The Free & Easy Trick To Raise More Fry, Faster: How to Grow Live Cultures of Paramecium & Infusoria

[@williambarnes5023]

This is gold for my plans to make a 1000 gallon sealed ecosystem fishtank. All the food is going to have to be bred in the tank itself to be self-sustaining.

[@Fishtory]

Awesome! Let me know how it goes. It sounds great

[@williambarnes5023]

@@Fishtory I totally will. I might even make my own shitty videos about it filmed with my cell phone but in FUCKING LANDSCAPE MODE all you damn tiktoker wannabes. But it's gonna have to wait a bit because we're still renovating the house. I can't drop 10000 pounds of rock and water and glass on a 1/4 inch chipwood floor and expect it to hold.

[@drunkoctopus6769]

Would love to hear more

[@williambarnes5023]

@@drunkoctopus6769 Unfortunately the subflooring in my house was revealed to be degenerate chipwood. It's going to be a long time before I can scrape together the finances to do such a thing, so I can talk about it, but all I'll really be able to do is talk.

[@Nowomanhaseverdoneme]

10 mins in and this is already the most informative and detailed video ive found on infusoria in youtube. FANTASTIC WORK MAN KEEP IT UP PLEASE STAY UPDATED ON YOUR KNOWLEDGE. Im subbing from today

[@Fishtory]

Welcome! Thanks for the feedback and please ask any questions you have, because I'm sure others will want to know the same things :)

[@dcphifer4307]

It is so neat to learn that the Dwarf Cherry Shrimp actually help keep the Fish Eggs Clean clean. I am not ready to start breeding my Fish and Dwarf Shrimp yet, since I am so new. But, once I start adding small shoals of Fish to this 55G once it is ready for Fish, then who knows what will happen. I still have so much to learn first. I want to get some Dwarf Cherry Shrimp to be a contrast for my beautiful dark blue make Betta, so it seems to be a great choice in Shrimp.

[@Fishtory]

Awesome and i love the coloe combo...just be aware some betta will go on shrimp eating splurges... lots of hiding spots for them helps avoid that big time

[@CatFish107]

Seconding the hiding spots suggestion in general for all tanks. Get you some plants, and moar plants too!

[@hummingbird3771]

I've got the breeding bug, bad... turquoise rainbowfish are fabulously expensive and i need a tank full! Thanks for another great master class in aquaria!!

[@deneng0259]

Alex this is really informative. Money well spent supporting your channel . Hope you are felling well today.

[@Fishtory]

Thank you so very much Deneng. It's always a pleasure having you here in the community as well. Great questions from a kind person, and also you share very helpful comments with us frequently, and I truly appreciate it

[@johnnybest6386]

Facts

[@CatFish107]

Mystery snail droppings are said to support paramecium well. I have heard another name for them is "infusoria snails". There certainly is a large selection of microfauna in my tank, alongside the snails. The only babies I get are endler guppy hybrids, and goldfish in the patio tub. Both are fully planted, and hard to not get breeding.

[@CatFish107]

What you mention briefly about snail tanks holds very true ime

[@joshuaeasterly7273]

This channel is a treasure

[@Fishtory]

Thank you very kindly

[@janecourtenay3676]

You had me hunting around in my pantry cupboard because I know I have some barley in there … fascinating stuff and I want to do it … I have 10 rocket killifish in a big tub and I would love to have them multiply. Thanks, once again Alex, for all the knowledge you share. 💃🏼💃🏼💃🏼

[@Fishtory]

Oh 100% best of luck! Their eggs are super tiny 😃

[@jennysoderstrom]

Great info

[@allonekingdom]

Either I'm too dull or this whole video was thoroughly fascinating

[@Fishtory]

Welcome to the club haha

[@amuseinthecraftroom6257]

Excellent video! I need to try this for sure. I had accidental rasbora and pseudomugil fry last year and a few of them lived! Now I want to be ready if it happens again.

