Thank you so much! I really appreciate your support. It all comes down to the love for mother nature and the truth about how connected everything really is. It's the whole-listic approach. You know exactly what I'm talking about! 😁😁😁
My goal is to provide a value for your money. It's a lot of work putting orders together but it's the best way I can share my experience with mother nature.
Just received my order. I could some little bugs darting around swimming in the bag. Dumped it straight into my tank right into the forrest of plants. Thanks again Tony!
So glad as well! He is very generous with his info and promoting others! I will probably be on one of his livestreams soon if not next Sun. Thank you for the interest!
I just recieved both orders of bag of bugs and Im so excited to add this to my natural aquarium. Thank you for such a great product, I'll be ordering more in the future!
This looks like an awesome product... a million times better than any "bacteria in a bottle" half-measure hacks. I have a 75 gallon tank that I set up with a bag of leaf litter and a starter culture from Father Fish. When payday comes again, I'm adding a Bag of Bugs to it. I love your content, keep it coming!!!
I love that you sell these. I am in the direction of natural, but am missing some of the key species for this sort of thing and am so happy I was able to purchse one of these to help out :)
I have ordered two of these bags (among other items) from PFW. Quick shipping and no issues on arrival. It has been fun to introduce them to my tanks as I convert over to more natural aquariums. I can't say many of the scuds survived long, but they are cool to watch. Hopefully a few hid in the substrate or heavy foliage areas to survive. Thanks PFW!
You're welcome, and thank you so much for the support! I have been lucky enough to observe scuds in many tank settings. They always surprise me with how well they hide from fish... In a fish-less tank, scuds will swim and crawl around in the open all day long. Same with other creatures like copepods and worms. With the introduction of fish, all those creatures will vanish very quickly. You will see the fish eating and snacking on them. But with the right kind of natural habitat, the fish can never get them all... Sometimes, it looks like the fish have eaten all of the microfauna but if you remove the fish and give it some time, the missing creatures come right back. I have also been surprised by scuds being able to survive and grow a population with fish and very little cover. In some of my fish breeding barrels, the only cover the scuds have is mulm, a few dozen dime sized snail shells at the bottom, a thick layer of duckweed and a few sparse pieces of hornwort. Even while sharing this space with 100+ hungry fish, the scuds still have a growing population that equals their food supply. Thanks again! 😁😁😁
This is the product of my dreams, it’s perfect for seeding ecosystem tanks. Have you considered adding Asellus aquaticus (aquatic isopods) into the mix?
Man! I am so mad I JUST found your website!!! I have wasted SO much money buying my cultures from eBay 😫 I just bought a similar product that is smaller, not nearly as much in it and twice the price… YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!
What an excellent idea for a product! If only you shipped to Canada as well. It's so difficult to find something like this (or any live food/cultures, for that matter) where I am.
@@tonysaurusrex6718 I've been checking online stores and kijiji regularly to see if I can find live food cultures. I want to raise daphnia or moina and scuds, so hopefully I can eventually start selling them too.
Oh, this is AWESOME. I've always wanted a natural style aquarium and I'm also trying to expand on live foods for my pea puffers and other fish. This looks the best of both worlds. Though you can keep that nightmare fuel you call "duckweed". 😋
@phillipsfishworks Actually I changed my mind. I decided to setup a 10 gallon with these critters. 2 male endlers and 4 ghost shrimp. I figure that with only 2 male endlers that the fish won't wipe out the colony. I do want to use an established colony to put in a 55 gallon nano later this summer.
Cool! Had seed shrimp from live foods brought inside but haven't figured out how to sustain them. I do keep scuds and I have found many baby fish in these tanks when I put hornwort in them. I figured out what I thought was a dirty tank wasn't!
You nailed it. Many times it's a simple shift perception. We are taught the "outside" is dirty and everything needs to be sanitized... Turns out overstarilization disrupts balance and creates issues. Thanks for the comment!
@phillipsfishworks Had a baby Cory show up! A couple of rainbows too. I think I will put the adult Cories in there and give them lots of rocks to hide in. I bet I will see more soon!
