# Microfauna in the tanks



## froglet (May 18, 2005)

Lately i have been seeing more and more questions reguarding seeding tanks. How much do i seed ? How many times per week ? Which springtails are the best to seed my tanks ? etc. 

Most springtails are not able to reproduce in tanks for a long period of time, actually most get eaten by the frogs the first day they are introduced. I have been working one new and inproved ideas for my tanks which have given me amazing results. Here is what ive had luck with lately. 

First one i have changed from 20 gallons to 40's and trust me when i tell you there is a huge difference in how much microfauna you can produce in there. Yes ! i said produce. Most people think that you just seed the springtails and that all, well they are wrong. Think of the springtail as a frog which needs his/her environment. You have to supply housing, food,health care and ofcourse some love and attention. The love and attention is always easy to do. As far as the housing goes you need to make sure there are plenty of spaced where the springtails can reproduce or hide such as under leaf litter, inside bark etc. Second all springtails need a food source, yes there are leaves and such in there but a little help is always apreciated ( The foods that i use are boiled collifower and brocoli sprinkled with a bit of yeast ) . Once you have the food down then medicine comes in the form of pill bugs. Mites love to eat springtails but what loves to eat mites ? *PILLBUGS*...... so make sure to add a good amount there when starting to see the tank. 

The two best springtails IMO for seeding are the tropicals and another metalic silver one that has been recently passed around the hobby. These two have yielded a great amount of microfauna in my tanks. So much that i have no fed my frogs in 3 months ( 3 Escudos ) and they are fat little buggers. Dont forget that which such an echosystem in your tanks alot of small little creatures which seem to come out of the blue will also start breeding inside your tank, and trust me when i tell you the frogs love to eat anything small that moves....................

I hope this helps a bit and below is a picture i just took which shows one of the leaves in my 40 gallon with a ton of Tropical springtail eggs......


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## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

wow, great post froglet. i can't beleive you haven't fed your pums in 3 months, holy crap. this is a whole different way of keeping darts, more in the "self sufficient" area. I have never actually seen a pic of sprig eggs, they are kinda weird looking. I wonder if the tads of nonegg feeders would eat them.


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## NickBoudin (Nov 3, 2007)

This is awesome. Great example of "mini ecosystem". If you dont mind me asking, where could I puchase springtails for my vivarium?


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## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

don't think you were asking me, but i'm still answering:
blackjungle.com
azdr
eds fly meat
most places that have a good selection of darts will also sell sprigs.


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## NickBoudin (Nov 3, 2007)

Awesome, I figured I'd have to buy them from some specialty store or something. Thanks!


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

While I may not try not feeding for that long I am going to have to agree with the Microfauna statements with springtales being the easiest to work with. Also worth pointing out that springtales do not seem to do as well on sphagnum as other substrates.


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## froglet (May 18, 2005)

As Kyle stated do not try to feed just on springs . In my case i can see tremendous populations of them all over the tank and other bugs which i cant identify. I know the frogs are all eating wel, they are all fat and looks great but soon i will also start the ff's . Do not try to just feed microfauna unless you have a bit of experience or feel totally comfortable that your tanks will support the frogs food nesecities for some time......


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

If you are going to feeding the frog via fauna living in the enclosure then you need to make sure you have a calcium rich substrate and the frogs have access to UVB to convert provitamin D to D3. 
The complex of disorders called MBD (Metabolic Bone Disease) can take quite awhile to appear but once it does occur, if the frogs survive any deformation is permanent. 

Ed


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## froglet (May 18, 2005)

Thanks for the info Ed. I do not plan to feed the frogs just microfauna, just happened to happen like that for a little. I will start next week with my usualy ff's and micro crickets...... I also feed my springtail cultures calcium ( not sure if that helps ) which im assuming when eaten its passed down to the frogs............... ?


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

I haven't found an analysis of springtails as of yet so I have to base some assumptions on a more generalized arthropod analysis.. if they follow the pattern for most arthropods, then they have a calcium to phosphorus ratio that is insufficient to support calcium metabolism over the long term. People often think the offering of calcium is sufficient to adjust the calcium to phosphorus ratio of arthropods however what is often missed is that they arthropods will eat virtually anything else other than the calcium. 
When soil dwelling invertebrates are mentioned as having a postive calcium to phosphorus ratio this is typically due to the soil that is stuck to the invertebrate. 
With the springtails for example, I have strong doubts that they are consuming the calcium in any levels above what is needed for the chitin skeleton and instead are feeding on all of the other food sources in the culture. When offering calcium to most arthropods, the calcium rich food has to be the only food offered and in the case of springtails, I would strongly suspect that they would simply feed on the fungus that would grow on the food avoiding the excess calcium.
In addition, if they are not being given sufficient UVB then the amount of calcium in the diet will be moot as they cannot metabolize the calcium without the D3.

People also miss the fact that calcium metabolism issues can take a significant time to develope depending on a number of factors including the amount of calcium that was already in the bones...


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## sbreland (May 4, 2006)

Damian and Ed,
Moving back to the top and away from what you were talking about for a second... on thing that you said that interested me was that pillbugs eat mites... Is this true? I have never heard this (albeit, have never looked) but was just curious if you had read this somewhere or had observed it as it's a pretty interesting idea to me...


