Establish springtail population how?

[killerecho]

For those who have established successful springtail colonies in their vivs - are you supposed to be able to see them easily? I've tried to seed my own 20 gallon with them several times. Each time I would pour in a few hundred. But every time, I would only see them go about their business on molds and droppings for a few days before they disappear, seemingly forever. I can take a fairly long and hard look at the substrate and not find a single springtail. Is this normal? Are they that hard to find even in a sustained colony? Are you supposed to leave food out for them?

I have a false bottom, substrate (peat, coir, bark and charcoal) that is kept moist but not wet, humidity 50-60% and temps between 72-85 F.

[clownonfire]

Hi. I don't know how your false bottom is made, but springtails breed on charcoal and water... They might just be there....

[poison beauties]

they should be thriving in those conditions.Do you have a layer of leaf litter over your media? They burrow down but shouldn't be hard to find. They eat on the decaying leaf litter in most dart viv and tossing in a piece of mushroom will usually bring them up and create a feeding station

Michael

[killerecho]

Hi. I don't know how your false bottom is made, but springtails breed on charcoal and water... They might just be there....

The false bottom I have is just a 2-inch layer of hydroton. The clay balls get moist from watering trickling down from the soil from time to time, but there is no permanent waterline on the bottom. A layer of water at the bottom might be more favorable for springtails but since I don't have any sort of tank-wide filter system, having all that standing water might be bad in the long run.

[killerecho]

No I don't have leaf litter - I'll look into that. I figured with all the mold that's building up in the tank right now, they should have plenty of food. But I can't spot any, not on the mold, not anywhere. Do you think I should keep putting more in there in the meantime? My culture is producing plenty. I have the temperate species btw, not the tropical.

they should be thriving in those conditions.Do you have a layer of leaf litter over your media? They burrow down but shouldn't be hard to find. They eat on the decaying leaf litter in most dart viv and tossing in a piece of mushroom will usually bring them up and create a feeding station

Michael

[poison beauties]

What frogs are in the viv? That could have something to do with the population. But yes look into leaf litter and reseeding the viv will help but wont fix the issue unless its that the frogs are eating them. Temperate or Tropical they all thrive under the same conditions, I culture both by the hundreds.

Michael

[killerecho]

Right now I don't have any frogs in there, just a lizard - a green anole that I'm keeping for a friend while he's away. When the tank is vacated I plan on having gray tree frogs in there (which I'm raising as tadpoles right now). So there's nothing that should be feeding on them or keeping their numbers down.

What frogs are in the viv? That could have something to do with the population. But yes look into leaf litter and reseeding the viv will help but wont fix the issue unless its that the frogs are eating them. Temperate or Tropical they all thrive under the same conditions, I culture both by the hundreds.

Michael

[poison beauties]

Then its likely the lack of food for them. To increase their numbers toss in leaf litter. But they can get overly abundant in there if nothing is eating them. An iso culture may be a better chouse for keeping the viv clean for treefrogs as they do not overpopulate the viv that easily..

Michael

[DonLisk]

Then its likely the lack of food for them. To increase their numbers toss in leaf litter. But they can get overly abundant in there if nothing is eating them. An iso culture may be a better chouse for keeping the viv clean for treefrogs as they do not overpopulate the viv that easily..

Michael

Thank you for that info Michael. I was wondering what would work in my Red Eys viv.
If my tree frogs substrate is moist, has leaf liter, and the hydro balls are rarely wet since my house heat dries the vivs out quickly, would the Iso culture still do well?

Don

[poison beauties]

If the humidity is good for the red eyes its likely fine for the iso's. The will most likely be in the leaf litter where humidity is optimal for them. They are viv cleaners. Some people have has issues with larger Iso's like the spanish orange eating on plants but i haven't seen it. There is usually plenty for them to eat in the bottom of the viv,
I actually keep my Iso cultures a little drier than my spring cultures. They tend to do better in lighter media and get around and reproduce more,

Michael