Infusoria is an old fashioned name for aquatic microorganisms such as Protozoa and unicellular algae. Aquarists feed infusoria to their tiniest fish fry, such as those of tetras, gouramis and bettas. These fry are too small to eat microworms or brine shrimps. If you want to breed small egglayers, then you will need infusoria.

How to get Infusoria?

Well, they are already present in small numbers in all tanks. You will need your own culture if you were to breed a batch of fry. Basically, protozoa eat bacteria, so the procedure is to set up a culture of decomposing organic material which feeds the bacteria and to introduce an infusoria starter.

Culturing Infusoria

Fill one gallon jar with water from your tank. Tap water contains chemicals which kill infusoria. Add a handful of grass or lettuce leaves. You may go for any organic material, but stick to vegetable matter as meat tend to produce a foul-smelling culture. Put in the sun for a few days until the water goes cloudy.

Whatever you might read elsewhere, you CANNOT see infusoria with the naked eye. The cloudiness is bacterial growth on which the infusoria feed, which is of no value as food for fish. Use a turkey baster or eyedropper to feed water from your jar to your breeding tank.