Aquatic Isopod Care Guide and Breeding Project Update

[@Swamplemur]

I have always loved isopods and didn't think aquatic isopods were a thing except from those big ones that live in the deep sea

[@IgorEngelen1974]

Never realised these were a thing in fish tanks. This is fascinating.

[@nmci8959]

Really hope like with shrimp we eventually get lots of color morphs like terrestrial isopods, fantastic little inverts.

[@RenaMoonn]

Same here

[@johnheaton2545]

I caught a couple dozen of these critters last fall when I was out gathering leaf litter from my creek. I know they do especially well with cool water, a little bit of current (I use an airstone), and a lot of leaf litter. I would also add that isopods love driftwood and moss. Couple weeks ago, my own isopods had babies. I have a chunk of Cholla wood w/willow moss in their tank, and it is covered with hundreds and hundreds of larval isopods. There used to be a little bit of spotty white fungus growing on the wood, but I think the baby isopods grazed it down, coz it suddenly disappeared a few days ago. I feed my isopods a pinch of flake food and 1/8 of a teaspoon of Bacter AE every two weeks, and an occasional mulberry leaf, and they just bred like cockroaches. Easy and fun!

[@DogTrainerDave94]

Best time to find them end of august mid September

[@AquaTerra77]

YES! This is right on time. I just got my isopods from you not too long ago!

[@phillipsfishworks]

Always trying to get more information out! Most of my video editing time happens in the middle of the night. 🤣🤣🤣 Thanks for your support!

[@derpychicken2131]

They are sold at Carolina biological supply if anyone is interested in getting them. The place clearly does have some way to culture them due to how many they sell to schools for experimental purposes so I wonder if anyone could ask them how they culture their aquatic isopods

[@robertreed7767]

I’m in SW Missouri, and I find turtle shells and bones of all sorts walking through the woods. All of these bones have long rotted and bleached and I find keeping them in my tank after a short boil to disinfect keeps my tank happy and provides hiding places and cool waterscapes.

[@WilsonCortes-f7x]

I keep mine in neocaridina parameters. I got mine from the wild and also am experimenting with the best habitat. I respect what your doing trying to get them in more hands of people. They are super enteresting and help keep the tank clean.

[@zyxwfish]

Neocaridina parameters is a fancy way of saying dechlorinated tap water 🤓

[@glex4112]

​@@zyxwfishwhat is bruv rambling on about

[@tuckrex2038]

how do you treat them for parasites?

[@Lyoishi]

These have always fascinated me. I am looking forward to hearing more empirical habitat and care data with more captive bred illness free individuals in the hobby!

[@mondraymondo]

I enjoy my scuds!! I experimented feeding them with fish flakes or pellet, but only a few are interested. But once I drop in rotten vegetable or soft boiled rice they all swarm over it even the little ones! They really love their veggies

[@curvingfyre6810]

First found these guys in a park river in NJ. Kept a colony in a main tank, but surprisingly, a spare container with literally nothing but already old leaf litter from their river and like an inch of water with plastic wrap on top kept a colony of them going literally undisturbed for most of a year, with higher numbers than when it started. It wasn't even meant to be a colony, the container was just forgotten about. They can be VERY hardy.

[@MasonsRainforest]

Ive never had any luck with these dudes. They can be found in a tiny creek not far from my home. Im thinking of trying again in the near future. I love all things isopods and aquatic isopods are cool.

[@MasonsRainforest]

I'm gonna see if I can find some for sale online that have been in captivity for a while and maybe I'll have better luck

[@PotooBurd]

My order from you just arrived, heat pack was still warm, great job 👏 excited to add them to my tanks! Completing an obligatory quarantine period but as soon as I added them to their temp tank they immediately went for my decaying leaves and got to munching! 😂 🙌

[@chickendinner3886]

Glad someone is finally doing this, ive been considering isopods for a while now.

[@korthosen949]

I have 3 types of land races here (became an owner just a couple months ago so im still Proud & Happy :D ) nd i was aware there are freaking large isopods in the oceans i haven´t seen small aquatic ones jet they look truly amazing!

