I have seen pretty sterile isopod setups where they were basically just living on a moist sponge. And they seemed to be thriving regardless (at least this one species did)... But I certainly think it is best to mimic the natural environment. It's also more fun and a good excuse to go outside and encounter them for yourself in nature!
I give my dwarf whites one of those vacation feeding blocks for aquariums. It’s mostly calcium carbonate. They swarm the thing and have been working away at it
Excellent video. My take away is this.... isopods are very resilient. Most do very well despite our efforts ;) but, this is a bio-active environment and 'cycling their enclosure before introduction can only benefit them. Very similar to an aquatic environment. I mentioned this same thing about a year ago in one of my videos and think you are right on my friend.
Thank you for posting this video. This same question occurred to me about 6 months ago. I wanted to slowly move all my cultures into weathertight enclosures to better control invaders like fungus gnats. I began building enclosures using sieve mesh instead of screen or cloth. I also decided to start cycling enclosures like I do my aquatic aquariums. I’ve been adding the substrate, wood, leaves, moss etc. Then keeping the enclosure more moist than I normally would until I start to notice mold and fungus growing. Then I add springtails that I have been culturing in deli cups. I then let the enclosure cycle adding moisture and yeast until the springtail numbers are growing rapidly. Then I let the parts of the enclosure that I want drier get there. Then add the isopods. So far it’s working very well.
I love your approach Eddie. For fungus gnats I get them not only via the isopod bins but all the myriad of vivariums and potted plants throughout. I cannot recommend a product higher than the Katchy. It’s a marriage saver for me. I have one in the room with most of the critters and Vivariums and 90% of the problem of not more is solved. Very economical to use and buy. Thank you kindly for watching. Part two comes out this week I believe
In a book about soil ecology I found some stuff on isopod biology: - Isopods prefarably eat alder (Alnus) and ash (Fraxinus) leaves ower oak (Quercus) and beech (Fagus) leaves. - Isopods have special requirements for calcium and copper. Calcium is needed for their shells and copper is part of their oxygen carrying pigment (hemocyanin). From a leaves isopods diggest 79-94% calcium and almoust all of the copper. They alsou eat their own excreta from which they use copper, which is often eliminated from a body with the end products of metabolism. (I guess fishfood adress this requirement.) But Cylicticus Convexus Pied could be steppe (prarie) species and mediterrain species could have another preferences than imitation of forest. Convexus supposedly thrive near railroads.
Yes all true however the paper primarily works with species within those confined areas. Species such as those he bulk of the European pods. However those originating in other environs would have to adapt differently to meet their needs as those species would not be available. I.e: cave dwelling species of cubaris or the new favourites of today the Merulanella with come form wet rainforest
I couldn’t agree more JJ. We need to constantly be asking ourselves such questions, can we do it better. Spending more time out in nature observing and less time staring at our phones. Nature can teach us anything we wish to learn if only we take the time and be open to learning. On another note if you enjoy this content make sure to subscribe to the new channel I created a couple months ago as this main channels focus is going back solely to fish. The new channel focuses on isopods, nature, arachnids, vivarium builds etc… Here’s the link should you wish: youtube.com/@themadaquaristsrealmnatura2556
Cool video. I do agree that it's best to raise questions to see if there are better ways to do things. Looking at the wild populations of these in my yard, gives a better idea of how they need to be kept in captivity. Yes, we are trying to make the captive ones have optimal results. But, looking at the native ones, thet go from 9 to 110 degrees f here, and from months of drought to tropical storms. They are thriving.
Great content. I made my substrate as shown in the book “towards true living Organics”. This has a fantastic supersoil with many adjuncts and plants love it. Then I saw supreme being Walli show temperature gradient. And now you. Wow that’s a lot of backs to stand on to climb where the pinnacle may be. Ultimate substrate and culture set up. I have gotten lots of rotting wood and some I broke up into small chunks plus a mixture of leaf litter. Bark hollowed out limbs etc. moss on the smaller moisture side. Then I try to see where they congratulated and give them that ambiance to dial the environment in. Thanks again Ricky 💃🏼🕺🏼🐈⬛🎸😎✌️
@@themadaquarist haven't had the opportunity to keep them...yet. Apparently as long as you pay attention to a couple of parameters their not to bad, a little slow in maturing too but well worth it
As someone new to isopods and the Hobby in general, I believe the better question to ask is. Are we doing it best? Or optimally? I had a conversation with Wally at Supreme Gecko in the comments section about this. Briefly, as he is a breeder and sets his enclosures up for optimal breeding, his method is completely different than mine. Whereas my enclosures are set to be able to view and be a little bit more sustainable over the long term. So while the foundation around which we set up our enclosures are the same, so much is different beyond that. Just some food for thought.
