I keep seeing people in the sub post pictures of various meiofauna in their tanks. How do these little guys end up in a tank naturally?
Posted by hoochie69mama
8 Comments
Oolongteabagger2233 on
I had an explosion of ostracods in mine recently. Now they’re gone. Don’t know where they came from as I hadn’t introduced anything to my tank in months. Don’t know where they went.
Katabasis___ on
They get in through wild taken material or organisms (fish, plants). I’ve read from scud vendors they are liable to die off if added without acclimitization so maybe get some pond water or whatever and acclimate it slowly to encourage whatever’s in there to take.
PotOPrawns on
Lots just naturally pccur as yiu get stuff like plants.
Having some mulmy areas and detritus helps feed them and having no natural predators helps too.
Theres powders and stuff you can get which is meant to help increase the viability and versatility of life occurring in your system. A lot of caridina guys is bacterial powders that are meant to kick start this KW has a good one, Shrimp Sanctuary I think has a good one, Dead Shrimp Powder is a Very highly regarded one. Ecological paradise powder from SMN is also good. I don’t know exactly what/why they are and I believe they mainly feed biofilm and food algae growth but a lot of the guys that use these powders like to see meiofauna life exploding after a few days of using the stuffs. Check out some Kelvin Wong stuff and see if it seems the right stuff.
ValkyrieBlackthorn on
So far I got the whole host of “pest” snails, ostracods, copepods, detritus worms, and rhabdocoela by not washing or dipping my plants before putting them in the tank. Given the risks of bad hitchhikers I wouldn’t recommend that method, I’m just new enough to the hobby to be making less than stellar decisions. Working out so far, at least. I had a scud show up and it MIGHT have made babies before it died but I’m not sure.
Evening-Statement-57 on
Walstad and no fish, it will turn into microbe soup
Worth noting that Seed Shrimp (Ostracods) can proliferate through the air with their eggs being dust particles. Not sure about the other ones but I wouldn’t be suprised if too.
Ramble-Bramble on
Used dirt from my backyard, water was full of wiggly critters until the fish got to em
8 Comments
I had an explosion of ostracods in mine recently. Now they’re gone. Don’t know where they came from as I hadn’t introduced anything to my tank in months. Don’t know where they went.
They get in through wild taken material or organisms (fish, plants). I’ve read from scud vendors they are liable to die off if added without acclimitization so maybe get some pond water or whatever and acclimate it slowly to encourage whatever’s in there to take.
Lots just naturally pccur as yiu get stuff like plants.
Having some mulmy areas and detritus helps feed them and having no natural predators helps too.
Theres powders and stuff you can get which is meant to help increase the viability and versatility of life occurring in your system. A lot of caridina guys is bacterial powders that are meant to kick start this KW has a good one, Shrimp Sanctuary I think has a good one, Dead Shrimp Powder is a Very highly regarded one. Ecological paradise powder from SMN is also good. I don’t know exactly what/why they are and I believe they mainly feed biofilm and food algae growth but a lot of the guys that use these powders like to see meiofauna life exploding after a few days of using the stuffs. Check out some Kelvin Wong stuff and see if it seems the right stuff.
So far I got the whole host of “pest” snails, ostracods, copepods, detritus worms, and rhabdocoela by not washing or dipping my plants before putting them in the tank. Given the risks of bad hitchhikers I wouldn’t recommend that method, I’m just new enough to the hobby to be making less than stellar decisions. Working out so far, at least. I had a scud show up and it MIGHT have made babies before it died but I’m not sure.
Walstad and no fish, it will turn into microbe soup
[Here is a guide](https://youtu.be/OROe0QC-Gc8?si=9Rxs03rA5xpE4K63)
Worth noting that Seed Shrimp (Ostracods) can proliferate through the air with their eggs being dust particles. Not sure about the other ones but I wouldn’t be suprised if too.
Used dirt from my backyard, water was full of wiggly critters until the fish got to em