where can i find planaria

[Xiangjia]

Last month someone found planaria at their local fish market in the shrimp tank. I'd sure like to know where that was and get some free planaria instead of ordering from a science catalog. I'm a middle school science teacher.

[Mikaila31]

Aquarium? As a bio student I know I have planaria, nematodes, cyclops, and some other life in my tank. I was actually finding some pretty big planaria that where about a cm long. I've got this wool mop that they have colonized along with my cherry shrimp, its been in there about a month.

[KShoes]

I actually infested one of my tanks by buying java moss from a mom & pop fish store. I didn't rinse the moss before tossing it in. They multiplied like crazy. I didn't have anything in there at the time so I just starved them to death and did frequent water changes.

[Diana]

You could try a local pond. You will be bringing in all sorts of life, not just planaria. Scoop up some of the goo from the bottom, and especially a few jars of green water. This may be a benefit, if you are trying to teach your students about more than just planaria. If you want a pure culture of planaria it might be better to buy from the science suppliers.

To grow a culture of stuff from a local pond I would set up a tank with no fish, very good light and moderate circulation, perhaps from a sponge filter. The wool mop suggested above would be really good. I would anchor one perhaps lower in the tank, and maybe one higher in the tank. Higher plants are likely to remove too much of the nutrients and the population of microorganisms will be low, so I would omit mosses, ferns and any other higher plants.

To feed the growing things look into several things.
These things eat very tiny foods, of course. Once the cycle is set up bacteria will decompose many of the foods you add, to the point that you will have a pretty complete ecosystem in the tank. Initially, though, I would use foods that have been pureed to a liquid in hopes that they are small enough to get eaten. Look into yeast, egg yolk, fish foods for the youngest fry such as the Liquid-Fry products, human baby food vegetables, and similar sources. Eventually you could get to the point of adding larger foods, perhaps crushed flakes, blanched vegetables or other easy to eat things, knowing the bacteria will be breaking these down.

[bulrush]

Planaria prefer to hide in slow or still waters in decaying leaf matter, that brown goop. Go to a slow bend in your local stream, scoop up a BIG helping of the brown goop, put it into a glass jar. Let the goop settle and look for planaria crawling on the glass.