12 springtails, isopods, and invertebrates that close the loop: they eat waste, mold, and detritus and turn it back into soil and live food. The unseen half of a bioactive system.
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Collembola sp.
The first thing to add to any bioactive vivarium, two to four weeks before animals. They eat the mold that blooms on new wood and become live food for dart frogs and small geckos. A culture seeds a viv from a single scoop.
Folsomia candida
The white springtail sold in most cultures. Faster-breeding and easier to culture on charcoal than tropical types, and it tolerates cooler rooms, which suits a temperate terrarium.
Trichorhina tomentosa
The standard dart-frog cleanup isopod: tiny, blind, stays in the substrate, and safe as frog food. It breaks down frog waste and leaf litter without ever bothering plants. Pair it with springtails for a complete crew.
Porcellionides pruinosus
A fast-breeding, fast-moving isopod that clears waste quicker than dwarf whites, good for a heavier bioload like a gecko viv. Active on the surface, so larger animals may hunt them.
Porcellionides pruinosus
The blue color form of the same fast powder isopod. A reliable, prolific starter cleanup crew for a mid-size vivarium; keep a cork bark hide and leaf litter and they self-sustain.
Porcellio laevis
A large, extremely fast-breeding isopod for a big or heavy-waste enclosure. It needs a protein source (a bit of fish food) or, underfed, it may nibble soft plants and even other isopods. Overkill for a nano viv.
Cyclops sp.
Near-microscopic crustaceans that graze biofilm and become live food for fry and small fish. They colonize a mature planted tank on their own and are a sign of a healthy, food-rich system.
Naididae
Thin white worms that live in the substrate and process waste. A normal, harmless part of a mature tank; a sudden bloom into the water column means you are overfeeding, not that something is wrong.
Lumbriculus variegatus
A live food that also seeds the substrate: fish graze the ones that surface, while the rest burrow and process detritus. Rinse cultures well and keep them cool; they foul warm, still water.
Hyalella / Gammarus sp.
Fast-breeding freshwater amphipods that clean detritus and feed larger fish. Useful in a pond or grow-out, but they compete with (and can prey on molting) dwarf shrimp, so keep them out of a shrimp colony.
Ostracoda
Tiny seed-shaped crustaceans that arrive with plants and graze biofilm. Harmless, and a marker of a mature tank, though a big bloom again points to overfeeding.
Lumbricus / Eisenia
Added to a deep vivarium or paludarium substrate, they aerate the soil and process the waste that settles below the surface, the underground half of a cleanup crew. Use composting worms (Eisenia) in shallower layers.
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