen Daphnia may be eaten but if they do not like the "taste" they will not eat it. You can keep live Moina/Daphnia alive for days if you have a spare plastic tank that has been well-rinsed. Add in some distilled or aquarium water from an old setup to the tank and place your leftovers in there. Sieve out what you need with a brine shrimp net that has a very fine mesh, rinse the stuff with your tank water and then add directly to the tank where your Dicrossus are. They will remain alive for days if the conditions are right.

You can also find people who have seed shrimps aka Ostracods (usually shrimp keepers will have these by accident), and culture them in tanks with a lot of detritus. They make good food for small cichlids and are super easy to culture.

**Arron Miyuki** · 19th Nov 2013, 19:14

Originally Posted by stormhawk

Young Dicrossus typically will not take any prepared foods except maybe small sinking granulate food. Live food in most cases is a necessity for their long term survival. Moina or live BBS will do, as will Tubifex/Grindal worms. In the case of Grindals you can culture them yourself. Frozen Daphnia may be eaten but if they do not like the "taste" they will not eat it. You can keep live Moina/Daphnia alive for days if you have a spare plastic tank that has been well-rinsed. Add in some distilled or aquarium water from an old setup to the tank and place your leftovers in there. Sieve out what you need with a brine shrimp net that has a very fine mesh, rinse the stuff with your tank water and then add directly to the tank where your Dicrossus are. They will remain alive for days if the conditions are right.

You can also find people who have seed shrimps aka Ostracods (usually shrimp keepers will have these by accident), and culture them in tanks with a lot of detritus. They make good food for small cichlids and are super easy to culture.

Thanks man! I think I'll skip the worms with the parasites and all and find Daphnia and seed shrimps. Any idea where to find seed shrimps?

**stormhawk** · 19th Nov 2013, 19:44

Ask the shrimp keepers who want to get rid of their seed shrimps. Many of them will have these at one point or another, and they will be more than happy to give those to you for a token I think. I am not sure where you live but you can get live Moina/Daphnia at Hong Yang Aquarium, near CCK Interchange and Y618. No idea for the eastern part of Singapore. I tend to get my supply at Hong Yang, since Daphnia will remain alive for days in an established tank, especially those that use sponge filtration.

**Arron Miyuki** · 19th Nov 2013, 20:46

Oh hey thanks for the info again! I frequent Hong Yang and C328 so yea will get them probably tomorrow or some other day soon

**illumnae** · 20th Nov 2013, 11:22

If you got the recent batch of young D. filamentosus from C328 or other LFS, they should already be on pellets. I got 3 pieces and all are readily accepting pellets from day 1. If they aren't eating well, you may want to try deworming them or increasing the temperature.