[@Joey-rs7uq]

I bought before the video even finished. x) Im so excited, I started to get into vernal pond and microfauna aquariums and this is exactly what I could dream for, I have the terrestial ones living in my plants but keeping them as pets is too much worry about humidity.

[@misomie]

It has a name? I was gunna be setting up one of these tanks soon.

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

I like your idea. I also like the idea of live frozen storage.

[@xwarxsabrewulf]

You're doing amazing work man. I look forward to creating a self sufficient ecosystem with the help of live food cultures.

[@isthisthing_on1028]

I've been keeping them for a few months and mine are breeding like crazy. They respond really well to blanched spinach.

[@pelhamsaquatics]

Thank you Phillip! I would really love some aquatic isopods! They are so interesting!😊 have a great weekend!

[@PotooBurd]

Just ordered some for my ramshorn tank ❤ also got another 10 snails from y’all for genetic diversity

[@C-Hirsuta]

Nice, I've been looking forward to this video.

[@tannerbroadwell5488]

I have some in a 2 gallon jar with some of the river rocks that I collected them on. No air stone or anything and they seem to be doing great. I do have lots of moss and a java fern in the jar too.

[@SuperXgerM]

Keep doing what you’re doing!

[@BobyChanMan]

I want to do something similar with terrestrial scuds aka lawn shrimp. Just as another option for cleanup crew choices. I've seen some really impressive fancy breeds of isopod and springtail, perhaps the land shrimp will be able to be bred for looks as well

[@blunderbuss1395]

i doubt they will be very striking when they're sitting inside the substrate 24/7

[@BobyChanMan]

@@blunderbuss1395 probably not, but to be fair fancy isopods spend most of their time under leaf litter and fancy springtails are hardly visible to the naked eye. Perhaps these scuds can be bred to endure a dryer environment and thus may spend more time above ground level

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

I’d love that

[@curvingfyre6810]

There are places to buy them online, but they seem to be quite weighted towards VERY large cultures. Lowest I found out there was a 50 individual culture, so hardly the average of 12 individuals you get for most isopod starters.

[@Ingu.z]

Thanks for the info. And I agree a variety of leaves help, like I've noticed my snails just love munching on rowan leaves, but really don't care much for the willow or birch leaves for some reason. Not all leaves are created equal, for sure, and having a mix helped me discover that.

[@nickjp4152]

Im definitely gonna be a buyer of hour product your the only website where i cN find live foods that are easier for a hobiest to raise cultures and have on stock for their fish in my opinion these are more convenient then brine shrimp just having a tank of microfauna and organisms

[@PotooBurd]

This is so informative! Great job, fantastic reporting!🌻🌼🐝 Keep it up 🙌

[@nicolascowan5530]

This is what I needed! Thank you for posting this! Will be ordering soon!

[@DogTrainerDave94]

Fruit leaves work great

[@bradleyhumphrey4505]

Picked up a mine a couple of weeks ago . They're doing great in my swamp tank setup !!! Looking forward to picking some more up very soon . 😁

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

Took me a year to get an overflowing gallon jar culture from just six worms

[@reecechapman7286]

Be awesome to keep some with my shrimp

[@jeremyfrost2636]

Shrimp would be good tankmates for them.

[@gabnaturalist]

Amazing! I tried geting a culture of these going, but they died. However, I when I captured the aquatic isopods I also got some amphipods that I later noticed are bioluminecent! And those guys are doing great! Update: the amphipods apparently were infected by a bioluminescent bacteria that makes the amphipods glow before their death. Sad, but interesting at the same time.

[@NoPlanNoProb]

That’s awesome, where was the bioluminescent amphipod from?

[@gabnaturalist]

@@NoPlanNoProb Columbia River

[@gabnaturalist]

@@NoPlanNoProb kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z5jUnZ6Hasmafrssi=vK2B4VfYHEiW2VNh

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

Wow! Bioluminescent amphipods from where? What species??

[@gabnaturalist]

@@NoPlanNoProb Columbia River (check my comment for the update)

[@RicosBettaWorld]

I found this video and I also found your sales page too. I will be purchasing soon. I also subscribed to your channel.

[@jonmanning7101]

this is very interesting would like to see more on this subject. i am considering getting some of these for a future project but would want to find more info on them first .

