Infusoria is a loose term applied to organisms little sufficient to be fed to the very tiny young of most of the egg layers prior to they’re old sufficient to be fed with sifted daphnia and brine shrimps.
To prepare infusoria, place squashed lettuce leaves in a quart of water, and leave out in the sun and air. The minute infusoria spores will settle on the water from the atmosphere and multiply on the products of the decaying lettuce. Chopped hay may also be utilized for preparing a culture, it is initial boiled, then stood in a dark place.
It is advisable, although breeding, to begin a new culture every four days to make certain a continuous supply. The water from a vase that has contained chrysanthemums is also an outstanding source of infusoria. Potatoes, banana skins, and crushed chrysanthemum leaves left in water for a couple of days, all offer a great infusion.
A little microscope is helpful to see how rich the culture has turn out to be. Place a spot of water taken from the top of the jar on the glass slide, and examine. The spot should be teeming with life moving about like fine dust. Green water is actually a type of infusoria.
A couple of tropical infusoria snails (Ampullaria palu-dosa) put into a tank will soon result in a culture of infusoria, the partly digested droppings providing the essential food. These snails feed on lettuce so make certain that there is always some accessible for them.
Outstanding cultures might be made from dried lettuce leaves or duckweed. The leaves are thoroughly dried in an oven and stored in jars until needed. This provides a way of making infusoria all of the year round.