Infusoria bucket

[beastie]

I found the video for infusoria bucket  culture. But I started it in March, raised few luminatus fry in it from egg up to two weeks, closed lid, no water change, no light, will just sometimes take water out, put fresh one in.

I dont know or think it works nor do I know how to manage it. What should I do? I have so much moss, but I am not good with microscope and cant figure out if the water is good for feeding or not. Water does not smell bad.

Do you have any cultures like this, do they work, any chance I can make it self sustaining with just small feeding? I want the infusoria as I want to try the clown killifish again

 

Thank you!

[Woowala]

You should be able to tell if you've got a good population of infusoria by putting some of the bucket water in a clear container and shining a light through it from the side.  Maybe put a light over one side of the bucket for a bit before collecting the sample to concentrate the infusoria, similar to bbs.  They're tiny but not microscopic.  If it looks like this video then you're good to go.  Generally I'd say if it doesn't smell then it's fine, but introduce as little of the culture water as possible to the fry tank just to be safe.

With any culture, it's important that it contain only the organism you're culturing.  If you introduce any predators like copepods it won't work, or at least not as well.  What I would do is collect the sample from the bucket and start 3 new small cultures with it.  I used quart mason jars.  Add just enough bakers yeast to make the water a bit cloudy (a tiny amount, like 10 grains), then leave it somewhere warm with some light until the water gets clear.  Then check each for infusoria and start new cultures from whichever one looks best.  Once you've got a good culture going you can take from that and experiment with different methods to see what works for you, like restarting another bucket with moss or grass clippings.

I hated maintaining the cultures so right now I'm just using 5-50 micron golden pearls for my gertrudae.  If I have to culture infusoria in the future I'll probably try Lowell's method, looks clean and easy.