@phillipsfishworks Will pick up some of your Mico critters soon. Am curious to see if I can keep them going. Always seemed like the way to go with fry.
Received our bag of bugs a three days ago, after preparing the 75g with a layer of leaves, everything is going well. we've not seen any microfauna activity, but the pair of pea puffers behavior shows that they are seeing things and benefitting from enrichment. Sadly there were no snails to be seen in our bags which I was hoping for but i also understand that each batch is a mixed bag depending on what's available but there were plenty of other critters including a good half dozen chunky scuds. Once we've added another layer of leaves to the tank i fully intend to buy 2 more bags to diversify the whole operation, hopefully the next batch will have more of the same and other variants. Would recommend!
Do you happen to know what species of scuds these are? I was wondering if they would be able to survive and reproduce in a 78F tank, and 84-86F when the yearly heat wave strikes.
It can be very difficult to identify different species of scuds. I originally sourced my scuds from Goliad Farms in Texas. He says he had his scuds identified as Hyalella azteca. I have not verified this, but he's very professional and has been doing this for a very long time... they reproduce best in the range of 69-86 degF but can tolerate up to 95 DegF. Hope that answers your question. Thanks for your interest!
I plan on buying at least two, maybe three bags. Should I add them before adding fish to a new tank? I am about to set up a few Father Fish Style tanks, but I am debating between adding a bag o bugs before or after the 1st couple of fish per tank.
That can be a tough question to answer... Lots of factors. Like how many fish you have in the tank, What is the habitat, How much cover is there for the small creatures... One bag will definitely get you started and the microorganisms populations will grow over time. Multiple bags will speed that process up, but again, there are lots of factors that play into it.
Just bought one of these, looking forward to getting it! Would you recommend drip acclimating before adding to an established tank, or is everything good to just dump in?
That's up to you! Everything can go right in... If the temperature seems way different I would acclimate for temperature by floating the bag to reduce that stress. Thanks for the support!
i just set up my very first planted tank (10 ga) and this is pretty much exactly how i wanted to start up my tank. this is super tempting. can i ask if it comes with like seed shrimp, ostracods, copepods, daphina, water fleas, ext?
I have a 6 gallon aquarium, with a betta, 3 pygmy corydora's, 2 ghost shrimp, 3 amino shrimps, a rabbit snail and a nerite snail. I know that's quite a bit of life in the tank, and I'm considering removing the nerite snail. But would this package make the tank better or worse?
hmm… contemplating whether to get this. It seems a bit expensive; about $30. do you do any sales perhaps? I’m also afraid that if I get this all the microorganisms will die. are they hardy and easy to keep?
Do most of these micro fauna develop naturally with materials like the gum seeds? Or are you adding the micro fauna to the seeds, leaves, etc? I have added various plants and sunken drift wood from my local area from healthy water ways in order to introduce this to my tanks. This has made a massive boost to my tanks health but I wonder if this would be even better…
The microfauna only develops if it is added in some way... There are many ways that can happen. Adding plants and material out of existing systems is one way... If the leaves, Seed pods or other material is going into the tank dry then there will be no aquatic life forms on them to grow... Adding some kind of microfauna culture will definitely boost the variety of organisms. Thank you for the comment and keep experimenting!
There has been lots of success with adding them right away but I would recommend a minimum of a few days to let the initial stabilization of the water happen... Is it necessary to wait the traditional length of time for the "aquarium to cycle"? That's not necessary in my experience. Thanks for the interest
Probably on some level... I had a tank once with a lot of black worms living in the substrate and also had lots of scuds in it. Never noticed the scuds eating on the worms and the worm population was growing... I would recommend experimenting with it in a separate container. If you wanna find out for yourself anyways... Thanks for the comment. 😁
I need one fore Brackish water. I have Opae Ula and they live in water that has some salt in it. My bag I got for my Betta is doing Great I might order another one to put more in my tank.