[@miashadows]

Would love to get some! But all my times going to my new pea puffers and all the live food cultures for them. Btw, they love the white worms! Wish they would multiply faster because my peas are piggies!

[@phillipsfishworks]

White worms can take a little time but after you get a few of them going you can get a routine down that produces a bunch! Daphnia coming soon! Thanks for your support!

[@skan7677]

Really interesting. Thank you!

[@cahuman443]

Thank you! Great video

[@iankrom510]

You talked about doing research on aquatic isopods, how do you research micro inverts for an aquarium? Micro Inverts make up so much of the tree of life that getting my head around them is overwhelming. But I wanna understand them before I put them in my tank.

[@michh8901]

I added your isopods to my shrimp tank a week or two ago. I just had my first isopod siting yesterday!! Super pumped. They are in a shrimp only tank but it’s pretty big and I I think they’re shy. Gonna try to add more leaf litter and seed pods for them if I can find some! Great video! Long awaited. Can’t wait for daphnia!

[@Jumajaju811]

I just got some water and leaf litter from my pond and immediately saw a few when I got the jars settled. I'm hoping they breed so I can introduce them to my natural aquarium.

[@RockhillfarmYT]

Great info

[@ForProfit-x100]

I just bought your bug bag and scud balls not long ago,and the bugs are already growing in numbers in my patio pond! I am considering putting some of these aquatic isopods in a tub outside to see if I can get them to breed. I'm curious if they can develop new colors or patterns with genetic selection over time?

[@OccultEcologist]

I am utterly fascinated!

[@evadethefae]

I've been looking into aquatic isopods having kept terrestrial types before. So nice to hear more info on their care!

[@drikonrokon852]

Currently I only have terrestrial isopods and I'm currently looking at this species or the titan isopods as my next main attraction isopod

[@boringtearl]

Yooooo! I totally want to set up a tank for these!

[@sangun123]

very very cool, i'd love to order and have a couple in my 5 gal nano tank

[@DamonBungard]

Very interested for my reptile paludariums which currently only contain shrimp in the water features, with isopods only on the land features,

[@NotAnotherAUDHDCrafter]

Omg I love them 😍

[@natureman494]

Based on what I know about the terrestrial isopod hobby once you get the finalities of husbandry down people will eat them up! and yes there will be weird color morphs given enough time!

[@ichrised]

On some forums along time ago there used to be a guy who managed to bred different color morphs

[@natureman494]

@@ichrised I think I remember hearing about that somewhere

[@TyinAlaska]

I am starting 3 aquascaped rare beta tanks. I would like to see if your isopods fare well in my tanks. I've been keeping fish for just under 20 years.

[@rickyswann4354]

They are in the stream next to me house. I just put some in a set up.

[@thegreedyworm3120]

omg must have!!!

[@RicosBettaWorld]

Another question, can I keep them in a blackworm aquarium? The substrate is aragonite and sand in a 10 gallon with leaf litter.

[@CanielDonrad]

In laws have property on Torch Lake in Michigan. I've found aquatic isopods up there while exploring. But I am not sure what species are present at Torch. Any idea what resources I could use to ID?

[@somefreetime7458]

can you tell us when exactly the scud free fauna flora mixes are coming out? I'm looking to start an aquarium soon.

[@KentoLeoDragon]

I'd love some if it they work out.

[@DanielNelson]

Thoughts on undergravel filters with your products in mind?

[@RenaMoonn]

Have you gotten any isopods that are slightly colored or have an interesting pattern?

[@thylacine123]

you have amphipods (Gammarus) and isopods in some of these tanks, might be good to clarify more directly which are which

[@thylacine123]

there are anywhere from dozens to 100s of extant species in both these clades, and multiple are likely present in wild populations collected from a single source. Interesting hybrids may appear and thrive in tank environments!

[@ImLokisMom]

Are there any smaller ones like these that live in saltwater? They are adorable! But I don't want a giant one...

[@DanielNelson]

So current cultures come with everything but isopods? Future ones will be scud free?

[@josecat436]

Would these work well with musk turtles? Wonder if they’ll become food

[@JayRuiz-eu7xf]

I’ve been looking for years for something like this, how can I get some?

