Hypoaspis lifespan

[Tigs]

Iv just ordered the manitory 10,000 of the helpful critters and was wondering if there is a way to keep the population alive after they iradicate the original infestion? Im dividing the shipment with friends so assume 3K of them will be enough for 4 tanks

I was thinking of having a feeder tank that i put the left over food in - To keep the nasty mites alive and thus a food source for the Hypoaspis. Is this needed or do they find their own population level and do the business?

Thanks

Tigs

[Paul]

They will eat vegetable matter at need but their population will dwindle massively. I toyed with the idea of bringing in food from outside, but you risk introducing new pests to the tanks.

The best thing to do is to start a springtail + hypoaspis colony. They eat all stages, springtails are harmless to snails, and they breed rapidly. Not sure how you'll keep 1000s of Hypoaspis alive though, even with prey, but they will expand when prey becomes available.

I think you have to use lots of mites as a curative, but keeping mites as a preventative will require a lot less, so that should be the aim of any colony you start. If you don't replace the soil very often, you'll be surprised at how long they hang around for anyway.

I would have thought 3000 is fine for your tanks but as I'm saying in the article that isn't yet finished, the trick is to clean everything out, replace the soil, clean your snails and then apply the mites. That way, you are completely overwhelming the problematic mites. Generally with biological controls, they are a control rather than a cure. But used in that way, they can be used to completely wipe out the riccardoella.

[Tigs]

Brilliant.

Thanks loads for the info Paul. ;D