You've got me curious about experimenting with brakish water. Something I've looked into in the past but never got serious about... Thank you so much for the support! 😁😁😁
If there was a version with it the snails I would buy now. Not that I don’t love snails, but they’re in my room tank. The “house/family tank” has a no-snail rule 😢
Not likely. I have introduced daphnia into the system several times but they haven't really established themselves. They can be a little more tedious to culture and on a larger scale do better outside.
The short answer is no... The reason being there's no way I can guarantee a scud free culture. I keep scuds in all of my barrels and tanks. With scud babies being so tiny there would be no way for me to be sure they didn't hitch hike in on a plant, leaf or seed pod... I have considered starting scud free microfauna tanks but I feel they are so beneficial to the ecosystem that I struggle to start a tank without them. Also I'm always in need of more so I don't want to take up the valuable floor space in the room with scud free tanks... Thank you so much for the interest. Thanks for the comment.
in my tank i have thousands of seed shrimp hundreds of cepopods detritus worms i have 2 tiny ramshorn snails 40+ red cherry shrimp and unfortunatly I had to eradicate the planaria and snail leeches because this is a breeding tank
@@phillipsfishworks I have a looking glass type scope thing so I'm able to see the tiny seed shrimp much better the females are so huge compared to males
@kathleenbronson9849 I read a testimonial from a Canadian who had success by getting a large bucket and putting mud/sand from a lake or creek, water from the same and plenty of dead leaves. He said in about a month it was teeming with little critters to add to the aquarium.
absolutely LOVE your work!!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate your support. It all comes down to the love for mother nature and the truth about how connected everything really is. It's the whole-listic approach. You know exactly what I'm talking about! 😁😁😁
Ahaaa!!!
just brilliant that you provide this to anyonne that wants it. under $30 with shipping. lets gooooo
My goal is to provide a value for your money. It's a lot of work putting orders together but it's the best way I can share my experience with mother nature.
Just received my order. I could some little bugs darting around swimming in the bag. Dumped it straight into my tank right into the forrest of plants. Thanks again Tony!
Thank you so much! The support is always appreciated! 😁😁😁
Just received my bag of bugs all in great condition! With free clay ornaments!Thanks Tony! -Enrico
Thank you so much for your support!
Found you on the Father Fish livestream recently. So glad he shouted you out :)
So glad as well! He is very generous with his info and promoting others! I will probably be on one of his livestreams soon if not next Sun.
Thank you for the interest!
I just recieved both orders of bag of bugs and Im so excited to add this to my natural aquarium. Thank you for such a great product, I'll be ordering more in the future!
I wish you shipped to Germany. I'm glad that I found your channel.
This looks like an awesome product... a million times better than any "bacteria in a bottle" half-measure hacks. I have a 75 gallon tank that I set up with a bag of leaf litter and a starter culture from Father Fish. When payday comes again, I'm adding a Bag of Bugs to it. I love your content, keep it coming!!!
Thanks so much for the comment! I couldn't agree with you more! More to come! 😁😁😁
I love that you sell these. I am in the direction of natural, but am missing some of the key species for this sort of thing and am so happy I was able to purchse one of these to help out :)
I have ordered two of these bags (among other items) from PFW. Quick shipping and no issues on arrival. It has been fun to introduce them to my tanks as I convert over to more natural aquariums. I can't say many of the scuds survived long, but they are cool to watch. Hopefully a few hid in the substrate or heavy foliage areas to survive. Thanks PFW!
You're welcome, and thank you so much for the support! I have been lucky enough to observe scuds in many tank settings. They always surprise me with how well they hide from fish... In a fish-less tank, scuds will swim and crawl around in the open all day long. Same with other creatures like copepods and worms. With the introduction of fish, all those creatures will vanish very quickly. You will see the fish eating and snacking on them. But with the right kind of natural habitat, the fish can never get them all... Sometimes, it looks like the fish have eaten all of the microfauna but if you remove the fish and give it some time, the missing creatures come right back. I have also been surprised by scuds being able to survive and grow a population with fish and very little cover. In some of my fish breeding barrels, the only cover the scuds have is mulm, a few dozen dime sized snail shells at the bottom, a thick layer of duckweed and a few sparse pieces of hornwort. Even while sharing this space with 100+ hungry fish, the scuds still have a growing population that equals their food supply.