[@daveveljacic6876]

Super easy to breed as pea puffer food

[@DeformedDevices]

Where did you collect these from?

[@JBW808]

I’d be interested in experimenting with these in an outdoor pond for the purpose of feeding ducks. The big question for me is can they survive freezing environments. Or can they be grown inside and easily harvested for food for the ducks.

[@AYKH-pl8rf]

I have a couple of them in a small unheated container, they seem to love algae and leaf litter. They like too hide so I put some rock for them to hide under, they also seem to like pretty hard water. I have seen some pregnant females but no babies yet, the males are much bigger than females in my experience too.

[@baileybeluga425]

I wish i could keep these :( but can't find anyone selling em

[@maxwellatkinson9022]

I’ve got 1 gallon heavily planted tank with just bladder snails at the moment. Fully cycled. I’ve deemed it too small for neocardinia, but do you think some of these aquatic isopods could thrive in a tank that small? Thanks!

[@phillipsfishworks]

That could definitely work... I've got a few small colonies going in a couple of different gallon sized jars. One has really exploded in population compared to the others. I would avoid having it in a window or somewhere it's going to heat up too hot. Watch your hardness to make sure it doesn't get too low.... I think one of the biggest issues with jars in general is feeding them a bunch... The one jar that has done exceptionally well, I never feed with any kind of traditional food. Originally there were some leaves in there that are now long gone but I do add bits of decaying plant matter from other tanks and a few different types of algae. Good luck!

[@maxwellatkinson9022]

Thanks for the detailed response, I really appreciate it!

[@maxwellatkinson9022]

Any thoughts on lighting? I have a 7w light I use for my tank and have it on for anywhere from 6-11 hours depending on my algae situation. I guess closer to 12 hours would mimic their natural cycle assuming there are enough dark places for them to hide if they’d like

[@jacobgillispie1175]

What type of snail is that at the 30 second mark

[@wcdeich4]

Do aquatic isopods eat fish eggs? Do they clean up biofilms?

[@dinogamergaming]

I got my isopods, the next day I never saw them again, and still haven't, do they love just not ever appearing ? Water parameters are good. No fish big enough to eat them

[@lloyd011721]

what kind of isopods are those? they look the same as any youd find in any forest

[@aelistarborn]

would it be possible to breed colour into them?

[@wcdeich4]

Where can we buy aquatic isopods? I can't find them.

[@phillipsfishworks]

www.phillipsfishworks.com/product-page/aquatic-isopod-culture-10-pack

[@phillipsfishworks]

They are available on our website. Www.PhillipsFishWorks.com

[@wcdeich4]

@@phillipsfishworks do they eat biofilm, aka white slime?

[@kaden.slone04_biology]

Where do I find these aquatic isopods? What is their scientific name? (not counting scuds)

[@domdorpeling]

Asellus aquaticus. Many ponds or (slow) streams with leaf litter will have them.

[@marct138]

Ship to europe?

[@PotooBurd]

What species are they?

[@Lapis.hnk.1984]

Asellus aquaticus

[@iHeartOiSkanks]

How often do they reproduce?

[@gayefanner731]

All the time!! The male grabs a female and carries her around under his body until she’s ready to moult and mate ! Mine eat Ramshorn poop, so much so that I had to introduce more ‘mulm’ in one of my jars using a turkey baster ( easier than catching n moving the ‘Waterlice’ !) ✌️

[@unicorntulkas]

What species are these aquatic isopods? Do you have a scientific name?

[@seriallikeer5956]

Scuds & snails would eat every last morsel of a cucumber wouldn’t they

[@pauljcohen2007]

I sent you an email but I’m having no luck with this.

[@YT_philipp]

u NEED alot of duckweed on the top.

[@mitchl5220]

Maybe the fish are messing up the isopods because the isopods have no leaf litter to live under

[@TheRipdub]

Breed them with the land isopods

[@cuthroatmaster6933]

im doing marine isopods rn the sand where i live is white with black spots so the isopods look like terrestrial captive bred "dairy cows'' i think. i dont keep captive bred species. the marine ones also eat wood cedar/arbutus in my case. i only supplement my tanks (any kind land,water,marine) with oak arbutus and cedars