Tank Helpers!

[Deleted]

Hiya i am going to add some compost worms to my snails tank but i heard alot of you talking about woodlice, can i just randomly get a woodlouce and another and make them breed then let the parentsd free and keep the babies to clean the tank?

[crossless]

Compost worms are good use as cleaning animals remember just find what species can handle that temperature what your room usually is some worms can't tolerate more than +15celsius.

You just need to remember that you have to change soil/peat when it's "done" to worms poop is like fertilizer. Worms can't live in their own poop so when soil looks really dark and black you need to change it to new soil and take worms out from old soil to new soil.

I think theres now days some guides how to keep up worm compost and how it works. So you could read more about worm compost to learn more about worms that way.

I'm planning too in summer but some worms in my snail tank. But I have read that in my country that species which can handle room temperature it's harder to find dealer who sells them so I think it's easier and faster way get some worms is to dig them from wild when summer comes.

[coyote]

You can definitely get woodlice from outside and put them in your tank. You can't make them breed, any more than you can make snails breed. But if the conditions are right they will reproduce, and you will have a population of woodlice in your tank.

[Deleted]

Well i didn't meen Make them breed but like letthem breed, Will tey have any pests or will they be happy enough, Also what conditions just some soil food and light in a take away tub till they breed? How will i know if they breed? Can they climb up tank walls (plastic)? Willl they bother my smaller snails? I have a helix aspersa in with my grves who has recently lost his mate in a tragic drown, He has dints and sices in hisshell (you can't see his insides though and he seems fne) Will they bother him?

[coyote]

My woodlice have never been able to climb the plastic walls of my tank. They do climb around on the stuff inside the tank, but not up the walls themselves.

You will see tiny baby woodlice when they have bred. They look like miniature adults.

I don't do anything special for the woodlice. Whatever I do for my snails seems to suit the woodlice just fine. All the species appear to coexist quite well when I leave them be.

[pandora]

I used to have woodlice before, until I forgot to spray em and they died anyways they can't climb slippery surfaces unless if they are covered in dry mud dragged along by the snails for example, which may be a problem if they escape through the air holes. I’m not sure if this applies to all woodlice but you will know if they have been breeding by looking at their undersides and finding tons of baby woodlice attached. Hope that helps

[Deleted]

Ok thanks ill go get some woodlice today put them in a take away tub with air holes make it all habitat like then when they are ready to breed ill keep the adults in container but put the babies in the tank

[coyote]

I've read that woodlice prefer to lay eggs beneath pieces of wood or bark, so keep a little bit of one or the other in the tank. I have 2 or 3 small pieces of wood (roughly 2.5cm by 8cm) lying on the substrate in my tank, just for the woodlice.