Thanks again! 😁😁😁
This is the product of my dreams, it’s perfect for seeding ecosystem tanks. Have you considered adding Asellus aquaticus (aquatic isopods) into the mix?
Thanks Phillip! I have a 10 gallon tank that I’ve done this a few years going now🙂 scuds snails and a lot of micro organisms. Really a fun tank!
Yes! A total blast to observe.
Thanks for the comment!
Man! I am so mad I JUST found your website!!! I have wasted SO much money buying my cultures from eBay 😫 I just bought a similar product that is smaller, not nearly as much in it and twice the price… YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!
Oh this is awesome. I set up a planted tank in January and I think a bag of bugs would be a perfect addition.
Thank you so much for the interest 😁😁😁
Can't wait to get these! I want to start culturing my microfauna before I invest in my tetra tank
Thank you so much for the support!
That's brilliant. Will buy when I get my next tank up and running.
Glad to hear it. We will be ready. Thank you for the interest and comment!
What an excellent idea for a product! If only you shipped to Canada as well. It's so difficult to find something like this (or any live food/cultures, for that matter) where I am.
Thank you and unfortunately I do not at this time. Thank you for watching and the comment. Keep experimenting, you can build your own!
Hello fellow Canadian, let me know if you find a good alternative!
@@tonysaurusrex6718 I've been checking online stores and kijiji regularly to see if I can find live food cultures. I want to raise daphnia or moina and scuds, so hopefully I can eventually start selling them too.
@@PomeloYTI also live in Canada ....let me know if you find anyone who can provide something like Bag of Bugs! Hello from Vancouver Island!!🇨🇦
Oh, this is AWESOME. I've always wanted a natural style aquarium and I'm also trying to expand on live foods for my pea puffers and other fish. This looks the best of both worlds. Though you can keep that nightmare fuel you call "duckweed". 😋
🤣🤣🤣 I hear you on the duckweed!
Looking forward to my package arriving. I had just recently setup a 5.5 gallon tank for these critters.
Thank you so much for the order. It's on its way. Sounds like the perfect set up!
@phillipsfishworks Actually I changed my mind. I decided to setup a 10 gallon with these critters. 2 male endlers and 4 ghost shrimp. I figure that with only 2 male endlers that the fish won't wipe out the colony. I do want to use an established colony to put in a 55 gallon nano later this summer.
@@Dave-kr9lk Sounds like a great plan... They will hide and reproduce.
Hey Tony, just placed my first order!
Hey! It's very exciting to have your support!
Cool! Had seed shrimp from live foods brought inside but haven't figured out how to sustain them. I do keep scuds and I have found many baby fish in these tanks when I put hornwort in them. I figured out what I thought was a dirty tank wasn't!
You nailed it. Many times it's a simple shift perception. We are taught the "outside" is dirty and everything needs to be sanitized... Turns out overstarilization disrupts balance and creates issues.
Thanks for the comment!
@phillipsfishworks Had a baby Cory show up! A couple of rainbows too. I think I will put the adult Cories in there and give them lots of rocks to hide in. I bet I will see more soon!
@Robert Baker With plenty of cover and habitat you will see babies. That's awesome!
@phillipsfishworks Will pick up some of your Mico critters soon. Am curious to see if I can keep them going. Always seemed like the way to go with fry.
@Robert Baker we will be here when you're ready. Thanks for the interest!
Hi Tony - love your product! How many bags would you recommend for a heavily planted 30g community tank? Tank is 36”Lx12”Wx16”H. Thank you!
So very good😇😇👍👍
Thanks for the interest! 😁😁😁
Received our bag of bugs a three days ago, after preparing the 75g with a layer of leaves, everything is going well. we've not seen any microfauna activity, but the pair of pea puffers behavior shows that they are seeing things and benefitting from enrichment. Sadly there were no snails to be seen in our bags which I was hoping for but i also understand that each batch is a mixed bag depending on what's available but there were plenty of other critters including a good half dozen chunky scuds.
