Thai Red Springtails (Lobella sp.)

Most springtails are a functional off-white you never look at twice. The Thai Red is the opposite: a genuinely saturated, candy-red springtail, big and chunky enough to see with the naked eye, that happens to also do the cleanup job. It is one of the few pieces of microfauna you would keep for the look alone. Every culture we send is captive-bred here in the UK.

Introduction

This is Lobella sp. 'Thai Red', a tropical springtail that came out of Thailand in 2021 and quickly became one of the more sought-after "designer" microfauna in the hobby. Two things set it apart from an everyday springtail beyond the colour: it is noticeably larger, stout-bodied at up to around 5 mm, and it does not jump. It has no furcula, the spring most springtails use to ping across a room, so it walks calmly instead, which makes it far easier to watch and to contain than the usual popcorn-scatter culture.

What it needs

Thai Reds are seriously tropical and the one setup detail that catches people out is the substrate: they have a strong digging instinct and must be kept on deep organic soil, not the charcoal or clay that some springtails tolerate. Give at least 3 to 5 cm of organic topsoil with coconut coir or forest humus, a little sphagnum and white-rotted wood, and leaf litter on top. Keep it warm, 24 to 28°C, and humid, 85 to 95%, consistently damp throughout but not flooded, and mist with dechlorinated water. In a cool UK room over winter they stall, so a side-mounted heat mat on a thermostat keeps them productive. Get the warmth, humidity and organic-soil depth right and the rest looks after itself.

Diet

Like all springtails they graze the mould, fungi and decaying matter in the substrate, but Thai Reds are unusually protein-hungry and that is the key to a strong colony. Fish flakes are the reliable favourite, our Ultra Tropical flakes sprinkled lightly every few days, with dried daphnia or a little mushroom alongside. Skimp on the protein and the colony crawls; keep it fed and it builds.

Using them

They earn their place two ways. As a cleanup crew they suit warm, humid bioactive setups perfectly, so they pair naturally with tropical Cubaris and Ardentiella displays where the red adds another layer of interest. And their size makes them a more substantial feeder than tiny white springtails for dart frogs and other small amphibians. One tip: keep them in their own culture rather than tipping them straight into a tank with an established, faster-breeding species like Orange Springtails, which can out-compete them.

Who is this for?

Thai Reds suit the keeper who has kept springtails before and wants a premium, visible culture, the dart-frog keeper after a chunkier feeder, and the display builder who wants their cleanup crew to actually be worth looking at. They are not a first springtail, nor a budget option; if you just want cheap, invisible cleanup, start elsewhere. Our setup guide covers the bioactive basics, and culture kit is in our accessories range.

Every culture is captive-bred here in the UK and sent as an established starter portion under our live arrival guarantee, dispatched Monday to Thursday by Royal Mail next day before 1pm.