General Information of Moina Macrocopa
Moina macrocopa is a crustacean within the family Moinidae. The general name is Red Moina. Moina has gregarious behavior, is found in lakes, rivers, and temporary water sources. They have good resistance to low-quality water, were found in water with completely different water quality, such as wastewater pond from agricultural industry plants and animal farms.
Biology of Moina Macrocopa
- Average age: 5 days
- Adult size: length 0.4-1.8 millimeters (400-1800 micrometers)
- Newly-hatched size: length 0.27-0.35 millimeters (270-350 micrometers)
- Reproduce after 2 days of age
- Both lay eggs and give live birth
- One female Moina gives birth to an average of 63 offspring
Start to culture
Prepare the necessary equipment
- Moina eggs
- Tray [0.1 gallons (0.38 liters) in size for hatching]
- Tank [size should be a minimum of 3 gallons (11.3 liters) for culture]
- Water
- Aquarium air pump and aquarium air control valve
- Food
- Aquarium fishnet
- Aquarium heater or heat lamp
- Aquarium siphon cleaner tube
Water condition
Recommended water source
- Tap water is an easy and popular choice, as long as it has been treated to remove chlorine and adjusted condition properly.
- Freshwater from your aquarium
- Bottled water. It is the most expensive way. The mineral water is not recommended because the mineral level is too high.
Recommended water condition
- Ammonia level is less than 1.5 milligrams per liter.
- pH between 6.0 and 9.0 (pH 7.8 is optimum.)
- Low in salinity (fewer than 8 grams per liter)
- Do not use any chemicals.
Optimize the environment
Place a heat lamp above the tray for hatching. Place a heater inside the tank to keep the water temperature between 77 and 90 °F (25 and 32 °C). Put an aquarium thermometer in the tank to monitor the water temperature.. If you live in a place with suitable temperature ranges, the heater may not be needed. If the temperature is low, it will take an additional 3 to 5 days for hatching. Hatching place is important. It is best to hatch inside to prevent invasive species and keep the temperature steady.
Sunlight is good to increase hatching capacity. Let the eggs receive sunlight 3-4 hours per day in the temperature range. Be careful overheating. If sunlight is not available, you can use the lamp instead. The eggs still hatch even though they do not receive sunlight.
Hatching Moina macrocopa
Fill up the water into the tray. Open the capsule carefully to sprinkle the eggs into the water. Make sure that the eggs do not accidentally get stuck on the edge of the tray. Floating or sinking eggs do not affect with hatch rate. After sprinkling the eggs into the water, it will hatch within 3-10 days.
Add oxygen to the water. In the early days, adjust the air control valve to the lowest level because Moina is very small and may lose control in swimming. Gradually adjust the air control valve to the level that suits the population of Moina.
Look closely. Moina is so small and almost invisible to the human eye for the first few days. You can use a flashlight in the dark to confirm the hatching. Shine lights on the water surface and watch the shadows move.
After 3-10 newly-hatched appear, that means the eggs begin to hatch. Then transfer the Moina and eggs to the tank for culture by pouring the hatching tray into the tank and add the water.
If the eggs do not hatch
If the eggs do not hatch within 10 days, dry the eggs by pouring them into an aquarium fishnet and wait for 2-3 days. After the eggs dried, start the hatching process again.
Moina macrocopa food
Moina eats bacteria, yeast, Spirulina, and Chlorella.
Feed Moina by pouring the prepared food into the tank. if you feed them by Chlorella the water will turned to light green. Be careful to overfeed. Feed 1-2 times per day. Increase or reduce the food according to the population of Moina. Do not feed more if the water is still green. In a few days, they will start to reproduce, and you will have thousands of them to feed your fishes.
Change the water
The water will gradually turn light yellow due to the waste excreted by Moina. Drain the water by using an aquarium siphon cleaner tube. Suck Moina and water out as much as possible from the water surface to downward.
Pour the water and Moina into a bucket through an aquarium fishnet. Moina will get stuck on the fishnet. You do not have to suck the Moina that sinks to the bottom of the tank. It is dead, Drain the remaining water and dead Moina out and clean the tank.
Add 80% of fresh water and 20% of old water into the tank. Then, drop the Moina on the fishnet into the water. When the water turns dark yellow, it means a lot of waste is in the water. The waste will turn to be ammonia and kill Moina, so keep your eyes on the color of the water.
Feed Moina macrocopa to your fish
Use syringe, dropper, bucket, or aquarium fishnet to transfer Moina to your aquarium. If the population of Moina in the tank is too dense, you can freeze some of them. Live Moina is great food for your tropical fish. We highly recommend it. It is simple to grow if you follow the tips above. Your fish will love eating it.
Peter Brown (verified owner) –
Excellent service and product. The parcel was well packed and tracked. The eggs hatched as per the instructions and were easy to raise. I only used a small quantity of eggs and now have jars full of Moina. The Killies love them!
Adelle E. (verified owner) –
Anonymous (verified owner) –
Placed in a freshwater aquarium 6.8 ph 77 degrees, 14 hours of light from an LED hood light and they never hatched. ?
Michael Pham (verified owner) –
Anonymous (verified owner) –
Abdeljalil A. (verified owner) –
Everything was perfect, the product is of great quality and the seller is very serious.
JeanLouis Cadorin (verified owner) –
very productive
faizan (verified owner) –
Very nicely packed and high hatching rate. Thank you!
Bettaddict (verified owner) –
Good product. High hatching rate at 26°c. Good service.
Lennart (verified owner) –
Anonymous (verified owner) –
Tommy (verified owner) –
Lennart (verified owner) –
Superb service
Aiden –
I ordered though amazon and was sent triops red I am very disappointed as I paid $14 (and one day shipping) for a $10 product
Andrew N. (verified owner) –
Viable and numerous, wonderful for people keeping fish.
Randall Ison (verified owner) –
Very good hatch rate, I would buy again !
Peter Dahlström (verified owner) –
I recieved the eggs but i have not tried to hatch them yet
JW –
I bought these from Amazon and while I waited for them I started their tank. Finally put them in yesterday and 24 hours later and they’ve started to hatch! I put them in a small tank with water from an established tank mixed with distilled water and salty shrimp GH/kH. I also put in some botanicals and cycled media from another tank. Placed a small heater in and have it at 80 degrees. Put some floating plants in too to try to keep the ammonia down. I also have an air pump going at a very low rate. I’m so excited to watch them grow to feed my fish! Great product and so many eggs! I didn’t even pour half of them into my little tank yet. I’ll have eggs as a backup if my culture crashes for many times over.
Todd Sapergia (verified owner) –
Robert P. (verified owner) –
Patrick K. (verified owner) –
Jan Kocar (verified owner) –
Arrived just a few days ago.
Anonymous (verified owner) –
Excellent service and product.
kentego (verified owner) –
Great Product and will be buying more
Anonymous (verified owner) –
Éric Jacques (verified owner) –
My card got flag as fraud when I made the purchase.But everything went well and I got my order.
rachel grier (verified owner) –
Did not hatch