# What kind of Isopods and how many?



## Pacblu202

What kind of Isopods should I get for my dart tank and also how many. I don't want to spend a lot on them. I saw the orange Spanish ones or something close to that name those are pretty neat looking. Also for my 55g tank how many should I get. It's a long tank 32x20x20 and will have anywhere from 2-4 inches I dirt depending on the location(itll be build up around the small pond area and a few small hills to give it character and more land.)


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## Pumilo

Pacblu202 said:


> What kind of Isopods should I get for my dart tank and also how many. I don't want to spend a lot on them. I saw the orange Spanish ones or something close to that name those are pretty neat looking. Also for my 55g tank how many should I get. It's a long tank 32x20x20 and will have anywhere from 2-4 inches I dirt depending on the location(itll be build up around the small pond area and a few small hills to give it character and more land.)


What kind of frogs will you be keeping?


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## ConFuCiuZ

Pacblu202 said:


> What kind of Isopods should I get for my dart tank and also how many. I don't want to spend a lot on them. I saw the orange Spanish ones or something close to that name those are pretty neat looking. Also for my 55g tank how many should I get. It's a long tank 32x20x20 and will have anywhere from 2-4 inches I dirt depending on the location(itll be build up around the small pond area and a few small hills to give it character and more land.)


You should definitely get spring tails. As for Isopods, you can go with the Giant Orange. Your not using these to feed your frogs. They are more for cleaning your vivarium. 2-4 inches is fine. Contact Jeremy or use his website. He has tons of info on isopods as well as sells them. TheNotoriousTinctorius.com

Before you buy any PDF let your vivarium be well establish with springtails and isopods.


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## hypostatic

If you're located near some other froggers you can try to get in touch with some of the local froggers and see if they have any cultures they can spare. You might get a free one if it got contaminated with mites and its just getting thrown away anyway. PLUS you'll gain some new friends!


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## JacobP

I have had good luck culturing native gray isopods as in vivarium cleaners, and have even seen my banded intermedius eat a baby gray isopod nearly an 1/8" long. Much larger than I thought they would eat, but it just shows how versatile a tool they can be, when they are small they are still doing maintenance but provide a snack if necessary. The few that survive to adults maintain the population at a good level.

I have since acquired dwarf purples, dwarf whites, dwarf greys and spanish oranges. I am in the process of redoing the banded intermedius viv and will be adding dwarf purples and my native grays. The purples to add a smaller isopod they can eat for longer of their life cycle, while getting the cleaning benefits of the larger gray isopods I have cultured.

I would try and get a large culture containing at least a 100 of the smaller species for a 55 gallon, or at least 25 of a large isopod species such as giant oranges or the native large gray isopods. If you intend on seeding the tank right away. I usually culture my new feeders independent of vivariums and only a portion of the isopods are seeded, so I can keep some of my isopods in good breeding densities. Its much harder for 25 isopods to find each other in a 55 gallon, then a ziploc container.


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## hypostatic

If you want to use native species ("spanish oranges" are just a color morph of _Porcellio scaber_, an isopod that you are likely to find in your backyard), then you should really culture them in containers for awhile and NOT just add them into your viv because you might inadvertently also introduce some pest that might get your frogs sick, eat away at your plants, or decimate your microfauna population that you are trying to establish.


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## fieldnstream

I've had the best luck with dwarf whites. They are soft-bodied, stay small, and are great producers. They do a good job of keeping the tank clean (well, relatively clean), are small enough for most darts to eat even as adults, and are prolific. All-around great choice. Dwarf whites+temp springs=my go to bug arsenal for seeding every new build. As far as how many, I would put as many as you can. I usually add a producing medium ziploc culture (around 3 quarts) into new builds, so at least 100 adults, most likely many more. I use half a booming culture of springs, so thats 1000's of springs.


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