How do I maintain a population of daphnia inside a filtered tank

Question

I have an aquarium with a HOB filter. I tried to introduce a large population of Daphnia to the tank, but by the next day, they had all been either eaten or filtered out. Is there any way to maintain a stable population of Daphnia in a filtered tank?

If it helps, I have a 55 gallon (210 L) tank with a few plants, some corys, a betta, a school of neon tetras, pom-pom crabs, and ghost shrimp.

I’m also a very inexperienced aquarium owner. This is my first tank.

This question is slightly different than:

How do you breed Daphnia to feed to aquarium fish?

I am specifically interested in how to sustain a population of Daphnia in a community aquarium, rather than in a separate enclosure. Maybe it is not feasible/possible?

Answer 1

I recommended a "hang on breeding box" on another question for separating grown fish. They're cheap and basically give both fish access to the filtered, temperature-appropriate water without giving them access to each other and without the need for a separate tank.

In a similar vein, I guess you could try a fry hatchery. The daphnia could live inside it (if the mesh is fine enough), and you wouldn't need a second tank.

I must warn you that they sell live, frozen and dried daphnia as fish food here. My goldfish never really developed a taste for it (and the old one doesn't like his food to move on its own these days), so they didn't gorge on it but it would slowly be eaten over the course of a couple of hours. The bronze corys I had liked it well enough.

If you want to grow your own fish food, far easier to "fence off" plants than living creatures.