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## thedude (Nov 28, 2007)

would putting calcium in the water supply do anything? u would obviously still need to dust your FF's but would this help?


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## froglet (May 18, 2005)

Hey Stace 

The fact that pillbugs eat mites was told to me by a good friend of mines. He told me he read it somewhere ..... I hope im not incorrect when i make that statement but thats what i am led to believe..... If they dont u can call me a liar :wink:


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## sbreland (May 4, 2006)

Hmm, I guess I'll have to give it a try... nothing suck worse than mites, so if pillbugs will eat em that would suit me just fine!


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

It is actually suggested as a solution in (if I remember correctly) Live Food - Professional Breeders Series. 

Ed


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

thedude said:


> would putting calcium in the water supply do anything? u would obviously still need to dust your FF's but would this help?


This still wouldn't cause the springtails to take more calcium. You also need to keep in mind (again, I am comparing to other arthropods here due to a lack of data) that high calcium diets are also lethal over time to most arthropods (typically about 72 hours after the start of the diet) if you are offering enough to cause a positive calcium to phosphorus ratio. 

Ed


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## thedude (Nov 28, 2007)

sorry i got a little off topic, i was actually talking about giving the frogs more calcium through the water supply.


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## thedude (Nov 28, 2007)

also, i found these little white bugs in my red legged running frogs water dish. i havent seen springtails that look like this before but im assuming thats what they are. there very very tiny like other springtails except these were in the water dish and jumping to get out. there werent any on land either so im assuming they originated in the dish. any ideas??


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## Corpus Callosum (Apr 7, 2007)

thedude said:


> so im assuming they originated in the dish. any ideas??


Spontaneous generation


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## thedude (Nov 28, 2007)

haha not quite what i was looking for but ill keep it in mind :lol:


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

thedude said:


> also, i found these little white bugs in my red legged running frogs water dish. i havent seen springtails that look like this before but im assuming thats what they are. there very very tiny like other springtails except these were in the water dish and jumping to get out. there werent any on land either so im assuming they originated in the dish. any ideas??


They are probably larval springtails and got into the dish from the substrate. If you look in the old aquarium books circa 1920-1950s you can often find references to springtails living on the surface of aquaria. As the springtails are not heavy enough to break the surface tension of the water they can exploit this humid microenviroment. The jumping is probably due to your presence disturbing them. 

Ed


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

thedude said:


> sorry i got a little off topic, i was actually talking about giving the frogs more calcium through the water supply.


Again this is problematic because if the frogs do not sit in the water, then the frogs do not absorb the calcium. It is also hard to get the calcium to dissolve in the water if you are using calcium carbonate and again if the frogs are not supplied with a source of vitamin D3, they will not be able to metabolize the calcium properly. 


Ed


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## thedude (Nov 28, 2007)

alright thanks. im going to try and get a bunch of the little bugs into my vivariums now  hopefully theyll eat them.


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## sports_doc (Nov 15, 2004)

Ed said:


> They are probably larval springtails and got into the dish from the substrate. If you look in the old aquarium books circa 1920-1950s you can often find references to springtails living on the surface of aquaria. As the springtails are not heavy enough to break the surface tension of the water they can exploit this humid microenviroment. The jumping is probably due to your presence disturbing them.
> 
> Ed


I have a couple half15 gal tanks, used for my tad rearing systems. The surface of which is covered in springtails that exist seemingly on the algae slime and degrading flake food particles that stick to the sides of the tanks when feeding, ect. If you disturb the water, piles of them fall into the tad rearing cups. These appear to be the very tiny silver/blue temperate springs, perhaps the soil inhabitants here in NH?




Shawn


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## Ben E (Oct 1, 2004)

i think that in your picture those are actually mites. Pretty sure you wouldnt be able to see springtail eggs with the naked eye


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## froglet (May 18, 2005)

Those are def not Mites Ben ..... They are tropical spring eggs... every batch i have with the tropicals shows the same .......


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## bluedart (Sep 5, 2005)

To back track a bit: yes, pill bugs eat mites. The only thing is that mites will also eat pill bugs in molt, especially when the numbers are in the mites' favor. I would recommend a harder shelled isopod, such as A. vulgare or A. nasatum; P. scaber is a bit softer shelled and tends to be preyed upon.[/b]


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## georgiekittie (Jan 27, 2009)

thedude said:


> also, i found these little white bugs in my red legged running frogs water dish. i havent seen springtails that look like this before but im assuming thats what they are. there very very tiny like other springtails except these were in the water dish and jumping to get out. there werent any on land either so im assuming they originated in the dish. any ideas??


Sounds like sprintails to me! I seeded a tank that didn't have any frogs with springtails and I couldn't find them for the longest time until I realized that they were living on the surface tension of the water in my false bottom! It freaked me out for a second, especially since I couldn't see any in the "regular" area of the tank, but I added lots of extra leaf litter and they're up there now. (Also, the tank went through a move in which the tank was tipped so that the water from the false bottom touched the bottom of the substrate. That probably helped, too.)


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