Setup for Growing Live Food in Aquarium

Setup for Growing Live Food in Aquarium

I've been growing live food for my fish and newts right in the aquarium. 

Terrestrial isopods (you can see here) and springtails live on the land platform. 

Also, I keep populations of aquatic snails and scuds in the water. 

All those critters feed on detritus on the land and in water. 

Fish and newts constantly hunt for live food. 

This paludarium is a nice example of a self-feeding sustaining ecosystem. 

April 2023. 

I want to try a more efficient way of culturing live food in this tank. 

How about culturing terrestrial and aquatic critters on the same platform.

 Let's make a small paludarium inside of this large paludarium! 

I removed this old land platform.

 Now, I am going to use a Ferrero Rocher candy box for making the new platform. 

In this example, I use suction cups for hanging the platform above the water.

 I will use a submersible pump to move the water from the aquarium to the platform. 

Here you can see it all already assembled. 

I run the water pump only a couple hours every other day. 

Remarkably, many scuds get trapped on the platform after the first tryout. 

Scuds are fish-safe on this platform, until they get washed back into the aquarium :) 

I put land moss on the platform to serve as food and a medium for culturing land critters as well.

 I noticed a couple problems with this setup. 

The land moss keeps floating around when the water flows through the platform. 

I will have to anchor the land moss somehow. 

Another problem became evident after a couple weeks of using this setup. 

Some suction cups slid down under the weight of the platform.

 So, I replaced the suction cups with wire hangers wrapped in silicon tubing. 

Check my videos about aquarium planters for details about making hangers. 

In this example, I arranged two platforms on top of each other to increase the surface.

 It should support a larger population of critters. 

Unfortunately, the top platform blocks the light from the moss on the bottom platform. 

And it would be difficult for newts to climb on the top platform. 

In the following example, I used wire for keeping the water tube in a fixed position. 

Also, the aquarium width holder allows the plate to be placed away from the long wall of the tank. 

I added small sized gravel to the platform for keeping moss from moving around with water flow. 

In the next example, I made a 3 piece holder for keeping the water tube. 

Now I can move and fix the water tube in any place on the holder as needed. 

I tried some other variations of holders - this one seems to be the most practical so far. 

The length of the candy box fits nicely in the width of my aquarium :) 

Installation of the platform is very simple as you can see here. 

It allows the platform to be moved in any place and to be removed if necessary. 

I tilted the platform for water to flow off the platform only at one corner you can see here.

 Fish learn quickly to gather under the falling water  to catch any snacks that may come with it :) 

In the following example, I set up two platforms. 

The top platform overlaps the bottom platform for about one inch.

 I turned the platform longwise to make space for me to reach in the water without moving the platforms. 

I made the water flow from the far corner of the top platform to the bottom platform. 

And I tilted the bottom platform to make the water flow back into the aquarium at the nearest corner.

 This time I use medium sized gravel to cover both platforms. 

Put the land moss on top of the gravel - it looks pretty good! 

Two platforms make plenty of space for culturing a lot of live food!

 I seed the platforms with white and silver springtails. 

They all thrive in a high humidity environment feeding on detritus and such. 

Shortly after, I realized that aquatic scuds need more space for swimming. 

I removed half of the gravel and moss from both platforms. 

Here you can see how I arranged it all in this last version :) 

I made an open swimming space on the back of both platforms. 

The open space on the back of the platforms also allows more light for the aquatic plants in the tank.

 The water flowing from the platforms makes a sound you can hear. 

Not everyone likes the water dripping sound in the living room. 

I adjust the position of the water tube... adjust the tilt of both platforms to make water flow off the platforms only at the corners where I want it. 

I bent the wire holders slightly for this purpose. 

The result of a few adjustments is surprisingly good. 

Now I can hear only the motor of the water pump. 

Let's close the cover on the top of the aquarium - it also greatly reduces the noise.

 I added more springtails and Grindal worms this time. 

These critters make a nice cleaning crew for the land part and fish eat them when they get in the water ;) 

You can see scuds swimming in the open space of both platforms. 

I may need to add more scuds and springtails once in a while. 

I've been building much simpler self-feeding aquariums for a number of years now. 

This self-feeding aquarium is the only one where I use a water pump and LED.

 Creating self-feeding sustaining aquariums as shown in this video is a work in progress.

 This setup works great through the first 5 months so far. 

I've been using it as a playground for testing new ideas.

 I will keep you updated on how it works and what plants and mosses grow better in this setup. 

My current goal is to find a way to make it work without the water pump ;)

Have fun and happy aquarium gardens :)