How I Culture Paramecium - Even When I Don't Want To
Vložit
- čas přidán 10. 07. 2024
- Live foods are the foundation of my fish breeding efforts, but sometimes I really hate maintaining the cultures. Here's one way I found to reduce some of the work in keeping a paramecium culture long term.
FAQ:
What's the difference between Paramecium and Infusoria?
Courtesy of Wikipedia:
"Infusoria is a word used to describe various freshwater microorganisms, including ciliates, copepods, euglenoids, planktonic crustaceans, protozoa, unicellular algae and small invertebrates [...] In modern, formal classifications, the term is considered obsolete; the microorganisms previously and colloquially referred to as Infusoria are mostly assigned to the kingdom Protista."
How I would describe their relationship:
Paramecium are one example of many organisms that fall into the category of Infusoria. The term, in our context, translates to "tiny stuff that grows in the water that baby fish might like to eat." I personally associate infusoria more to organisms on the order of ciliates than microcrustaceans.
Add yeast or don't add yeast?:
Adding yeast can help kick things off, you just have to be a little careful with the amount. Too much can turn the upper layer of the culture into soup and choke out the water beneath. Yeast also floats around in the air so it will inoculate the culture no matter what. In short, we're all using yeast whether we add it deliberately or not.
What species of paramecium?
I use Paramecium Caudatum specifically for their size. At 0.2-0.3 mm, they are the largest (at the time of this writing) offered by Carolina Biological Supply. They are small enough to be eaten easily by any fry I have worked with personally, yet are large enough to be clearly visible without magnification. This makes it easy to judge the state of a culture and the density of live organisms in a sample. This is in contrast to a broad, luck-of-the-draw infusoria culture where, depending on which species happen to dominate the culture, it might be hard to judge whether you have a useful food source or just cloudy, putrid water.
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate a weird special little container
Love your sense of humor. Great project. 'Good enough for government work' is an old favorite of mine. My phone keyboard even remembers the phrase! 😂
The moment you realise you basically reinvented a teapot
Well, you don't actually make tea in tea pots, you make hot water. But good effort. Cold brew coffee. that's what this is.
@@MakeMoreFish You put hot water and tea leaves in a tea pot so the tea can steep, the tea goes in a little basket that goes in the top (Google glass teapot for an easy image). A kettle makes hot water.
@@MakeMoreFish I didn't think about how America redefined established words, In English speaking countries a kettle boils water, a modern teapot has a basket for you to put loose leaf tea in to steep with the boiled water from the kettle.
You, sir, are a gentlemen and a scholar. Best fish breeding related videos on CZcams hands down
Hi Lowell! Just want to thank you for this great idea!
Yes, I’m some kind of livefood and fish nerd 😊
You give me wonder ideas to use the material I hoard 😏🤩✌️
This is the BEST paramecuum set up!!! Thank you 😊
I enjoy your sense of humor as i watch your vids.
Thank you for making yet another fun and useful video! Love the design and idea behind it :)
This is ingenious! Thank you for sharing this idea.
Thanks fo sharing! Another great one, easily one of my favorite channels. Well done 👌
Dude, you make some of the best fish care videos I have seen on the internet. Thank you so much for the work you are doing. I feel so much more confident in my fishkeeping because of you. You have really helped me understand a lot about breeding fish, and you inspire me to think creatively about problem solving in my fishkeeping hobby. I just really, really appreciate you. It feels like a valuable public service. I am so grateful.
That is so great to hear. Thank you! More than anything I want these videos to be helpful, even if just to prompt a thought that leads to doing something completely different from what I do. That makes me happy.
Cheers from my fish room channel in Chicago, where I am a satisfied subscriber of yours! This is such a simple yet fabulous hack, solving all manner of challenges associated with raising these cultures. Thank you!
Perfect. Low maintenance, slow & steady - just the way I like it. 👌 Working great
That was awesome. Straight forward, knowledge sharing.
I'm a big fan.
