# DIY ecosphere



## vincent_01 (Oct 18, 2011)

Hello, i want to make an ecosphere but i was thinking what sort of fish/invertrebrate can i do in it and what sort of plants?


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## vincent_01 (Oct 18, 2011)

Before I forgot I'm making it in an old lava lamp.


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## vincent_01 (Oct 18, 2011)

I think I found the perfect fish the dwarf goby
does anyone has some info about him.


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## Kehy (Apr 19, 2011)

personally, I'd use a larger tank for your project. The smaller the bowl or container, the more likely you are to kill off your fauna (animals/fish/inverts). I'd personally start with a 5 or 10 gallon aquarium, which would give you plenty of room to make mistakes and would also give you more room to observe the goings-on in your ecosphere. (which is half the fun) You can add more plants and animals to a larger tank as well.

Right now I have one going on that's just plants, snails, and dirt in a bowl. It seems balanced as it is. Realize though, I'm using something that most likely has the same volume of the container you're using, and this is literally all I can have in it. No fish, no shrimp, just plants and snails. 

I would just get a cheap tank 5 gallon tank from someone, plant it up and cycle it, then using say, White Cloud minnows, try to establish a stable population. They would eat the tiny organisms that live on the plants, and provide fertilizers for the plants. They also do not breed out of control like guppies do, and they look very nice really. A beasllebob planted tank would work especially well, and they look great.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

That will be much too small to keep any fish in. 

Are you wanting it to be SW or FW? You might be able to do plants and a common pond snails or rams horn snails. You could have a marimo ball, with enough light it will float to the top and then sink again. Or use garden soil in the bottom and top it with gravel, and plant a Vallisnerial. Keep it on a windowsill that is not south facing so that it gets plenty of light but doesn't cook. I have some jars like this on my windowsill and they look nice but are not suitable for fish. If you add some plants or soil from a pond you will get loads of tiny life.

If you want fish a 5 or 10 gallon tank would be much better. You need at least a 2.5 gallon tank to even start thinking about fish.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

I agree with above,an old lava lamp is just too small for fish regardless of species.It will be very unstable


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## vincent_01 (Oct 18, 2011)

than maybe are brine shrimp suitable for an old laval lamp but i don't want something like this Lava Lamp Betta Tank Desktop Aquarium, prices that is just animal cruelty i know that fish aren't suitable in a lava lamp. but i want something like this EcoSphere Self-Contained Underwater Ecosystems


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## Kehy (Apr 19, 2011)

vincent_01 said:


> than maybe are brine shrimp suitable for an old laval lamp but i don't want something like this Lava Lamp Betta Tank Desktop Aquarium, prices that is just animal cruelty i know that fish aren't suitable in a lava lamp. but i want something like this EcoSphere Self-Contained Underwater Ecosystems


There's actually a lit of complaints about ecospheres being inhumane. Motly it's about how the shrimp can live a long time, but eventually end up dying from starvation. Those little jars just can't hold enough to make them work properly. As I said, use some thing bigger like a 5 gallon. That way you can actually put enough stuff in there to keep things alive for a reasonable amount of time.


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## vincent_01 (Oct 18, 2011)

thanks I'm still thinking about it and I don't want to be an animal abuser so it has to be kept by thinking of it.


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## kellytyler (Nov 4, 2011)

that's right vincent!


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## denson (Jun 5, 2012)

I think, there is no need to add too many snails to your ecosphere or they will eat all of the algae. Start with one snail and add more later if needed.


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