# Which Isopod-clean up crew



## ofc175 (Nov 10, 2018)

Looking for pros/cons of different isopods types for part of the clean up crew in my first Viv. Looking at Dwarf White or purple. Is there an advantage of one or the other. Would also like to keep a master culture around for secondary feeding etc. If some other type does a better job im open to sugestions


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## SoloSK71 (Dec 25, 2018)

From what I have read these are both good ones to start with. Putting them in a month or 6 weeks before you put the frogs in also seems recommended. This allows them to get a start and the frogs don't reduce the population before they can breed.

Solo


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## indrap (Aug 28, 2018)

Dwarf whites are fantastic for any size enclosure and should be there along with springtails. The con is that they dont venture any higher than the leaf litter.

In bigger enclosure or enclosures with larger sized frogs I would recommend a larger isopod that is prolific and can also venture to higher parts of the terrarium. Powder blue isopods are a great choice for that, and are fairly cheap. The con with any large isopod is that they might chew down on your plants if theres not enough for them to eat.


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## ofc175 (Nov 10, 2018)

Thanks, this is for an 18x18x18 for tincs, as this will be first darts


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## indrap (Aug 28, 2018)

ofc175 said:


> Thanks, this is for an 18x18x18 for tincs, as this will be first darts


Cant go wrong with powder blues + dwarf whites here. There are definitely cooler isopod species out there, I really like zebra isopods but they might be harder to come by and arent as prolific


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## ofc175 (Nov 10, 2018)

Do most people go with 2 different species/ is it good practice to have multiple??...I do like the idea, just want to do best for the future darts


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## indrap (Aug 28, 2018)

ofc175 said:


> Do most people go with 2 different species/ is it good practice to have multiple??...I do like the idea, just want to do best for the future darts


You can go with as many as you want, however eventually one might out compete the others living in the same niche unless theres always enough food to go around.

Dwarf white and powder blues fill different niches so theyll do okay together. If you had say powder blues and zebra isopods together, the powder blues could win out in the long run and you end up having no more zebras.


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## Mark Carden (Jul 25, 2018)

I started to culture a few types. Dwarf white and dwarf purple will hopefully become an additional food source.


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## ofc175 (Nov 10, 2018)

Yeah, I had planned to culture at least one type outside of vivarium, as an alternative food source. Thanks all! Keep the advice coming..hahaha..you guys are great help


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## Dart1 (Jan 16, 2019)

This helped me too. I had been wondering about mixing isopod types.


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## ofc175 (Nov 10, 2018)

Everyone seems to be super helpful here. Good luck in yours. Cheers


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## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

I'm getting old, so I don't remember exactly what species I have put in all my tanks over the years, but I can tell you what happened in my cultures. At some point, I cross-contaminated two of my cultures by introducing dwarf whites into a giant orange culture. The dwarf whites ended up out-competing the giant oranges and eliminated them from that culture. I have a feeling that, because of niche diversity and overall size, this situation wouldn't be as likely to happen in a viv, but I can't be sure. What I do know is that it's fun to look for and find giant orange isos in my vivs. I never see the dwarf whites. They maybe doing a bang up job of cleaning up, but I never see them. 

I can also tell you that dwarf whites (and dwarf purples - they are the same species) breed much faster than any of the larger isos I have had experience with. If you are looking to populate multiple tanks relatives quickly, I recommend them. 

Finally, if you plan on culturing isos, I would be very careful with cross contamination (see above) and with who you buy your guys from. I ordered some from a vendor recently and two of the species I bought seemed to come in with predatory mites. Those two cultures were gone in a matter of weeks. Make sure what you buy doesn't come in with little bitty white moving specs. If it does, get your money back right away rather than waiting like I did.

My cultures like to be kept somewhat moist and consist of short plastic shoebox-type containers with ABGish substrate. The giant oranges, especially, like to have little pieces of cork to hide under. Whites just burrow when the food isn't in the tank. They love both Repashy Morning Wood and Repashy Bug Burger.

Mark


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## varanoid (Jan 21, 2011)

Encyclia said:


> I'm getting old, so I don't remember exactly what species I have put in all my tanks over the years, but I can tell you what happened in my cultures. At some point, I cross-contaminated two of my cultures by introducing dwarf whites into a giant orange culture. The dwarf whites ended up out-competing the giant oranges and eliminated them from that culture. I have a feeling that, because of niche diversity and overall size, this situation wouldn't be as likely to happen in a viv, but I can't be sure. What I do know is that it's fun to look for and find giant orange isos in my vivs. I never see the dwarf whites. They maybe doing a bang up job of cleaning up, but I never see them.
> 
> I can also tell you that dwarf whites (and dwarf purples - they are the same species) breed much faster than any of the larger isos I have had experience with. If you are looking to populate multiple tanks relatives quickly, I recommend them.
> 
> ...


Hi Mark. Quick question for you. I have never used any "specialty" products to feed my isos, just quality fish flakes. I have been very happy with my results over the years, and never felt the urge to experiment at all. Have you tried fish flakes, and if you have, how much more productive have the repashy products been?


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## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

varanoid said:


> Hi Mark. Quick question for you. I have never used any "specialty" products to feed my isos, just quality fish flakes. I have been very happy with my results over the years, and never felt the urge to experiment at all. Have you tried fish flakes, and if you have, how much more productive have the repashy products been?


Hi Mike,
That's interesting. I am the same way. I somehow acquired a batch of Bug Burger in a bulk purchase at some point and got in the habit of feeding that stuff and haven't tried fish food  I don't have fish tanks anymore, so I don't have fish food lying around like I used to. The one thing I can comment on is that it is hard enough to keep those eaters in food when I feed them a cubic inch of Bug Burger/Morning Wood at a time. With the lack of volume of fish food, I might have to feed a whole ton of it to make up for what my guys put away. Maybe that's not the case, though, since a lot of the Repashy foods ends up being water bound up in gel. So, I guess that's a long answer to say that I haven't tried it  Maybe I will have to experiment with both and try to compare results. I do have two large dwarf white cultures that I could try it with.

Mark


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## Dartness (Mar 6, 2020)

I have Dairy Cow Isopods in my vivarium. They are GREAT at cleaning everything up. Can't recommend them enough.


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