Nicely done! Glad to see others culturing and Doing DIY
thanks for the video. you are a great source of information and every new video helps everyone out a little more
What a great set up! I will definitely be making one of these. Keep up the great vids. Aloha! 🤙🏽
Brilliant! Thanks for sharing this, Lowell. ~Ron
Amazing ideas as usual. Thank you
Excellent idea!
Thanks for sharing.
Absolute banger of a set-up king
Great video. Thanks
Cool thanks for all the help. You are the best at breeding and taking care of fish.
Giant Nerd here, I culture paramecium, not for fish but for a group of aquatic carnivorous plants called utricularia and aldrovanda. Since I am a dyi guy I am going to try your method and see how it works for me.
I’m a carnivorous plant nerd culturing paramecium for fish. I can’t believe it hadn’t occurred to me that I was growing food for these plants. Time to order some plants lol
@@gabeoleinik4435 Glad I could help you further your collection of carnivorous plants since you already grow food for them. If you need help finding the plants let me know. I can tell you where to get them.
That's really cool, I always wondered how people feed their UG carpets.
How carnivorous are these plants? Would they eat my fish? lol
@@GrumpyGillsFishing Yes, they can eat the smallest of fish fry like Rainbows, Neons and Barbs.
This is absolutely brilliant. Paramecium is the next culture on my to-do list so the timing is wonderful. I just set up some Vinegar Eels using your walkthrough and they are thriving.
Now that you mention it, it probably would work well for vinegar eels. Might just limit the amount of apple that could be added to the culture at once.
@@MakeMoreFish I like that idea. Maybe a longer basket could be found or made to reduce that limitation?
Great project!
Excellent thank you
instant sub! This is super cool! Thank you for sharing!
Fantastic video, thank you very much
Very nice!
I laughed out loud multiple times, thanks for the video
I really like this setup! Definitely going to give it a try 😉😁
Your videos are always amazing. I have gone full nerd on live cultures with black worms, daphnia, adult brine shrimp, grindle worms, micro worms, vinegar eels and paramecium. I am even culturing phytoplankton to feed to the brine shrimp and green water to feed to the daphnia. It can take a lot of work but so far I am enjoying it! I also have springtails, isopods, meal worms and wood roaches to feed my pet ants.
That's a really impressive list. Awesome! The way I look at live foods is as a little more labor in exchange for trivializing the difficulty of raising fry. It's worth it.
Container is made. Wheat kernels bought. Culture arrives tomorrow. Many thanks for your constant inspiration. Also instead of a mesh I’m using part of a worm feeder which fits perfectly in a 2” planter. Seems to be the most easy way to maintain.
If it fits, that sounds great.
Ive never cultured those, but its a great setup for daphnia! I need to get some of that spunge.
Superb idea 👍
Very well done video
great idea....will certainly build one of these.... new sub here x
Great. Thanks ❤
Thank you!! 🙌🏽☺️
Brilliant!
Love it! So much more high tech and convenient than my juice jugs with a dog kibble in the bottom for them that I bring to auction. 😄and yes, I'm a giant nerd who loves growing (and feeding) paramecium.
Hey you're changing lives with those juice jugs. Paramecium are the best. I still need to try dog food.
Total "giant nerd" here. You found me. I think mine originally were acquired from Carolina Biological by Greg Sage but I got mine from him. I use the wheat kernals as well. Corn husks just put out too strong of an odor.
😉😁
I got started with wheat kernels after reading a guide written for use in breeding zebrafish for lab studies. I figure those folks know what they're doing and I've followed it ever since.
@@MakeMoreFish Hi Can you share with that guide? I noted now many science labs are using marine rotifers to raise zebrafish. Not sure whether we can try rotifers.
@@richardmei2506 It's been a few years but I'm pretty sure it was this guide or another that quoted the same source: zfin.org/zf_info/zfbook/chapt3/3.3.html
Awesomeness!
You are the Wes Anderson of Breeding fish.
I just watched the grand Budapest hotel recently. I can live with that.
Just 1 little tip for people doing this and using the 2 inch hole saw shown here.. If you use it in reverse, they dont cut a quickly but will still work and you wont crack your hard plastic doing it... Give it a try..
