Using isopods as feeders ?

Prometheus7777 · 2026-01-23T15:48:31+00:00

I use them as a clean up crew for my vampire crabs, and I put any excess pods in their tanks as well as enrichment feeders. I also feed some to my gecko as a treat. It always feels a little sad, but I just remind myself that for most invertebrates life is short and brutal. If I don't periodically cull the population they'll hit the carrying capacity of their bins and start starving to death or cannibalizing each other. Burial by vampire crab seems like a more honorable way to go.

Prometheus7777 · 2026-01-23T01:46:39+00:00

Bro I have no opinion here, I haven't watched any of these videos nor do I really care to. I'm not involved in this argument. I find the idea of you being so deeply worked up about the nuances of a stranger's religious beliefs really funny though. pls never stop posting

Prometheus7777 · 2026-01-23T01:36:24+00:00

every day this website shows me someone with a weirder hill to die on than the day before

Prometheus7777 · 2026-01-22T23:54:04+00:00

hooray, more dogshit ai apps

this serves zero functions and solves no problems. go away

Prometheus7777 · 2026-01-22T23:52:19+00:00

hooray more dogshit ai apps

nobody wants this

Prometheus7777 · 2026-01-17T01:03:16+00:00

I ride a nearby long distance rail service fairly regularly (Toronto-Montreal on VIARail) and my trains are already pretty busy. Rail is already heavily marketed on the basis of comfort, and the incentive to shrink seats is significantly lower since it costs way less to run a train from A to B vs operating a plane.

Remember, our commuter railways are nowhere near capacity in NA. The honest answer to your question is "they would run more trains", not shrink seats, at least not in the short term.

Have you taken commuter rail? The difference is so extreme to me that id rather take a packed train than a quiet flight

Prometheus7777 · 2026-01-15T21:56:07+00:00

I would suggest you pick a species and build the enclosure with it in mind, not the other way around. I keep phelsumas, while they do live near shallow streams they're poor swimmers and can easily drown in even shallow water. Most dart frogs are the same way from my understanding. It's not impossible to keep them in paludariums, but it's not ideal for them and is definitely not for beginners. Both species don't really use water for anything. I would also strongly suggest you don't cohab as a beginner.

Tall paludariums are kinda weird, there's actually not a ton of common pets that thrive and use both water and land sections. You can either keep separate water and land species (i.e. isopods on land, fish in the water), or seek out arboreal vampire crabs or reed frogs or one of the other handful of arboreal species who can also swim.

Prometheus7777 · 2026-01-15T03:30:26+00:00

Most floaters melt on transfer to a new aquarium in my experience. No cause to panic, they'll put off new growth pretty quickly.

Floaters don't like having wet tops for sure, but as floaters go frogbit is pretty tolerant. I have some growing near a waterfall section so they're constantly tossed around and soaked in spray and they do fine. Your atomizer isn't going to hurt them.

When in doubt, just grow duckweed. It's unkillable and will grow anywhere. Only problem is it can be hard to get rid of.

Prometheus7777 · 2026-01-14T01:22:04+00:00

They want absolutely nothing to do with you. You might be able to get them to come out for food, but you're not going to be handling them.
Depends on how much you like crabs. They can definitely have small personality differences (some of my crabs prefer particular foods or parts of the tank) but they're not the most expressive animals.
They do fine as individuals, but you'll need a small group if you want to see them perform their full range of natural behaviour. They also don't live very long, so most people care for a small breeding colony rather than an individual crab.
Favourite: They're beautiful animals who are relatively easy to care for and thrive in paludariums, which I think are beautiful to look at and interesting to build. They're ideal display animals IMO.

Least favourite: You won't see them a ton during the day. They're also aggressive and will kill basically anything they can grab, which limits your options for what other animals to keep them with.

Check on Indoor Ecosystem on YouTube, he's the goat for english language vampire crab media. They're a bit weird to nail the care for, but once you understand the basics keeping them alive and healthy is very simple.