Once we've added another layer of leaves to the tank i fully intend to buy 2 more bags to diversify the whole operation, hopefully the next batch will have more of the same and other variants. Would recommend!
Do you happen to know what species of scuds these are? I was wondering if they would be able to survive and reproduce in a 78F tank, and 84-86F when the yearly heat wave strikes.
It can be very difficult to identify different species of scuds. I originally sourced my scuds from Goliad Farms in Texas. He says he had his scuds identified as Hyalella azteca. I have not verified this, but he's very professional and has been doing this for a very long time... they reproduce best in the range of 69-86 degF but can tolerate up to 95 DegF.
Hope that answers your question. Thanks for your interest!
Just order my bag of bugs before the holidays and I am super excited!
I just orderd another bag of bugs and micro worm s for my tiny red pencil babies
i love this
Oh I want to try this!! I want to get a food web going
I plan on buying at least two, maybe three bags. Should I add them before adding fish to a new tank? I am about to set up a few Father Fish Style tanks, but I am debating between adding a bag o bugs before or after the 1st couple of fish per tank.
Hey, what’s the difference between bag of bugs and new and improved bag of bugs? Does the new and improved version have more micro fauna?
Do you need one bag for a 29 gal. tank or more. Also how long will it take to supply enough for the fish to servive on
That can be a tough question to answer... Lots of factors. Like how many fish you have in the tank, What is the habitat, How much cover is there for the small creatures... One bag will definitely get you started and the microorganisms populations will grow over time. Multiple bags will speed that process up, but again, there are lots of factors that play into it.
Just bought one of these, looking forward to getting it! Would you recommend drip acclimating before adding to an established tank, or is everything good to just dump in?
That's up to you! Everything can go right in... If the temperature seems way different I would acclimate for temperature by floating the bag to reduce that stress. Thanks for the support!
i just set up my very first planted tank (10 ga) and this is pretty much exactly how i wanted to start up my tank. this is super tempting.
can i ask if it comes with like seed shrimp, ostracods, copepods, daphina, water fleas, ext?
I have a 6 gallon aquarium, with a betta, 3 pygmy corydora's, 2 ghost shrimp, 3 amino shrimps, a rabbit snail and a nerite snail. I know that's quite a bit of life in the tank, and I'm considering removing the nerite snail. But would this package make the tank better or worse?
Love it!
Thanks for watching 👀 😁
They don't deliver to the UK! does anyone know some alternatives that do or have advice on doing it yourself?
I ordered your Bag of Bugs this week. Can I continue to use my HOB filter? It only has a sponge and small lava rocks in it.
hmm… contemplating whether to get this. It seems a bit expensive; about $30. do you do any sales perhaps? I’m also afraid that if I get this all the microorganisms will die. are they hardy and easy to keep?
I already have an established copepod ostracod culture,i think I'll add this to my res jar
Would definitely be a great edition! Thanks for the interest!
Would definitely be a great edition! Thanks for the interest!
Great recipe
Do most of these micro fauna develop naturally with materials like the gum seeds? Or are you adding the micro fauna to the seeds, leaves, etc?
I have added various plants and sunken drift wood from my local area from healthy water ways in order to introduce this to my tanks. This has made a massive boost to my tanks health but I wonder if this would be even better…
The microfauna only develops if it is added in some way... There are many ways that can happen. Adding plants and material out of existing systems is one way... If the leaves, Seed pods or other material is going into the tank dry then there will be no aquatic life forms on them to grow... Adding some kind of microfauna culture will definitely boost the variety of organisms. Thank you for the comment and keep experimenting!
Did you take this directly from the pond? Make one video about this please
No, these cultures are taken from our indoor, closed-loop system. Thanks for the comment!
Nice! Will get one on Friday. Will be good for a betta ecosystem tank right?
Yes they are great for betta tanks! They do well in pretty much any tank. Thanks for the interest and comment!
Will these get killed by filters? My tidal 35 filter doesnt really have a way to use a sponge on the intake.
