# amphipods / lawn shrimp



## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

Does anyone have a culture of lawn shrimp? I've had mine for about three months and they seem very slow to reproduce. I'm keeping them at room temperature in moist coco fiber with some wood and feeding vegetable scraps and occasionally some cockatiel food pellets but I'm not seeing much of an increase in the numbers. Any thoughts how to get them to "boom?"


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## Johanovich (Jan 23, 2017)

I'm currently culturing Cryptorchestia cavimana, which is a species that occurs in Belgium and is considered almost fully terrestrial (they need a moist to wet soil so they naturally occur on lake shores). I keep them in wet sphagnum and feed them algae powder and aquatic plants such as Elodea. They are not super quick to grow, but there is a definite increase in numbers over time. I keep them at around 25 degrees C.

I would've liked to cultivate actual lawn shrimp, but they seem very hard to come by in Europe. So far these guys are proving to be a good alternative.


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

The lawn shrimp I have have been pretty slow to reproduce. I wonder if maybe I need to keep them warmer?


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## Sheldon13 (Sep 20, 2019)

The amphipods I culture are aquatic. They grow in numbers moderately fast. I didn’t know there was a kind that could live in substrate. Do you have a picture?


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

Will dart frogs still eat them if you take them out of water and put them in a dish?


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## Sheldon13 (Sep 20, 2019)

Rain_Frog said:


> Will dart frogs still eat them if you take them out of water and put them in a dish?




If they are at least moving I would assume so. 


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## Johanovich (Jan 23, 2017)

After my attempt to breed these terrestrial amphipods on sphagnum failed I tried again using leaf litter combined with the soil where they naturally occured (which is sand-clay). They seem to mostly feed on the leaves and other vegetable matter but also greatly enjoy fish food. Now this new attempt is thriving and numbers are increasing very quickly. Major upside compared to the tropical ones is that these guys are temperate so they can withstand cooler temperatures and even frosts. As long as temperatures stay above 15 degrees they will be very active and reproduce fairly quickly. Next thing on the list is to create cultures from scratch with clay mixed with sand and see if I can keep up the good results.

Here are a few videos of my current culture with some animals:


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## Tijl (Feb 28, 2019)

I'm realy excited about these! Great job Johan!


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## crbonade (May 13, 2021)

@Johanovich I know this is a super old thread, but I just bought some of these to try and culture for my mantella. Did you end up having long-term success with the leaf litter/sand/clay combo? Did you use any particular type of sand and clay? How moust did you keep the cultures?

Thanks for any info you can give me!

Cassie


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## Hoppy22 (Aug 11, 2021)

Might be a newbie question but what are lawn shrimp and what job if any do they do?


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## crbonade (May 13, 2021)

Hoppy22 said:


> Might be a newbie question but what are lawn shrimp and what job if any do they do?


They're a tiny terrestrial crustacean (which look kind of like shrimp, hence the common name). Species Arcitalitrus sylvaticus - Lawn Shrimp

I've read that they can be used as cleanup crew in moist vivariums, similar to isopods, but I bought them to try culturing as feeders. I bought them primarily for my Mantella baroni, to introduce variety and ensure I've got multiple food items that will elicit a strong feeding response (many people say they can be picky eaters, so variety helps).


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## Hoppy22 (Aug 11, 2021)

Thanks for the info crbonade


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## Johanovich (Jan 23, 2017)

crbonade said:


> @Johanovich I know this is a super old thread, but I just bought some of these to try and culture for my mantella. Did you end up having long-term success with the leaf litter/sand/clay combo? Did you use any particular type of sand and clay? How moust did you keep the cultures?
> 
> Thanks for any info you can give me!
> 
> Cassie


It worked well for a pretty long time, but I ended up abandoning the culture in favor of other food items. They were kept pretty moist to wet as the ones I kept normally occur on the edge of ponds. If you bought Arcitalitrus sylvaticus then care is probably a bit different as the ones I kept are native to Europe (Cryptorchestia cavimana). The sand/clay was nothing special. I noticed that they feed mostly on decaying plant matter, especially softer materials such as aquatic plants and algae. But once again these guys were pretty different from the tropical ones.

I might try them again in the future, but as of now I don't have much time.


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