Pacman Frogs & Salamanders
Wet with small, sensitive inhabitants. High humidity.
Go with the Straightforward Choice for a simple cleanup crew or the Advanced Ecosystem suggestions to take your bioactive ecosystem to the next level!
Straightforward Choice: Springtails
Folsomia candida (Common White Springtail) - The time-tested standard and one of the best cleanup crew springtails. Very fast breeding and effective cleaners that spend much of their time below ground.
Advanced Ecosystem: Springtails
Thalassaphorura encarpata, Arrhopalites caecus, Desoria trispinata etc. Folsomia candida may outcompete the others so avoid them when aiming to maximize biodiversity in this environment. See the full species information list for picking additional species.
Straightforward Choice: Isopods
Trichorhina tomentosa (Dwarf Whites) Fast breeding and effective cleaners that spend much of their time below ground.
Advanced Ecosystem: Isopods
It is best to stick with Venezillo parvus, Trichorhina tomentosa, Trichoniscidae sp. (Dwarf Purples).
Quantity
Quantity of springtails and isopods required for a bioactive enclosures varies based on enclosure size and the amount of time the enclosure is establishing before adding the main inhabitants. As few as 50-100 springtails and 5-10 isopods per species could seed a 20 gallon enclosure if it is set up in advance and the cleanup crew is given fish food once or twice a week to help them grow in population. For the 20 gallon example I recommend 300-500 springtails and 30-50 isopods if they are needed immediately. You can get away with starting with fewer isopods or springtails in the environment and still have the main inhabitants, but it will take a while for the CuC to start performing their duties effectively.
Crucial Information
Do not use larger species of isopods which may bother or harm the main inhabitants, or simply get eaten. Pseudosinella violenta (Bylas Ant Springtails) can grow into massive populations in humid, detritus rich environments and may bother the main inhabitants. Avoid P. violenta and other fast breeding, surface active springtails.
Additional Information
Always provide a thick layer of leaf litter for the cleanup crew to hide in and graze on. For a naturalistic look, I recommend adding crushed maple leaves on the floor with live oak and magnolia leaves on top. Fallen leaves make up a large part of the isopod diet and soft leaves like maple are their preference. Springtails will also graze on the maple leaves as they decay. Ideally, the soil in the enclosure should have some detritus (like compost) for an additional food source. If mixing up your own soil blend, add crushed leaves and white rot wood to the soil or purchase a high quality compost or topsoil to mix in. Detritus as it breaks down further is also food for your plants. Supplemental feeding with fish food is a great way to keep the cleanup crew population thriving and ready to tackle the main inhabitant's waste.