[@Fishtory]

Right on! The nice part is that If you see eggs you usually have 3 days most the time... or even if you see Fry, many have yolk sacs that last 48 hours up to 10 days depending on species, so often times you can fire up the culture when you spot your first eggs or fry

[@AquaticDomain]

Great video thanks Alex. I am definitely going to try this. I also started keeping daphnia magna cultures. I was wondering if you have a video on them. I’ve seen conflicting info on KZbin and the internet and would love to get your thoughts on starting a culture, best way to set them up.

[@Fishtory]

I have one on scuds and one on daphnia :)

[@mondayschmitt9706]

Just stumbled on your video after reading how to culture cyclops but needing paramecium to feed those. Thank you!

[@Fishtory]

Right on! Welcome and best of luck to you

[@tinadipaulo1602]

Wow thank you.great video and info

[@Fishtory]

Glad you enjoyed it! Have an awesome weekend

[@fpvigo]

Excellent video, very interesting and informative. Best regards from a greenwater critter breeder, specially for marine aquariums. Definitely a must see. Cheers

[@Fishtory]

Thank you very much!

[@erikbertaud8327]

Thanks Dude! Very informative.

[@sancraft1]

Your channel is so informative.

[@Fishtory]

I appreciate that! Welcome

[@allenarnett199]

Very simple . nice vid THANKS for the information

[@Fishtory]

Of course!

[@pelhamsaquatics]

Excellant Alexander! Much appreciated info, will deffinately help out with all the fish breeding this winter🙂👍🏻

[@Fishtory]

Happy to be of service anyway i can be!

[@valiaudet3415]

Everything I need to know, again thank you

[@Fishtory]

I'm so happy it was helpful for you. Cheers

[@sheila11799]

Just curious… you talked about the starch from the grain and adding yeast… would sourdough starter kinda do the same thing? It’s natural airborne yeast bacteria feeding and growing on flour (wheat grain). I’m only asking because I keep fresh sourdough starter on my kitchen counter for making bread and biscuits etc.

[@Fishtory]

Yes exactly! Similar yeast...different strain, but the bread kind will make co2 sowly, where as the beer kinds works on sugars faster. But the sour in sourdough is partially acid made by carbonic acid forming in water in the dough...pretty cool

[@Happyfrogreading]

How long is your cultured jar good for? Since you dated it. Indefinitely? Do you add a few barley after a couples of week? How do you know it’s not doing good anymore? By smell? Sight? Thanks for the very informative video!

[@Fishtory]

Smell and looks ...if things die or it smells putrid it is bad. This one lasted 18 months, then one of the fish died and i was out of town...it rotted in there and by the time i returned the other 2 fish were rotten and the jar was dying. I actually did an update on the fungus in deep substrate in a video about 3 weeks old. If i had been around, i could have have prevented it all with a water change and removing the first fish body

[@tylerbaker9308]

Hell yeah man. Awesome video, keep up the good work

[@Fishtory]

Thanks very much Tyler! I appreciate the kind words. It's a nice morale boost to keep on keeping on. Have a great Sunday!

[@vikkirountoit497]

Great video - looking forward to seeing these fish again as they mature:)

[@Fishtory]

Totally. Young celestial pearl danios and corys are stinkin adorable!

[@Kday-tm8dj]

Just found my Elassoma dancing! Thanks for the tip Alex.

[@Fishtory]

Oh awesome! Im so delighted to hear that!

[@speckledjim_]

Nice one buddy, thanks 👍

[@Fishtory]

No problem 👍

[@DMike54]

This is so cool. I have got to try this!!!

[@Fishtory]

You'll love it almost as much as your fish do 😉

[@hectorperez7655]

scuds will also help out with cleaning the gravel as well, right ?

[@Fishtory]

Totally. They can sometimes hunt tint eggs or new born dwarf shrimp...that's the main downside to them

[@hectorperez7655]

@@Fishtory by accident I got few scuds introduced into my tank a few years back and i was kind of mad but after a while got used to them, we moved to another place and all the sudden all of them died. Now trying to start a new colony of scuds, for a Tiger Oscar fish tank.

