@Martinspuddle
[I take it "you" means 'everyone' rather than me?]
As FB observes, live-and-swimming-around cultures are pretty hard to get hold of in Blighty. Very much more common sur le Continent and it used to be easy to get them direct from (say) Germany or Hungary ; what with the political changes in recent years I'm not sure that's the case now. I
think the Danish vendor from whom I sourced my Dero re-start culture a couple of months back (an easy and quick transaction) also may sell live Moina from time to time - but I'd have to contact him to verify. There are sellers offering live cultures on ebay but, having tested two of them to check (I felt it was worth the slight expense to find out) I can tell you that this route is unreliable : the two sellers involved didn't realise that the difference and they were advertising Moina but selling Daphnia! The most reliable UK source that I know of is in Milton Keynes
There are (I think I remember) about eight species of Moina, a couple of which are marine. It's not uncommon to see Moina
salina for sale in those little fridges that some LFS's have but I'm not at all sure if they would adapt to freshwater : I rather think not. I've never seen freshwater Moina for sale in an LFS that I've visited. The species that I have, incidentally, is Moina
macrocopa. At least one of the other species is even tinier than those.
Most Moina culture starters come in the form of ephippia accompanied by some sort of granular medium and these are usually available via ebay anytime and usually from tropically-based sources. Availability can be seasonal, so keep checking a seller from time to time if it's currently saying 'out of stock'.
@FishBubs I think the 'stripe down the middle' must be the gut - it usually stands out starkly if it's full?
@plankton I'm afraid I've not seen that film, so I don't 'get' the reference, sorry!