Woohoo I'm a giant nerd! This is excellent, thank you for sharing technique:)
Hi Lowell. Thanks so much for this helpful video. I had wheat berries from Dog feeding adventures. I had everything else except for the starter culture which I picked up off of eBay. My 2 jars of Paramecium are doing well and my baby White Clouds and Danios are very happy. I have a question though, do you add a small amount of Yeast when you start a Culture? I don't see it in your video, but I swear I saw it somewhere. Thoughts on Yeast?
I used to add yeast deliberately but lately I haven't. There will be yeast in a starter culture and also floating around in the air so it gets into the culture no matter what.
I'm really glad I hoarded those pots & mesh bags haha. Amazing idea since I'm currently not breeding any fish that require paramecia and it's been quite a bother to maintain. By the way, how's the mega culture going? I've always wondered if those giant cultures actually worked in practice
They big ones in plastic tubs? I still have two of them and at some point added hanging net pots to the lids just like I showed here. They work great. Those are my backup cultures that I set and forget for months at a time.
This fed my ADHD everything it needed for the day. My rainbowfish fry will also appreciate this if I end up getting my stuff together to make one 😅
Another great video. Do you think that container would work well for vinegar eels?
I think it would, it just might limit the amount of apple that could be added at one time.
a closable extra hole for the pipette might be an convenience improvement, so you dont have to lift out the net cup?
Super Great Video! On Carolina's web site, there are six specimen types of Paramecium...any one that you particularly recommend?
Paramecium caudatum because it is the largest. It's easy to see.
Recently I added a dried oak leaf to a jar of ostracods and after a few days I had paramecium.
Wishful thinking was very effective I have no clue where they came from, but they are here now.
This is awesome.
Do you think it will work for infusoria, too?
Yes it will. Infusoria is an umbrella term for any microorganism, usually more on the ciliate level than microcrustacean, that fish fry might eat. Functionally they're the same thing. I like paramecium because they are easy to culture in a stable and consistent way and are also physically large enough to see without magnification. It helps to know whether a culture truly has living, edible organisms in it rather than just being putrid water.
Do you use a specific type of wheat kernals
I am thinking that a paramecium culture with an overflow (hose into the side of the container) could be used as an automatic food dispenser for small fry by adding a secondary water source with a small water-pump on a timer.
Innovative and easy. I've never successfully grown these guys so I just opted to use egg yolk lol
Maybe this will help a future attempt to be successful. I find them to be really helpful for the smallest fry that are also picky eaters.
👍🏻👍🏻
Hi Lowell, thank you for your such a creative idea to maintain the paramecium culture. I have some questions regarding the water you use for the paramecium culture. I lived in Australia and I can source the start culture from a local biological supply company. Its science name is Paramecium caudatum. However, when I tried to use pure water to do the culture by following your previous video, the result is not always satisfactory as its multiplication is not very stable. I could not maintaiin the culture for long period. I searched some information on website about how a science lab is doing that, it suggest to prepare the culture medium by adding 0.25g sodium bicarbonate into 1 liter of pure water apart from the wheat grains. Maybe the added sodium bicarbonate can be used to buffer the pH of the water. Do you think it is necessary? I don't want to make things too complicated for my hobby, but I would like to hear your comments. The purified water you use is the same as pure water that TDS is zero? Thank you.
The purpose of using purified water as I understand it is only to avoid heavy metals or other potential toxins that paramecium are particularly sensitive to. I don't remember any objective relating to water chemistry or mineral content. These days I make my cultures from my tap water run through a carbon block filter. That would be a little heavier on the mineral content. I have also raised them in RODI water. I doubt that is best for them but I didn't notice any negative impact. So in short, I don't have any reason to believe they are demanding of specific water parameters.
I also like vinagar eels
you are very handy and funny in that order. how do you come up with these ideal?
(i just bought a fry saver from you) jerry canada
Well, one thing that fish keeping is good for is filling your house with boxes of junk. Then you have to come up with creative ways to combine that junk into something "useful" to avoid admitting that you're some kind of hoarder and to justify the accumulation of more junk. This will all be used some day. This is a responsible purchase. I don't have a problem.
you should try and get an interview with jerry seinfeld to be one of his writers!@@MakeMoreFish
@Lowells Fish Lab do you think this would work for infusoria?