I had a sterile set up for about 3 months. I got to thinking how sturdy my isopods are so I gave them a scoop of dirt from my backyard (no pesticides or fertilizer). Now I have mildew I can't seem to get rid of so I'm trying to boost my springtail numbers but I still can't seem to get rid of it. Instead of that nice forest smell, my enclosure smells like an old sponge.
More future isopod videos make sure to follow the new secondary channel. All bugs, pods, spiders, vivariums etc…. youtube.com/@themadaquaristsrealmnatura2556
I’mIn Canada 🇨🇦 so my absolute favourite is the amazing people of species Canada.in the US there’s lots of great vendors.also lots with less than reputable reputation so be careful. Two that can definitely recommend without question are Wally at supreme gecko/isopod. Mentioned him in the video. And Kayla Bell at reptile Express.
I have a question that no one seems to mention with isopods, its about the cork bark do we need to sterilize it? boil it? and bake? it in the oven 250°F for an hour? I'm curious, because I just bought some cork bark from Zoo Med and I'm kind of nervous to put it in the cage, I hear all types of things I just want to confirm it your channel has alot of info on isopods 👍🏼 i luv the videos if any one can help with my question that would be greatly appreciated
Do you have to most definitely No. I ordered cork bark by the 20 lb box. It’s always dry and I’ve never found any ‘critters’. If you were to harvest it yourself from nature doing the baking (200-250 for 15-20 is plenty), boiling or some people freeze (not a great option for those that live up where we have long cold winters) is just to kill off pathogens, hitch hikers, other critters that you do not want to introduce to your isopod colony. One small garden centipede would make short work of any developing manca (baby isopods) so taking that one extra step makes sense.
I am in love with your superb collection! I have always loved isopods and roaches and am slowly adding species to my collection. Do you sell starter cultures?!
Thank you kindly. I haven’t really as I’ve gotten almost all of them from some dear friends that run species Canada 🇨🇦. I have no interest in competing against friends. They have ten times the amount of species and variants than do I.
I believe I address that very question in part two next week. Regardless these enclosures like and aquarium where we need to perform water changes to maintain the balance in the system, with Isopods or any bioactive environment we would need to remove the organic buildup and replace media periodically.
@@ChantalsCritters yes in reality yes you could lose some of the mancae in doing so but in a healthy thriving environment it is a sad necessity to save the entire population. Take your time, patience and a good eye and losses would be exceedingly minimal
Get a bigger tub, split the culture in half or take the time to sift through them. Keep the original culture and catch as many as you can. Continue to maintain it until the babies are large enough to see and remove. Limit moisture so they all congregate in a smaller area. Or split the culture and seed new cultures for sale.
I have seen pretty sterile isopod setups where they were basically just living on a moist sponge. And they seemed to be thriving regardless (at least this one species did)...
But I certainly think it is best to mimic the natural environment. It's also more fun and a good excuse to go outside and encounter them for yourself in nature!
Yes very very true. They are very resiliant critters for the most part.
I give my dwarf whites one of those vacation feeding blocks for aquariums. It’s mostly calcium carbonate. They swarm the thing and have been working away at it
That’s an awesome idea! Finally a use worthy of them lol
Excellent video. My take away is this.... isopods are very resilient. Most do very well despite our efforts ;) but, this is a bio-active environment and 'cycling their enclosure before introduction can only benefit them. Very similar to an aquatic environment. I mentioned this same thing about a year ago in one of my videos and think you are right on my friend.
Thank you so much Wally.
@@themadaquarist You are welcome
Thank you for posting this video. This same question occurred to me about 6 months ago. I wanted to slowly move all my cultures into weathertight enclosures to better control invaders like fungus gnats. I began building enclosures using sieve mesh instead of screen or cloth. I also decided to start cycling enclosures like I do my aquatic aquariums. I’ve been adding the substrate, wood, leaves, moss etc. Then keeping the enclosure more moist than I normally would until I start to notice mold and fungus growing. Then I add springtails that I have been culturing in deli cups. I then let the enclosure cycle adding moisture and yeast until the springtail numbers are growing rapidly. Then I let the parts of the enclosure that I want drier get there. Then add the isopods. So far it’s working very well.