[@lindahomerealtor5461]

Do you include the cooled water that was used to boil the barley? If yes, what is proportion of tank water used

[@carvedwood1953]

coffee filters are a great alternative to cheese cloth and lids. cheaper than cheese cloth and keeps more shit out. I use them all the time when fermenting and storing dried beans etc.

[@Fishtory]

Thanks for the tip! I have lots of those, my wife is a certified coffee ☕ freak haha

[@brushitoff503]

Fantastic stuff Alex loved it!

[@Fishtory]

Thanks Leo! I appreciate it, mate!

[@ptitenoli9219]

Could I use regular corn ?

[@mr.octopus6972]

Hey Alex ! Any toughts on how long a baby brine shrimp can live in freshwater ? I'm just testing that out right now but wanted to know if other people tried it before. I'm taking little samples out of my breeding bottle and comparing with different dilutions.

[@Fishtory]

Probably 24 hours if it's above 7 ph

[@jennifermcfadden8713]

Is there no live stream tonight?

[@chrisrusso4512]

Can you culture fish food in a shrimp tank and use that water to feed other fish?

[@Fishtory]

Probably? I've never tried though

[@tashspond]

Are paramecium the globs of white stuff that grows on driftwood and old food? Or is that just mold..

[@Fishtory]

That is fungus and bacteria. If it's fuzzy strands...fungi if it's milky or a thin layer ...bacteria usually.

[@christinamorris2823]

thanks

[@Fishtory]

Why of course!

[@tashspond]

Is this the stuff that grows on seeds?

[@Lisa.Sparkman]

All that small life is so hard to see it's amazing to me the fry can find them to eat them

[@Fishtory]

Oh i know! It blows my mind

[@PotooBurd]

Rewatching as I wait for my rice fish eggs to hatch 👍

[@misfitz_ggsitzgeno3330]

So where do the infusoria come from they just appear in the jar after a certain amount of time ? 🤔

[@Fishtory]

Sort of. Theyre waiting in little spores/eggs like fruit flies basically. On most of our produce

[@johnmanrow2667]

I love the smell of infusoria in the morning...

[@Fishtory]

Ahhh Charlie dont live feed!

[@Hawaiianshirtoperator]

Off topic but I saw glofish corydoras and it broke my heart because they managed to take one of the fish with the most personality and made them robotic

[@Fishtory]

Id prefer the robot

[@Hawaiianshirtoperator]

@@Fishtory, I would too

[@dellseasandoval8187]

Can I put some hot 🔥 tea kettle water that I use only for dechlorinated water 💦 in with Organic rolled oats that I eat every day (2 1/2 cups that I eat so I guess that means I will just take a tablespoon 🥄 of it in a jar🫙) but then take that sponge cap off my filter head pipe & squeeze it into the jar of oats once they have completely cooled down with some of that aquarium water as well & a pinch of the yeast. Does it sound like I will be doing things correctly? How long will a culture last because you said you do this culture process once per week. I do not have money for a microscope so how do I know when the culture is finished? This is assuming I’m only using a tablespoon of the prepared oats 🌾 I mentioned or if I use more oats 🌾 will the culture last longer? P.S. I appreciate you as a person ✅ 👍🏻.

[@Lazarusthefishboy]

Nice video Alex! 👍

[@Fishtory]

Thanks Laz!

[@MrQuasar]

Thank you very much for posting! Do you know if it is possible to maintain a breeding population of mollies, guppies, or platies in a tank with infusoria and zooplankton? Or can this only be done for raising fish and removing them?

[@Fishtory]

Its possible, but they will sort of hide and you need to let them get a good start before the fish, or have a large enough tank that the small critters get something about 10 gallons of the tank for themselves. (Pretend you are stocking a tank 10 gallons smaller when it comes to fish)

[@MrQuasar]

@@Fishtory Thanks for the reply!

[@angpowvioletstone2090]

Fun!