Yes it would work. Infusoria is an umbrella term used to describe a long and poorly defined list of small organisms that a fish fry might like to eat. More on the level of ciliates than microcrustaceans. Paramecium would absolutely be included in that list.
Thanks for this! My Java fern agrees... 😎👍
Would you ever consider culturing cyclops copepods? I managed to accidentally create several "cultures" after adding some pond sediment to a large plastic pretzel barrel with some dried leaves and soil, and then siphoning some of the buggers off the top with a pippette. Probably could be similar to culturing brine shrimp albeit freshwater instead of salt, or daphnia.
Live cyclops can be a little challenging for fish to catch and eat but for certain proficient micropredators I can see them being a great food supplement
@MakeMoreFish I guess you're right, they do move quite erratically even as nauplii.
@Lowell's Fish Lab: I have the "Fry Tray 7W x 8.6L", I have a pair of Balloon Rams actively defending the nest. I watched your instructions many times to raise Paramecium as food for newly hatched fish. I put 1 liter of purified water in the jar along with wheat that had been boiled for 15 minutes and added half of the Paramecium Caudatum purchased from Carolina Bio Supply (without yeast). I put them on a window sill without sunny. My problem now is that it looks like the Paramecium Caudatum population is decreasing, the water remains clear and the wheat grains remain unchanged after a few days. Do they have no food and are dying? I look forward to receiving your reply. Thanks Lowell.
I would say you should see the water clouding slightly. It will come on quickly as the wheat breaks down. Sometimes it can look like the paramecium are disappearing but really they are congregating closely around the wheat because there isn't much food floating around in the water column as a whole. If the situation doesn't improve then that does sound like an appropriate time to consider adding a tiny bit of yeast to kick off the process
@@MakeMoreFish Yes, I got it 👍🏻Thank you very much 🍀🐠 Good luck and success to you 🍀🐠
hi lowell, is it important to strictly culture paramecium rather than standard infusoria?
Paramecium are just one form of what we would call infusoria. I find them easy to culture consistently and also to see clearly because they are on the larger side. An infusoria culture started from a sample of aquarium water could have any number of species in it. It might work out great, you might get nothing useful, or you might get cyclops in the mix that might end up consuming everything else. You just never know. I like the control and consistency of culturing a single known species.
Do you use Paramecium over the Moina because they are easier to propogate or solely on size ?
Size. I use paramecium to feed fry that are exceptionally small and also picky eaters. Moina or brine shrimp I would use later once the fry have grown larger.
2:22 run this holesaw in reverse, it’ll melt instead of rip and tear and leave a much nicer hole (with a much safer operation)
I find vinegar eels the easiest. Are they a reasonable substitute for paramecium?
They are both useful, I would just use them in different situations. Though their diameters are similar, vinegar eels are 6-7 times longer than paramecium caudatum (which is large by paramecium standards). I use paramecium for freshly hatched fry that are too small for something like vinegar eels or baby brine shrimp. Tetras or danios for example.
Hi how can i breed peremicium , if i can't buy peremicium coulture in my country
Man I'm a nerd. Thanks for sharing this nerd tricks
Have you consider to breed red pencil fish ?
I have some beckfordi that I would like to breed
In your previous Paramecium video, you used some yeast. Does not using yeast have any positive or negative effect on the culture?
Using gram flour or yeast will make the culture BOOM but it will crash faster aswell
Positive for sure. I assume that yeast is what is actually consumed by the paramecium rather than the wheat. Adding yeast can speed up the initial growth but there's also yeast floating around in the air. It'll get into the culture no matter what.
@@MakeMoreFish Thank you
What specimen of paramecium is it ? I went to North Carolina and there is a different kind of specimens. Is it paramecium Aurelia, bursaria, caudatum?
Caudatum, specifically because they are the largest. Small enough for any fry to handle but large enough to see clearly without magnification.
Do you think popcorn kernals would work instead of wheat?