I love your approach Eddie.
For fungus gnats I get them not only via the isopod bins but all the myriad of vivariums and potted plants throughout. I cannot recommend a product higher than the Katchy. It’s a marriage saver for me. I have one in the room with most of the critters and Vivariums and 90% of the problem of not more is solved. Very economical to use and buy.
Thank you kindly for watching.
Part two comes out this week I believe
I really like the way your new boxes are made. I'll take inspiration for my new boxes. Awesome culture, they are all so beautiful.
Thank you so very mucj
In a book about soil ecology I found some stuff on isopod biology:
- Isopods prefarably eat alder (Alnus) and ash (Fraxinus) leaves ower oak (Quercus) and beech (Fagus) leaves.
- Isopods have special requirements for calcium and copper. Calcium is needed for their shells and copper is part of
their oxygen carrying pigment (hemocyanin). From a leaves isopods diggest 79-94% calcium and almoust all of the copper.
They alsou eat their own excreta from which they use copper, which is often eliminated from a body with the end
products of metabolism. (I guess fishfood adress this requirement.)
But Cylicticus Convexus Pied could be steppe (prarie) species and mediterrain species could have another preferences than imitation of forest. Convexus supposedly thrive near railroads.
Yes all true however the paper primarily works with species within those confined areas. Species such as those he bulk of the European pods.
However those originating in other environs would have to adapt differently to meet their needs as those species would not be available.
I.e: cave dwelling species of cubaris or the new favourites of today the Merulanella with come form wet rainforest
Those Lemon Blues are truly majestic!
Thank you kindly.
You may like this video specifically on just them.
th-cam.com/video/pS6KNcjmntM/w-d-xo.html
Interesting topic. Thanks! 👽👍
Thank you
Just found your content! It really makes you wonder are they Thriving or Surviving. Potentially their are ways to help them thrive more.
I couldn’t agree more JJ. We need to constantly be asking ourselves such questions, can we do it better. Spending more time out in nature observing and less time staring at our phones. Nature can teach us anything we wish to learn if only we take the time and be open to learning.
On another note if you enjoy this content make sure to subscribe to the new channel I created a couple months ago as this main channels focus is going back solely to fish.
The new channel focuses on isopods, nature, arachnids, vivarium builds etc…
Here’s the link should you wish:
youtube.com/@themadaquaristsrealmnatura2556
Cool video.
I do agree that it's best to raise questions to see if there are better ways to do things.
Looking at the wild populations of these in my yard, gives a better idea of how they need to be kept in captivity.
Yes, we are trying to make the captive ones have optimal results.
But, looking at the native ones, thet go from 9 to 110 degrees f here, and from months of drought to tropical storms. They are thriving.
Isopods have been on this floating rock far longer than us so I agree they are generally very adaptable.
Thanks so much for watching and comments
Great content. I made my substrate as shown in the book “towards true living Organics”. This has a fantastic supersoil with many adjuncts and plants love it. Then I saw supreme being Walli show temperature gradient. And now you. Wow that’s a lot of backs to stand on to climb where the pinnacle may be. Ultimate substrate and culture set up. I have gotten lots of rotting wood and some I broke up into small chunks plus a mixture of leaf litter. Bark hollowed out limbs etc. moss on the smaller moisture side. Then I try to see where they congratulated and give them that ambiance to dial the environment in. Thanks again Ricky 💃🏼🕺🏼🐈⬛🎸😎✌️
Thank you for sharing with me Ricky. Sounds like you are definitely on the right path. Keep us posted
Looking forward to the next video in this series!
Thank you kindly
Wow, those Iso's are huge.
And awesome! Lol
I have a plan to try running a lane of silicone across the bottom of my enclosure to keep the dry side... more dry
Those white Hoffs are awesome
I’m planning to isolate them and see if we can breed them true but so far only females have shown up
I love the rubber ducky face, it's like a childs attempt at a robot :)
It really isn’t a wonder why they’ve become so popular. One look and you’re hooked
@@themadaquarist haven't had the opportunity to keep them...yet. Apparently as long as you pay attention to a couple of parameters their not to bad, a little slow in maturing too but well worth it
As someone new to isopods and the Hobby in general, I believe the better question to ask is. Are we doing it best? Or optimally?