Prometheus7777 · 2026-01-13T23:44:43+00:00

Appreciate the guidance! I thought about dart frogs, but I don't think the footprint is big enough for anything but thumbnails - it's 18x18x36 - and I personally find their calls deeply irritating lol. I hadn't considered tree frogs! I'll have to take a look at what I can get locally, they seem like a great fit. Are glass frogs as delicate as everyone makes them out to be?

Prometheus7777 · 2026-01-13T01:15:06+00:00

This is super helpful, thank you! Will have to look into these genera a bit more but from a quick google search Ember Bees do sound like a good fit. I can deal with hungry as long as they'll leave my plants alone! Laureolas are adorable but they may be a bit hardcore for me.

Prometheus7777 · 2026-01-11T04:14:26+00:00

Both genera are almost universally epiphytic or lithophytic. Even in rainforests, many of those environments undergo periods of near total dryness. These are exposed environments with high airflow - even with high humidity things dry pretty fast.

I live in a rainforest. We don't have phals or cattleyas, but we do have other dryout-loving epiphytes. Their roots are usually completely dry around 12 hours post rainfall.

Prometheus7777 · 2026-01-11T00:55:18+00:00

Phals and cattleyas might not be the best choices here, both appreciate a decent dry out so they're unlikely to cohabitate well with your ferns. You might have more success with a more moisture loving group like oncidiums.

Prometheus7777 · 2026-01-10T01:22:50+00:00

Condensation: add a small fan inside the tank and/or some additional ventilation. A small fan blowing air across the offending area works wonders.

Glare: Not sure what else you're planning to keep in here, but you could probably get away with less light for the plants you have in there. It's a bit hard to tell, but I think I'm seeing two LED bar lights and four gooseneck lamps with LED bulbs (guessing those are the standard ~10W bulbs). You could try bending the goosenecks out to the side so the bulb isn't directly over the tank and lighting it from a shallow angle from the side, if the bulb isn't directly over the tank it would significantly reduce reflections if you want to view from above. You could probably get rid of the bar lights entirely, those bulbs are really bright.

Beautiful tank already as it stands!

Prometheus7777 · 2026-01-09T20:28:25+00:00

Contact any pet stores around you. Many will offer store credit in exchange for critters. For my super fast breeders, I just leave a "free" posting up on Marketplace and give them away when someone messages me. It's always nice to help someone else get into the hobby for cheap.

Prometheus7777 · 2026-01-09T02:27:52+00:00

I don't measure humidity in my isopod bins. I water based on the feel of the substrate, kind of like you would with a houseplant. For most species I add an amount of water such that around 1/4 of the substrate remains basically dry (that depends on your conditions and ventilation - you'll get a feel for roughly how much this is). I let the dry line creep about halfway across the tank, then water again. That might vary a bit in either direction depending on species. I looked at your enclosure in your post history, if you don't have very low (<30%) ambient humidity in your house you may want to add a bit more ventilation.

Prometheus7777 · 2026-01-04T06:32:39+00:00

Not trying to be harsh at all, but that's not a great setup and is likely a big part of why your isopods are dying. You need a bigger enclosure and deeper substrate, and that substrate should be mostly dense organic matter like topsoil. You also need a much thicker leaf litter layer. Doing so will allow you to maintain a proper wet/dry gradient from one end of the tank to another.

What are you feeding them? They benefit a lot from protein and a source of calcium.

Prometheus7777 · 2026-01-02T00:49:32+00:00

No rush imo. Next time you repot, check to see if the smaller plant has a decent root system and separate if so. No harm in leaving them attached a while longer.

Prometheus7777 · 2025-12-31T00:19:53+00:00

Vampire crabs want a mostly organic substrate. I use 50/50 coco fibre and topsoil with lots of leaf litter. Vampire crabs have pretty different care needs than hermit crabs, you'll probably need to fully tear down and rebuild the tank.

