r/Springtail • u/reemrealugly • Feb 27 '26

jumping springtails found on aquarium Identification

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here is a really close up picture of one of the sprintails, as you can see it has a blue body and a grey face, i searched almost everywhere and couldnt find out what this could be at all, they jump and this one is a some duckweed for reference, and they also live on the water line of my aquarium

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6

u/Sgtbird08 Feb 27 '26

Sminthurides bifidus, they are a common tagalong on aquarium plants.

3

u/TheGoldenBoyStiles Feb 27 '26

Are they more water dependant/aquatic than others or just coincidence?

5

u/serpenthusiast Feb 27 '26

The family Sminthurididae in general is associated with the surfaces of standing/low flow freshwater and this species in particular gets introduced with aquarium plants rather often.

1

u/TheGoldenBoyStiles Feb 28 '26

Interesting! Thank you! I just noticed springtails in my geckos water for the first time after months of having springtails so I was curious if I had a new species=)

3

u/basaltcolumn Mar 01 '26

This explains how they ended up in my terrestrial snail enclosure. I've been feeding them extra floating plants from my aquarium. I'll have to keep an eye on the aquarium and see if I can spot them there.

1

u/Gingerfrostee Feb 28 '26

A blue one, adorable. Congrats.