[@FatherFH]

Will snails eat the fish eggs? Rams horn and bladder snails specifically.

[@Fishtory]

Yes ramshorn snails will sometimes eat them... bladder snails do also, but only Tiny or huge ones oddly (no teeth? )... but ramshorn snails -if hungry, definitely can eat all your fish eggs

[@EuroGupper]

@fishstory is it possible to have paramecium naturally propagate in aquariums by just leaving in dead/dying leaves from plants in the tank?

[@pa.fishpreacher6166]

what camera do you use? and editing /

[@Fishtory]

Hehe samsung galaxy 20 note...and the crappy built in movie clip editor lol

[@richardbunt2278]

How many fish in the last 2 month have passed away in your tanks. Any idea 💡

[@Fishtory]

Maybe 2 a week at most. I have around 500 to 700 at a time usually though

[@tomi.d]

Another great video. Lord, even your growout tanks are gorgeous! I use the plastic mason jar lids made for sprouting for my green water cultures. Lets the light in and keeps mosquitos out.

[@Fishtory]

Oh that'd a good idea! Thanks for your experience. Oh and for the compliment heheh

[@kristykeimig3498]

Won't the cyclops eat the other smaller paramecium? So if you start infusoria and it crashes quickly or doesn't work, isn't that a possibility that cyclops ruined it?

[@Fishtory]

Hmm that is possible...but usually their 48-96 hour life cycle let's them out pace the speed of larger organisms...but I suppose it is possible.

[@carvedwood1953]

Can you breed these guys in a tank with the parents? I know there might be some losses but Id like to just have them populate a tank without really trying to breed.

[@Fishtory]

Yes! They will colonize substrate and biofilms/leaves that have died, any tank 6 months to a year old will certainly have some. It just helps baby fish to concentrate them all in a cloud for feeding, but that's one of many micro critters your nano fish pick at all day :)

[@carvedwood1953]

@@Fishtory I'll have to try to colonize some. I'll be getting some CPDs soon, and maybe some least killifish as well. Going to try to plant it pretty dense so maybe they will both breed in the tank. I recently saw a gold colored least killifish and I'd love to get some of those. I have a small maybe one gallon fish bowl that has only plants in it. Too small for me to put anything in really but I think I might try to colonize some isopods, copepods etc in it.

[@naturalaquarist2950]

Hey Alex! It's been a minute. Forgive me if you covered this in the video, I've had the attention span of a goldfish lately.. but is it boiled tank water, then the infusoria critters just naturally populate? How long does it take to get a culture? Do you maintain this population or start a new culture weekly?

[@Fishtory]

Hey good to see you buddy!! So yes, they will populate from cysts or spore type life in the air/dust and on any plants. I use tank water for the same water parameters, then boil it, toss in the blanched or raw vegetable matter (broccoli or lettuce works, or boiled oats and grains in the case of uniform paramecium dominant cultures). Then once it cools I put a pinch of baking yeast in the water too... that will start fermentation and I have been starting new cultures every 2 weeks...and starting using them 2 weeks after they have been sitting...but technically in 3 days they have mature paramecium laying new eggs... as often as every 8 to 12 hours another generation can be born. So a week to 2 weeks and your jar is fully swarmed with tens of thousands individuals usually.

[@naturalaquarist2950]

Fantastic, thanks!!

[@naturalaquarist2950]

I'd used tank water and whatever I had around and had success but this culture looks fantastic!

[@johnnybest6386]

​@@Fishtory made it alot simple than the rest

[@chrisrusso4512]

I’m trying to develop a general food jar with inspected, quarantined pond water, dirt and leaves from my yard, live plants and light. I’m going to use the water for too ups and changes, if the parameters are good

[@pa.fishpreacher6166]

have you bred neon's

[@Fishtory]

Many times

[@unifiedvision999]

Hoping you're doing better Alexander!

[@nocogarden]

Could you just put the barley strait in the tank to boost the life in the aquarium. Seems to be a simpler idea.

