Infusoria

Is Infusoria and green water the same thing?

 

Pea Soup

My Discus Fry seem to grow a lot faster in green water, is this usual?

 

I actually posted a similar request for info on this. It seems that if you raise fish in green water they grow faster and turn out more healthy looking than their clear water friends.

The thing with Discus is that they are fussy about clean water. I don't know how long you can have them in there. This is , in my opinion, the best way to grow healthy fry. Some breeders see no need for BBS/Microworms because the green water provides a term of food suitable for the fry stage of the fish. Once they hit 2cm, they will need blood worms / live food and crushed pellets.

TM

 

is the green water actually infusoria, is it the same thing?

 

Well, the green water is a mixture of Infusorians and algae. Basically the same thing.

 

That explains the growth im getting. Wonderful

 

Infusoria refers to the micro-organisms, that exist in almost any tank that has living things in it. Tiny fry can actually eat the infusdoria to grow big enough for things like baby brine shrimp, microworms or daphnia. Daphnia is a generic name for several small types of crustaceans. In a culture they look like this.

 

Does green water mean that their are more infusoria than in a clear water tank? what i am really trying to figure out is are my fry eating green water? sounds stupid!

 

Here is a picture of green water







The microscopic image is what's in green water. If you have plants in your clear tank, chances are that there is some infusorians in the water.

Infusoria is not just one organism but many colonies that are collectively called infusoria. This is what your fish eat but as you may know, your discus fry wont really require this as they feed off the parents slime until they are bigger.

TM

 

I am aware of the parent slime but would love to be able to compliment their diets with other naturally occuring organisims, almost like in the wild. i have introduced daphnia into the tank but cant see much in the pea soup, just the occasional sighting of parents with a really substantial brood. as i said the growth rate is amazing. No plants just a massive trickle sump

 

Awesome!

I also searched for alternative live freshwater food for my fry. I'm sure there is some water fly that has tiny enough larvae.

TM