Live Springtails: Ideal surface food for fry, guppies, and bettas
What are Springtails?
Springtails are tiny arthropods (1 - 2 mm) related to insects, able to "hop" on the water surface thanks to surface tension exploited by their furca. Living between land and water, they are often on the menu of surface-feeding fish in nature. Young springtails are very small and also suitable for fry hunting at the surface. They are very easy to breed on a moist substrate, in a simple box.
Why choose Springtails as live food?
- Highly appetizing food: constant movement that instantly triggers predation.
- Stay on the surface: perfect for bettas, guppies, endlers, gouramis, surface killifish, and fry of these species.
- Extremely easy to breed: a moist substrate (untreated potting soil), a closed box, and our special springtail food. One of the easiest breeds.
- Live and natural food: complement daphnia and Grindal worm for a varied diet like in nature.
Who are Springtails intended for?
- 🐣 Fry hunting at the surface from the first week.
- 🐟 Surface-feeding fish (bettas, livebearers, killifish, dwarf gouramis...).
- 🐸 Highly sought after by most amphibians in terrariums and paludariums.
- 🔬 Educational projects for observing microfauna, studying detritivores and decomposers.
Usage tips
- 🌡️ Acclimate the bag for 10 to 15 minutes at room temperature.
- 💧 Sprinkle a few individuals directly on the surface; repeat as needed.
- 🌱 Use the substrate, where springtails are still abundant, to start your breeding.
- 📦 A simple closed box containing moist potting soil or sphagnum moss is enough. Always keep moist and feed with the special springtail food, sprinkled on the surface of the substrate.
FAQ - Springtails and aquarium
Are springtails visible to the naked eye?
Yes: their white body of 1 to 2 mm (for adults) and their jumps make them easy to spot.
Is this a complete food?
In theory, yes. But you cannot feed your fish with only springtails. For quantity reasons, but also because not all fish feed at the surface.
Can they survive in the aquarium?
They mostly stay on floating plants at the surface. If they fall into the water, fish or fry gobble them up. They are not aquatic animals.
Am I likely to have them all over my house?
No, unless your house is as humid as potting soil! They do not survive outside the moisture of their substrate.
How to feed them?
Use our special springtail food. Its micronized texture ideally maintains the micro-fungi that springtails feed on.
Additional information
Scientific name: Folsomia candida (white strain)
Size: 1 to 2 mm for adults, much smaller for the young
Packaging: strain of 50 live springtails on a moist support
Guarantee: we raise our springtails without any chemical treatment and on a non-synthetic substrate
Recommendation: even if they are not a problem for ecosystems, as a rule, do not release these organisms into the wild. But they can very well find their place in your composter where they will be useful.