In principle, since they're both starchy, I would assume so. Ive never tried it. The kernels might have to be smashed to let water in.
@MakeMoreFish I have another question
Have you tried supplementing your baby brine shrimp but putting additives in the hatchery? I'm experimenting with adding spirulina, vitamin c, and fish oil in one of the jugs I use
Is Paramecium same as Infusoria or they are different things?
Thank you for the video!🙂
Absolutely, they're the same thing. Paramecium are just one example of hundreds or thousands of simple organisms that we would include in infusoria as an umbrella term.
@@MakeMoreFishaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, ok, thanks for clarifying that !🙂I will apply your method as my wife was very angry with me because of the smell of my water bowl with boiled potato 🤭
Do your cultures smell when set up this way?
Not noticeably. Right when I take the cap off there's a whiff of funk but otherwise, not that I notice.
I see there are several types of Paramecium. Does it matter which one to use? Is one more stable than another? Thanks
I use Paramecium Caudatum specifically for their size. At 0.2-0.3 mm, they are the largest (at the time of this writing) offered by Carolina Biological Supply. They are small enough to be eaten easily by any fry I have worked with personally, yet are large enough to be clearly visible without magnification. This makes it easy to judge the state of a culture and the density of live organisms in a sample. This is in contrast to a broad, luck-of-the-draw infusoria culture where, depending on which species happen to dominate the culture, it might be hard to judge whether you have a useful food source or just cloudy, putrid water.
@@MakeMoreFish Thank you.
Do you add yeast to this culture ?
There's a note on yeast in the pinned comment
Thats genius, I‘m not gonna lie.
wait paramecium ? as in the single celled organism , what , I thought those were microscopic how are you able to film them with a normal camera ? Do they just get that big ?
Yes, they do get that big, and they're out there.
@@MakeMoreFish That's terrifying
Why aren't you using yeast as part of this process? Is it really not necessary? Ive been culturing paramecium for years and haven't really found the best way that produces an abundant amount.
Adding yeast can help kick things off, you just have to be a little careful with the amount. Too much can turn the upper layer of the culture into soup and choke out the water beneath. Yeast also floats around in the air so it will inoculate the culture no matter what.
Have you stopped using yeast in your Paramecium cultures? Your previous video on Paramecium culture included a small amount of yeast.
Not in this case. I got to thinking recently that there is A) probably yeast present in any starter culture of paramecium and B) definitely yeast floating around in the air all around us so yeast will end up in the culture no matter what. Adding it deliberately can speed things up but as I think is shown here, it isn't strictly necessary.
@@MakeMoreFish Thanks for the reply and the post.
So, you don't use any yeast?
Sometimes I do, but it isn't strictly necessary. Yeast is floating around in the air and would be present in a starter. Yeast is involved whether it is added deliberately or not.
@@MakeMoreFish so then adding a little bit can help us get it started a little faster? Thank you for the reply.
Swap that cup out with a kueireg coffee pod filter. Simple
Do it
I once accidentally cultured paramecium with water and yeast because i was bored and wanted to see whag would happen
Didn’t get the name of the food
If you mean the food source for the paramecium, that was wheat. Whole wheat kernels briefly boiled and soaked.
"A two-inch net pot stolen from your half-dead Java fern..."
SHUT UP AND GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!
It's not your fault. All java ferns are dying, some of them just haven't died yet.
@@MakeMoreFish This just killed me! 😂🤣😭😭😭👍
I just bought 200 net cups for my hydroponic herbs! eeez pz
PAUSE!!! Plastic pot taken from my what java fern now??? U lookin in my house??? 🤣💀🤣💀🤣💀🤣💀
hey man lets not bring up the java fern ok?
It's an easy plant they said. perfect for beginners they said...
Thanks for sharing
Awesome video and well planned out. I currently live in Taiwan and have learnt some things from the locals. to keep the culture long term we use hay. A very small amount. This slowly decomposes and doesn't go bad for months. One culture has been living off a pinch for almost a year now.
What kind of hay? I tried alfalfa once and didn't have much luck. It makes sense though that it would break down slowly. Lots of cellulose.