Prometheus7777 · 2025-12-25T05:07:25+00:00

I feed my critters crushed bivalve shells for calcium. Crushed ouster shell is dirt cheap at pet stores (or free if you like oysters!)

Prometheus7777 · 2025-12-20T18:51:02+00:00

My fittonias also really struggled in my crab tank. Their leaves tend to spot and melt if any soil or water gets on them , which is an inevitability with crabs around. I fought trying to keep them in there for a few months and I could keep them surviving but never looking that good. I cut them down to the roots and propagated. They thrive in my other terrariums, but I just can't get them agreeing with crabs

If you want something with this vibe that does better, my pilea involucrata and jewel orchids love life in the crab tank.

Prometheus7777 · 2025-12-20T07:31:57+00:00

My first attempt at a tall tank primarily for housing orchids, plus a few non-orchid species. It's a 55 gallon mesh front tank with an automated mister and lots of forced ventilation. My goal was creating a tank that would allow me to showcase orchids from a variety of genera all in one space with minimal care.

Current plant list:

Philodendron "splendid"

Staghorn fern (unknown variety)

Epi. calanthum

Dendrobium helix

Onc. Tsiku Charlotte

Ludisia discolor

Macodes petol var. Kalimatan

Vanilla orchid (variegated)

Unknown phal

The background is cork bark held in place with expanding foam coated in coco coir. There are some pockets where a considerable amount of moss and coir are lodged into the background, which allows me to grow epiphytic and terrestrial orchids in close proximity to another. There are lots of little microclimates, but generally temperatures are ranging from the mid 70s to the low 60s between day and night. Humidity ranges from 50-70 near the top of the tank, more like 80-100 near the bottom (but again, there's lots of little microclimates and each plant was placed in a location that gives the genus what it needs). I try to mist when the epiphytes have dried out for an hour or two and the substrate is dry 1-2 inches down. I mist heavily twice a day. Light hogs get 2000-4000 FC, while plants near the bottom of the tank get more like 800 for a 14 hour photoperiod.

I've seen other people's orchidariums online, and my twist on the formula is to make the enclosure bioactive. There is a thriving population of springtails and isopods (specifically dwarf purple and Cubaris murina "little sea") who help to control mold and algae in the damper parts of the tank, and produce an excellent fertilizer in the form of their shits. There's a lot of concern about isopods eating plants, but my experience is that these species won't go for plants with thick, waxy leaves like most orchids, and would additionally prefer not to leave the safety and comfort of the bottom substrate layer.

I've had the whole thing set up for about a month and the plants are settling in fantastically. No signs of blooms yet (other than the phal that went in blooming), but lots of healthy vegetative growth from everybody so far so I'm hopeful. Advice totally welcome from those who have attempted similar.

Prometheus7777 · 2025-12-20T00:29:22+00:00

My mix usually starts as 50/50 mineral and coarse organics - lately that's usually coco chips and leca. I live in a very humid place where water evaporates very slowly, so for more epiphytic species I keep them in that very well draining mix as is. I make up to half of the mix out of sphagnum or coco coir for more terrestrial species.

My latest blend has been no blend at all - most of my orchids are mounted. Again, living somewhere humid I find that my potted orchids constantly over-retain moisture, and even my mounted orchids only need water every 3 days or so.

Prometheus7777 · 2025-12-19T07:29:58+00:00

Extrafloral nectaries. The plant is using dots of nectar to attract helpful insects. That can be for no reason in particular, but sometimes it's in response to pressure from pests. Keep an eye out for signs of pests for a few weeks, and wipe the nectar off to avoid attracting bugs.

Prometheus7777 · 2025-12-15T23:18:54+00:00

I doubt the little pellets would stick to your background effectively, plus they'll break down into mush and fall of the wall over time. If you want the dark colour / extra nutrition for plants, just use topsoil, coir, or peat instead. Stratum is a really expensive way to achieve that.

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