[@martintv9144]

Hello Alex, would you be so kind and give me an advice? How to get the tubifex worms (IN GRAVEL) under control? :D Do you know some fish that dig in substrate but can fit in 13 G and wont turn too much for shrimp? Could 2 Kuhli loach help? Details : Ph 7.6 Gh 9 Kh 6 Heavy planted 14 gallon (50 liters) - good light, weak filter, no heater, occasional ferts NPK substrate tablets 4 per 2-3 months Stocking: 200 neocaridinas, 3 amanos, 6 male guppys and 5-6 otocinclus, 2 nerite snails, :D educated guess - 2 K copepods, 1 K daphnias magna, and 100 milions of tubifex worms I have an aquarium in my parents house, I started feeding from foraged cultures like 9 months ago to provide food variety. I struck a balance. I was able to change water every 3-4 weeks and i could feed only mix of spirulina flakes and basic fish flakes through automatic feeder. I was happy, worms ate my dead shrimp, so i didnt have to clean them and fish had occasional live food (which werent the baby shrimp :D ) from copepods and daphnia. But like 2 months ago i noticed that every centimeter of ground is covered by wiggling vorms, it was too much. I CUT DOWN THE FEEDING, BUT SHRIMP BREEDING SLOWED RAPIDLY. Could Kuhli loach or panda cory get like 1 inch into the substrate to pull these all eating spaghetti?

[@Fishtory]

So almost any fish should eat those worms as long as they aren't planaria (then you tend to need to either starve em or nuke em with betel nut extract). But it they're just clear or pink worms about 1 to 3x as wide as a human hair and under 1.5 inches or so... most any fish will gobble them up.... Cory's love worms and nematodes...your small loaches like Rosy loach, Panda loach will definitely eat them also...but kuhli loaches and medium sized loaches tend to eat baby shrimp as well (luck of the draw as to which one they would try and eat first, between babies and worms). The trouble is that detritus worms are really de-wormer resistant usually.... but the good news is that they don't hurt anything at all...and are straight up food. Bumble bee gobies, badis, Ruby tetras, and schismatogobius...AKA dwarf dragon gobies all eat a ton of the worms...but also eat baby shrimp. So honestly, removing as many shrimp as possible...then doing a deep gravel/ sand clean (if it's soil...it's not possible..they're not gonna come up really) so surface siphon and lightly siphoning for like a week straight...getting rid of any old food, algae or mulm is key too (but as you know, some people work very hard to establish the balanced mulm and substrate mixes). So I probably didn't help you a ton . Sorry. Choices are manual remove shrimp to safetly then deep clean tank and lay off the food for a couple weeks...or 2. Live with them.... or 3. Use fish to eat em...but baby shrimp will suffer too.

[@chrisrusso4512]

Unless I’m mistaken, they’ll put in good work eating malm etc until the fish get them

[@tiffanyclark-grove1989]

interesting

[@russellwhitmyer6764]

How about oat meal instead of barley?

[@Fishtory]

As long as it doesnt hqve sugar or flavor added, yes- it works verry well also

[@russellwhitmyer6764]

So no cinnamon flavored paramecium?

[@Fishtory]

Someone once used instant maple and brown sugar quacker oats and messaged me that nothing happened other than a bunch of mold and a smell of alcohol and bread in the jar after 3 weeks lol

[@russellwhitmyer6764]

If they had added some brewers yeast they might have had an oatmeal stout.

[@pauloconnor6331]

Just for kicks, I'm going to try using a tiny bit of sourdough discard (made from organic flour) to see what happens. Sourdough discard is full of various yeasts and bacteria.

[@johnnybest6386]

Yah man

[@lemongrab6173]

That one strand of hair irritated the hell out of me for some reason. But the video was very helpful thank you.

[@Fishtory]

Lol oh I know the feeling

[@michaelhall3321]

Dude just needs a better camera setup. This channel would be hands down the best fish tank content on KZbin.

[@idealchanful]

I want plenty of paramecium !

