Culturing infusoria

[Pepere]

It sounds easy…

 

Take a quart of tank water, add some vegetative matter to decay and set on a windowsill to get sunlight….

 

so, is the sunlight thing to give it some heat, or light energy?  
 

Is it more difficult in the winter time?  Can LED light substitute for sunlight?

 

Have people here managed to culture?

[egruttum]

I think your question is confusing green water and infusoria.  It's confusing because many people use these names interchangeably.  I know some basics about the difference but I found a better source of information on infusoria (I think it's legal in this forum to link to other sites that are not competitors).

https://www.calgaryaquariumsociety.com/infusoria-and-paramecium-cultures/

Green water is basically just algae that is growing in the water to provide food for some types of fish.  Infusoria is actually a protozoa which isn't a plant or animal but another kingdom in the eukaryote domain.  Protozoa will eat bacteria and algae.

To answer your specific question if you are culturing infusoria I don't think it's strictly necessary for there to be any light.  As long as there is a food source in the water there will be bacteria and the protozoa will eat the bacteria.  If you put it in sunlight you will get green water that again protozoa can eat.  I would imagine any source of light that is either strong enough and/or on long enough would grow green water that protozoa could eat.  But to get a good protozoa culture you need to start with some good protozoa.  The article above talks about that.

 

[Schuyler]

I don't think the light is needed. Keeping fish simple on YouTube does cultures with just aquarium water and yeast. Or aquarium water and a bunch of moss.

I am not an expert though... And really the reason I'm posting this reply is to piggy back off of this and ask: How do you know if you successfully cultured industria?

[Andy's Fish Den]

I have cultured infusoria and not had ny sort of light other than room light on the jars. Infusoria is just a tiny microscopic live food for fry. How i culture is a gallon glass jar, put some tank water, I just use water out of a tank when doing a water change, I will throw in whatever vegetable I happen to have handy in fridge, but I put it in microwave for a few seconds first to soften, then toss in a small amount of moss from a tank. Cover with a piece of paper towel that I rubber band around the neck of the jar, and let sit on a shelf in my fish room. You will notice the water get cloudy, that is the infusoria. If you look closely, you will be able to see them moving around. When I want to feed to small fry, I just use a turkey baster to pull some out of the jar and squeeze into fry rearing container, then replace what I took out with fresh aged tank water.