Dendroboard banner

Creatures in Springtail Culture Water

727 views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  Socratic Monologue 
#1 ·
https://giphy.com/gifs/mGQUu41FD3r7faF7ha/html5

I took some of the water out of my springtail culture because I thought it was turbid due to debris or food falling into it. Upon closer inspection I saw that it was full of these little creatures swimming around with a few climbing on the glass, but despite a lot of googling I can't figure out what they are. They're extremely small (I left the can tab for scale) and they are thriving while my springtails don't seem to be doing very well. I've had the colony about 2 weeks now.
 
#2 · (Edited)
Copepods, free-living crustaceans that feed on single celled organisms in the water. They make good food for fish fry and Utricularia plants. I'm not sure how they got into your culture but I would be stoked to find them in with my springtails. Not because they are any benefit to the springtails but because I collect Utricularia and add copepods to the water in every Utricularia containing vivarium or pot.

Edit: I have been culturing my springtails on a substrate of ABG and leaves with no standing water. I might have to set up a water and charcoal springtail culture just to see if it produces copepods as well as yours did.

Edit 2: I see you said the culture is new. Springtail cultures take a little while to get booming. A lot get of the adults get crushed in shipping. I have ordered springtail cultures that looked DOA but a few months later were booming. In my experience, in charcoal cultures the smallest springtails and the eggs survive shipping while a lot of the adults die.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top