9/21/2021: Captive bred commando isopods ahoy once more!

Sometimes you get a second chance with a species you didn’t think you’d see again. Some time in 2016 I received a group of Alloniscus perconvexus, or as the collector Ben Senigaglia nicknamed them due to their camo coloration and beach-crawling habits, commando isopods. I gave the species an earnest effort while living a different life at a different place, and despite having some captive breeding success, ultimately the set-up was too stagnant and undynamic so the colony piddled out when subjected to minor neglect.

I was able to finally get another chance with this species this spring and went all-in on a set-up I felt in my gut would work. I can say after almost half a year the results speak for themselves and I now have a good colony established without even substantial wild caught progenitor losses!

These large, heavy isopods are not for your fair-weather isopod collector and do require saline conditions in their substrate; however, filtration of any sort is not necessary. I suspect the set-up, which consists of a sand layer, a separating cloth layer, and a bottom rocky layer that is kept saturated with “fake” sea water, will need to be refreshed eventually, but that could be a year from now, two years, five years, etc. Until then I have enjoyed the active antics of these bulky bois and hope to have a red/orange mutant line proved out by next summer!

I’ll be re-adding the page to the site with these additional notes when I get a chance, but for now enjoy this family photo!

-Kyle