[@idealchanful]

Observing my oto, they seem to eat the soft algae that have the most microorganisms in it

[@Fishtory]

I think you are 💯 % correct :)

[@UpperAquatics]

For the algorithm!!

[@Fishtory]

Thanks Broseph

[@narshimashenoy7378]

can i Feed this to scarlet Badise

[@Fishtory]

100% it is exactly what I feed their babies when they spawn too

[@Mango-h5h]

I love scientists lol

[@evergreenpsyche]

I didnt have whole barley so i tried it with some barley flour. Maybe i used too much but HOLY HELL DID IT SMELL LIKE HOT SEWAGE GARBAGE after a couple of. And the whole thing was milky & cloudy, not just the bottom. I'm afraid to try again. Maybe i should just buy a paramecium culture or just stick to powdered food and live moina

[@Fishtory]

Yeah it WILL smell like hot garbage and I think the whole/unpasteurized barely is key to still having live culture on it? ...but that's a guess. Sometimes just a leaf of lettuce or broccoli in a warm cup of water does it too ...decay is what those buggers live on ...and it is kinda gross lol 😆

[@kayhalliday2676]

Another great video, thanks Alex. Is it possible to overfeed paramecium? and do you think when people get a "bacterial bloom" ( cloudy tank) ,that in some cases it could be excess paramecia? 👍♥️🌎

[@Fishtory]

I think most fish will stop eating before they eat enough to get sick...in the wild there is such a huge population of tiny food, that most fish get used to seeing them and just snack as needed. As for clouds in aquariums...yes, it is certainly possible, but it's probably the 3rd or 4th reason to suspect, rather than the first or second (like bacteria, Fungi /water rot , tannins or dead bacteria from the filter media). Great thoughts! Thanks Kay!

[@Fishtory]

Also, I think fish over eat our artificial food because they are designed to meet nutritional profiles nearly perfectly...or even more than they would need. Especially in rare elements and ingredients rare but important in the wild.... so they think they need to stockup. Also flavor enhancers...so it's like humans and veggies vs doritos/junk food hehe - in taste preferences

[@bettaharibettahari3899]

Cyclops kills betta fries😢

[@Fishtory]

Scuds, cyclops many creatures will kill new born fish.. but within a few weeks theyre getting eaten instead. Its not the way to raise for profit...just to breed for fun in a sort of nature inspired way

[@bettaharibettahari3899]

🙏😊

[@meep2576]

Where the hell did you learn all this ? Yikes

[@Fishtory]

From old timer fish keepers . Also i try and.research each of my videos of any important aspects in the hobby

[@DEXTER-TV-series]

It was strange video: - you don't show the infusoria from the jar under the microscope; - you don't tell nothing about how stable is the infusoria population in the jar. - and what about pollution of aquarium water by barley&yeast water from the jar?

[@Fishtory]

The first thing I show during the microscope section is infusoria from the jar. You boil the aquarium water then add barley and after add the yeast... the point of using aquarium water was just to have the same tds/ph (other than the barley and yeast).

[@Fishtory]

Also the population is stable by 3 days aka 6 generations or mitosis cycles. When water is tropical Temps. Population is visible...if it doesn't look foggy, then the population is likely not dense. You can see the adult infusoria with the average camera phone 5 to 10x zoom. Some people can see with their eyes alone. My sample had a stentor population which is fine for fish...just another little critter that eats yeast and bacteria along with very tiny microfauna

[@mememe733]

@@Fishtory “You boil the aquarium water” So the infusoria doesn’t come from the tank water? I thought that was the reason for using a well established tank as the source for water, because it contains micro organisms? Or is infusoria not the same as the micro organisms already living in a tank? Sorry, English is not my first language, so I easily miss or misunderstand something when watching videos 😅 Also does the culture smell bad? I tried putting some dried yeast in some strained mulm-filled tank water (something I read should work) but after 2 days the rotten stench was overwhelming 🤢 and not something I wanted to put in my aquarium.