Sources for starter cultures. If you're even mildly curious about culturing flies and worms and lesser crustacea to feed your fish, you'll need starter cultures. If you don't have a friend who can start you off, nor a local fish club that holds meetings where starter cultures are exchanged, then the folks listed below will sell you starter cultures. Listing them here for your convenience doesn't imply that I guarantee any aspect of your e-transactions, naturally.

High Prairie Farms: The Bug Farm http://livefoodcultures.com/ Long, well-written articles and good photos, even good weblinks. This aquarist-oriented site is a great place to start if you're interested in live food cultures.

Aquaculture Supply, Dade City FL http://www.aquaculture-supply.com/ Very extensive, downloadable catalog. Specializing in cultures of microalgae, rotifers, artemia, daphnia, with fish-farming operations especially in mind. Their Plankton Culture Manual now in its 5th edition, is the bible.

Carolina Biological Supply http://www.carolina.com/ This is a grand old operation. Great expansive site, focused on science-teaching supplies.

Larva Tech http://members.aol.com/larval1/critters.htm The website has an informative "Critter Page" that even introduces you to some invertebrates that they aren't selling in starter cultures. How cool is that? —but couldn't they have picked a less confusing URL than "larval1" eh? Larva Tech are at P.O. Box 641541, Los Angeles CA 90064-1541.

L.F.S. Cultures, in University MS. http://www.lfscultures.com Another source for starter cultures of Euglena (green water), fruit flies, several species of daphnia etc. any of which they will mail to you.

Sachs Systems Aquaculture, St. Augustine FL (since 1988. online since 1996): http://www.aquaculturestore.com/index.html Personal atmosphere of a small family-run operation. An amazing list that extends way beyond freshwater invertebrates, for schools and water quality labs as well as aquarists. Good culturing techniques.