Infusoria for the tank?

[Sena Hansler]

I have a question - but first I do have some cultures starting, although they don't seem to be getting anywhere as there is no sun for the last few days... but I have been keeping them warm. One has a slight tinge of green, but nothing has rotted, there is no smell, no cloudiness....

A question unrelated to infusoria... I have some "micro food special diet, for small baby fish" which is artificial plankton-rotifer. No idea if they would eat that, but should I try? I also want to try the egg yolk method, but I hear I need snails for clean up duty ;)

Now onto the infusoria part :p

Okay, if I were to put potted plants, a floating plant, and driftwood in the fry tank would this at all help with boosting the infusoria in the tank? Or would it boost very little and not even bother with it? >< All plants would be from healthy tanks, and the driftwood water logged first :p The potted plant I have is growing with lots of roots coming every which way, and like any plant parts die, other parts come in :)

I have also found freeze dried tubifex worms... but I hear contradictions they are bad, they are good...??

[Oldfishlady]

The best way to get infusoria and other great microorganism in the tank for fry food......lots of live plants and common snails-like pond, ranshorn and trumpet...feed these guys fresh greens a week or so before you spawn-also the dead and dying plant matter from the live aquatic plants that they feed on will also encourage microorganism production for the tank-be sure and leave non-viewing walls and other items in the tank to grow some algae for the microorganisms to feed on for better colony...sometimes this can be hard to do for some hobbyist since they want really clean tank-but the tank can be too clean too.....too dirty can be bad-but so can too clean....it disrupts the balance of all the good and bad pathogens/bacteria for a healthy ecosystem....but since this is a closed system we have to interven by making regular water changes....

In spawning tanks-especially if doing the bare bottom method-the common snails can help with clean up-the snail poop is better than the rotting food and easier to clean up.....most of the bacteria that rotting food creates can be harmful to the fry-like velvet.......-the bacteria microworms create when rotting- have been linked to missing ventral fins of growing fry-not the microworm itself-just the bacteria created as it rots-common snails can help prevent this.

I have never had any issues with common snail eating or disturbing the nest and/or eggs-they will eat-dead/dying fry and fungus eggs first before they touch healthy eggs and by that time-the fry have hatched-this is what you want them to do too...this helps the system and insures healthy eggs/fry in the long run...plus the added benefit of the infusoria/microorganism they can create for free range fry food......the more mature the system the better the colony

You know your fry are eating microorganism by their tummy-it should look round with black/brown dots.....

Depending on how mature the system, water volumn, number of common snails and foods provided to the snails, amount of algae, species and number of live plants-you may have enough infusoria/microorganisms in the tank for free range feeding for about 2 weeks or so...this is also dependent on number of fry feeding......

What kind of live potted plant do you have and other live plants, how big is the spawning tank and what method are you going to use.....

Spawning Bettas can be great fun and very rewarding-rearing your own Bettas from spawn to adults........even with a failure or two...don't give up and remember....lots of different methods to spawn and rear fry....its finding what works for you and your breeders, setup and what you have on hand....

Good luck and look forward to following your spawn logs.....

[Sena Hansler]

Thanks :) I have my breeding/spawning log up :) The tank is a 10 gallon, I forgot what the name of the plant is - each leaf either has its own stem or shares with one other leaf. Roots grow crazy wild xD Then the floating plant... forgot the name of it D: have to get more though. it grows very well. And definitely getting some snails :)

I'll also try the microfood, and perhaps the egg yolk - but first, need to have the plants in the tank :) And the tank is cycled... cycled water, and the hiding spots were in other healthy cycled tanks. I got a turkey baster to remove debris.

I cannot find an aquarium sponge... have the pump, the air tube and valves.

[Gloria]

I am so glad you put this up Sena Hansler, I wanted to know the same thing...
I am unsure exactly of how to get my infusoria to start. I do not have a dirty lake/ pond near by but i have got a bucket full of old dirty tank water.. How exactly do i know if it's infusoria or something bad?

[Sena Hansler]

Well, from what I was told, cloudy is good, tinge of green is good, stink is the bacteria working... lol. see how complicated it can get? I mean, in one jar I have a plant piece (dying). Another one has a dead piece of plant (tinge of green), another is brown (BAD), and I am now trying lettuce. It just.... doesn't want to work for me and I am a wimp and don't wanna kill my fry xDD

So if I can plant the tan and have lots of infusoria, perfect. then I can also try micro foods, or egg yolk, if needed.

[Gloria]

I am trying to make Infusoria as I will be breeding my pair in 2 weeks... I am not sure that I am doing it right. I filled up a bucket with old dirty tank water and added some lettuce. This was about 36 hours ago. And this is what it look like:


Does this look correct?

[Sena Hansler]

Apparently you should also add some rotted pieces too. I used tank water, and fresh lettuce that had a little slime (rot starting) but nothings happened. just... wilted lettuce. So now I need to stick those plants in there, and hope they eat egg yolk/micro foods ><

especially when they hatched last night!!!!

[Loganx5x5]

Some really cool info here:

"http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Live%20Food,%20Infusoria.htm"

The bucket looks great but I prefer using a 2l ice cream dish ;)

[tpocicat]

I've mostly used cut grass or weeds for mine.