No, they will not be killed traveling through a filter. They are tough little creatures!
Do you recommend adding these day one of a new planted tank or waiting?
There has been lots of success with adding them right away but I would recommend a minimum of a few days to let the initial stabilization of the water happen... Is it necessary to wait the traditional length of time for the "aquarium to cycle"? That's not necessary in my experience. Thanks for the interest
is there a place in Canada that sells something like this?
Nice I like it …. But only the snail 🐌 is the problem 😅
I have enough 😅 if they were just inadvertent instead of a feature I could deal ETA even with squishing the littles for fish food
To each their own. We love snails here!!! 🐌🐌🐌 Thanks for the comment!
Can scuds and blackworms peacefully coexist the same culture tank?
Probably on some level... I had a tank once with a lot of black worms living in the substrate and also had lots of scuds in it. Never noticed the scuds eating on the worms and the worm population was growing... I would recommend experimenting with it in a separate container. If you wanna find out for yourself anyways... Thanks for the comment. 😁
Will the scuds hurt my babies neocaridina shrimp?
So if I had to do a water change just skim water off the top so I do not suck up scuds?
That would probably work. I'm waiting until I don't have to do anymore water changes (the tannins are gone) before I add a bag of bugs like this.
I need one fore Brackish water. I have Opae Ula and they live in water that has some salt in it. My bag I got for my Betta is doing Great I might order another one to put more in my tank.
You've got me curious about experimenting with brakish water. Something I've looked into in the past but never got serious about... Thank you so much for the support! 😁😁😁
Does the bag of bugs come with pest snails?
If there was a version with it the snails I would buy now. Not that I don’t love snails, but they’re in my room tank. The “house/family tank” has a no-snail rule 😢
Would it survive shipping to Poland?
They would probably survive but we only ship within the Continental US. Thanks for your interest!
I want to purchase this, how do I order them
Hi, thanks for the interest! Our website is where you order. PhillipsFishWorks.com
Does anybody know of a similar product in germany/europe?
Does this include daphnia?
Not likely. I have introduced daphnia into the system several times but they haven't really established themselves. They can be a little more tedious to culture and on a larger scale do better outside.
Possible to get these without Rams if I plan to put this culture in with a rabbit snail colony?
If not thats perfectly fine
Did you reach out with your order info to get a replacement? Email phillipsfishworks@gmail.com if you had an issue with your order.
Yes. Just seen the response. Thanks. @@phillipsfishworks
Why does no one ship to Canada!? 😭
Can you order this without scuds?
The short answer is no... The reason being there's no way I can guarantee a scud free culture. I keep scuds in all of my barrels and tanks. With scud babies being so tiny there would be no way for me to be sure they didn't hitch hike in on a plant, leaf or seed pod... I have considered starting scud free microfauna tanks but I feel they are so beneficial to the ecosystem that I struggle to start a tank without them. Also I'm always in need of more so I don't want to take up the valuable floor space in the room with scud free tanks... Thank you so much for the interest. Thanks for the comment.
Why don't you want the scuds?
this man is selling pond water for 60 bucks! 😂
Theres no parasites right?
in my tank i have thousands of seed shrimp hundreds of cepopods detritus worms i have 2 tiny ramshorn snails 40+ red cherry shrimp and unfortunatly I had to eradicate the planaria and snail leeches because this is a breeding tank
I always love seeing the different creatures in abundance!
@@phillipsfishworks I have a looking glass type scope thing so I'm able to see the tiny seed shrimp much better the females are so huge compared to males
@@ornn6177 That's awesome.
I would love to order your Bag of Bugs!! Unfortunately, I live in Canada...do you know anyone in my country who could help....🇨🇦
Thanks for the interests. Wish I could ship across the border... Unfortunately I do not know anyone. Keep looking around though!
@kathleenbronson9849 I read a testimonial from a Canadian who had success by getting a large bucket and putting mud/sand from a lake or creek, water from the same and plenty of dead leaves. He said in about a month it was teeming with little critters to add to the aquarium.