How to culture Springtails on moss

I use a 16oz food grade disposable plastic container with a cover to set up a culture of Springtails.

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First let's make holes in the cover poking the cover from the top inside of the container.

Needle sized holes would allow air circulation while reducing water evaporation.

About a week ago I picked some nice green moss in the local park.

Washed moss clean and soaked it in water as I usually do preparing land moss for aquariums.

I have enough moss here to set up 3 containers.

Washing and soaking moss in water helps to remove unwanted insects and such.

Put enough moss in the empty container to cover the bottom.

I also prepared a piece of plastic for collecting Springtails later.

Now let's collect Springtails from an old, well established culture.

Here, I keep Springtails with Grindal worms on polyester.

Springtails put in water stay on the water surface while Grindal worms sink to the bottom.

As you can see here.

It is the simplest way of separating Springtails from Grindal worms.

Though, water also wash away sperm deposits left by Springtail males.

There are simpler and more efficient ways to seed a new Springtails culture than using water.

Check my previously published video if you are interested.

I see enough Springtails here to start a new culture.

So, let's dump the water with Springtails in the container with moss we prepared.

I actually prepared 3 containers in the same way.

It would take about 6 weeks for Springtails population to start growing.

I feed Springtails with a piece of Cheerios flake.

Cover the moss with the plastic. 

And close the container.

All ready and set on September 20th, 2021.

Here you can see all 3 new cultures on October 9th.

I've been checking on Springtails cultures daily to make sure the cultures are moist.

And feed Springtails only if the old food is gone.

In this culture food is almost gone.

Let's add one flake of cereal.

3 days later the food is gone.

Springtails feed on all kinds of organic waste - including dying brown moss you may see in the first two cultures.

So don't be surprised that it takes longer for Springtails to eat cereal in some cultures.

Remember to keep Springtails cultures moisten.

October 15th.

It's been about 4 weeks since I set up those Springtail cultures.

Springtails cultures do fine kept like that.

Though, I prefer to keep Springtails with Grindal worms in the same containers.

I have 3 main reasons for keeping them together.

Springtails and Grindal worms thrive in the same environment.

My fish eats Springtails and Grindal worms - so, it's space saving to keep them together.

And Springtails actually prefer to feed on poop of worms than cereal and such.

Also, Springtails with Grindal worm cultures are much  more stable than Springtails kept alone.

I've never lost a culture in the past couple years.

Well, it makes 4 reasons to add Grindal worms in all Springtails cultures.

October 28th.

I see a bunch of baby Springtails on the walls of containers.

Springtails like to gather on moisten walls - or any wet surface for that matter.

It takes a couple months for moss to grow noticeably more.

And meanwhile we can use polyester foam to increase surface for Springtails.

Look how many Springtails are here already!

Let me spray some water in for you to see Springtails.

Okay, let's put polyester on the bottom and the moss goes on the top.

Adding polyester is optional.

Let's spread the moss a bit.

This container is basically a small high humidity terrarium.

Look how many Springtails are on the cover.

From now on the population of Springtails will keep increasing and may need more food.

It's better to add a small amount of food daily or as needed than have leftovers of food in the culture.

Overfeeding causes mold growth and disease.

The culture of Springtails keeps growing and spreading all over the container including the cover.

It keeps growing to the limit of the space and food available.

Then the population of Springtails will start to decline as with any other species.

And so it goes naturally in cycles.

Notice how long the strings of moss have grown already after about 2 months.

It's a perfect time to split the culture into two cultures or move it into a larger terrarium.

Check my previous videos to see how I've done that.

When I see too many Springtails in a well established culture I use them to feed my fish.

That is where the piece of plastic comes very handy.

Shake Springtails off of the plastic in the aquarium.

My top feeding Endlers and Guppies enjoy eating Springtails at least once a week.

It takes 4-6 Springtails cultures to feed fish continuously every week all year around.

Live moss retains water way better than soil or polyester while offering great surface volume for Springtails to breed on.

And the moss with breeding Springtails on it can be used directly from the culture right in terrariums.

Or in paludariums as in this example.

I keep Springtails and Isopods on the land part of my paludarium as a cleaning crew and...

my fish eat Springtails falling in the water...

and newts eat Isopods falling in the water...

and the moss covers the entire land part.

So basically, I use the same concept of culturing Springtails on live moss in this paludarium as in 16oz containers.

Well, Isopods instead of Grindal worms :)

And I feed Isopods with bark and potatoes instead of cereal.

So Springtails can enjoy feeding on the poop of Isopods.

Live moss is one of the best mediums for culturing Springtails.

Have fun and happy Springtails :)