I had a conversation with Wally at Supreme Gecko in the comments section about this.
Briefly, as he is a breeder and sets his enclosures up for optimal breeding, his method is completely different than mine. Whereas my enclosures are set to be able to view and be a little bit more sustainable over the long term.
So while the foundation around which we set up our enclosures are the same, so much is different beyond that. Just some food for thought.
I agree
Great video! I love your view on this topic.
Thank you kindly Suzie. Part two comes out this week
Excellent Video
Thank you very much Frank
I had a sterile set up for about 3 months. I got to thinking how sturdy my isopods are so I gave them a scoop of dirt from my backyard (no pesticides or fertilizer). Now I have mildew I can't seem to get rid of so I'm trying to boost my springtail numbers but I still can't seem to get rid of it. Instead of that nice forest smell, my enclosure smells like an old sponge.
I’d suggest giving it time to establish and see if nature self regulates the system.
More future isopod videos make sure to follow the new secondary channel.
All bugs, pods, spiders, vivariums etc….
youtube.com/@themadaquaristsrealmnatura2556
Sounds like your setup is too wet.
Does Repti soil from Zoomed mixed with eggshell, orange tree leaf litter, and sand work for substrate?
Yes should work fine for most
so much good info here! I love isopods and definitely need to get more into my collection! is there any specific place you recommend buying them from?
I’mIn Canada 🇨🇦 so my absolute favourite is the amazing people of species Canada.in the US there’s lots of great vendors.also lots with less than reputable reputation so be careful.
Two that can definitely recommend without question are Wally at supreme gecko/isopod. Mentioned him in the video. And Kayla Bell at reptile Express.
Yooo some very good points ! But I've got to know, where the heck did ya get that shirt ??
Redbubble I like to support independent artists.
Thank you kindly for watching
I have a question that no one seems to mention with isopods, its about the cork bark do we need to sterilize it? boil it? and bake? it in the oven 250°F for an hour? I'm curious, because I just bought some cork bark from Zoo Med and I'm kind of nervous to put it in the cage, I hear all types of things I just want to confirm it your channel has alot of info on isopods 👍🏼 i luv the videos if any one can help with my question that would be greatly appreciated
Do you have to most definitely No. I ordered cork bark by the 20 lb box. It’s always dry and I’ve never found any ‘critters’.
If you were to harvest it yourself from nature doing the baking (200-250 for 15-20 is plenty), boiling or some people freeze (not a great option for those that live up where we have long cold winters) is just to kill off pathogens, hitch hikers, other critters that you do not want to introduce to your isopod colony.
One small garden centipede would make short work of any developing manca (baby isopods) so taking that one extra step makes sense.
I am in love with your superb collection! I have always loved isopods and roaches and am slowly adding species to my collection. Do you sell starter cultures?!
Thank you kindly.
I haven’t really as I’ve gotten almost all of them from some dear friends that run species Canada 🇨🇦. I have no interest in competing against friends.
They have ten times the amount of species and variants than do I.
@@themadaquarist I understand, could you msg me their contact info or website? I cannot seem to locate it. Many thanks.
YOOO WHAT SONG DO YOU USE!!! FRICKEN SLAPS!!!
Honestly it’s just from the TH-cam audio library. Thanks for watching
Canada wooooooooooooooo
Woooooooooo
Flairs up in this B***h
What do you do when there is more poop then soil in the enclosure?
I believe I address that very question in part two next week. Regardless these enclosures like and aquarium where we need to perform water changes to maintain the balance in the system, with Isopods or any bioactive environment we would need to remove the organic buildup and replace media periodically.
@@themadaquarist but how won't you loose babies
@@ChantalsCritters yes in reality yes you could lose some of the mancae in doing so but in a healthy thriving environment it is a sad necessity to save the entire population. Take your time, patience and a good eye and losses would be exceedingly minimal
Get a bigger tub, split the culture in half or take the time to sift through them. Keep the original culture and catch as many as you can. Continue to maintain it until the babies are large enough to see and remove. Limit moisture so they all congregate in a smaller area. Or split the culture and seed new cultures for sale.
@@sastampink3243 like a boss!
Must the enclosure be BPA free?
sorry thats something I've never even considered. I just use various plastic containers from dollar store, walmart etc...
Detritivore, not detrivore
Yes 100% correct. I miss pronounce it constantly