You know it's funny. I've only started this hobby about six months ago.
And I've put myself through all kinds of anxiety and stress carefully
researching and screwing up and killing plants and fish trying to get
the "perfect" tank.

About 5 weeks ago I boiled some driftwood in my tank and dumped in a
bucket to soak and sink. A few days later I threw in some plants to
"quarantine" them.

And I must say the life that has developed in that bucket is just as
fascinating or maybe more so than what I have in my tank. I don't know
if part of it is because it all seemed to come from nothing, or the
"sterility" of the tank environment that gives it a kind of bleakness,
or that I'm fascinated by this tiny ecosystem. I think I have two types
of snails now. And today I spotted something that looked like a grey
poppyseed crusing around. It's definitely alive, but I don't know what
it is. I wonder what else will manifest over time.




--

direct replies: yelohk AT yahoo

I bet the "gray poppyseed" is a fish fry. It probably hitched in on the
plant roots. It is most likely a danio or minnow, but hey, you never know.

"yelohk" wrote in message
...
You know it's funny. I've only started this hobby about six months ago.
And I've put myself through all kinds of anxiety and stress carefully
researching and screwing up and killing plants and fish trying to get
the "perfect" tank.

About 5 weeks ago I boiled some driftwood in my tank and dumped in a
bucket to soak and sink. A few days later I threw in some plants to
"quarantine" them.

And I must say the life that has developed in that bucket is just as
fascinating or maybe more so than what I have in my tank. I don't know
if part of it is because it all seemed to come from nothing, or the
"sterility" of the tank environment that gives it a kind of bleakness,
or that I'm fascinated by this tiny ecosystem. I think I have two types
of snails now. And today I spotted something that looked like a grey
poppyseed crusing around. It's definitely alive, but I don't know what
it is. I wonder what else will manifest over time.




--

direct replies: yelohk AT yahoo

"yelohk" wrote in message
...

You know it's funny. I've only started this hobby about six months ago.
And I've put myself through all kinds of anxiety and stress carefully
researching and screwing up and killing plants and fish trying to get
the "perfect" tank.

About 5 weeks ago I boiled some driftwood in my tank and dumped in a
bucket to soak and sink. A few days later I threw in some plants to
"quarantine" them.

And I must say the life that has developed in that bucket is just as
fascinating or maybe more so than what I have in my tank. I don't know
if part of it is because it all seemed to come from nothing, or the
"sterility" of the tank environment that gives it a kind of bleakness,
or that I'm fascinated by this tiny ecosystem. I think I have two types
of snails now. And today I spotted something that looked like a grey
poppyseed crusing around. It's definitely alive, but I don't know what
it is. I wonder what else will manifest over time.




--

direct replies: yelohk AT yahoo





Sam wrote:
I bet the "gray poppyseed" is a fish fry. It probably hitched in on the
plant roots. It is most likely a danio or minnow, but hey, you never
know.

They actually turned out to be ostracods. Kinda neat. Unfortunately they
all died. I don't know what killed them. Just saw them floating on the
surface one day, one was in its final struggle. The outside of my
building was recently painted, and the bucket sits below the window. But
then I also hadn't changed the water for a while, and it was smelling
sulfur-y. Or maybe I changed too much of the water at once? The number
of pond snails have dwindled too. I accidentally added too much iodine
and killed off the ghost shrimp that was eating... actually I don't know
what it was eating, but I occationally threw in fish flakes or algae
tablets just in case. I also had some things that I guess were planaria,
or leeches or something at one point. I was kinda enjoying the mini
ecosystem for a while. Some of the plants are still alive. I could
always order from aquariumplant.com and see if I get more snails and
ostracods. Haha.

--

direct replies: yelohk AT yahoo com

"yelohk" wrote in message
...

You know it's funny. I've only started this hobby about six months ago.
And I've put myself through all kinds of anxiety and stress carefully
researching and screwing up and killing plants and fish trying to get
the "perfect" tank.

About 5 weeks ago I boiled some driftwood in my tank and dumped in a
bucket to soak and sink. A few days later I threw in some plants to
"quarantine" them.

And I must say the life that has developed in that bucket is just as
fascinating or maybe more so than what I have in my tank. I don't know
if part of it is because it all seemed to come from nothing, or the
"sterility" of the tank environment that gives it a kind of bleakness,
or that I'm fascinated by this tiny ecosystem. I think I have two types
of snails now. And today I spotted something that looked like a grey
poppyseed crusing around. It's definitely alive, but I don't know what
it is. I wonder what else will manifest over time.




--

direct replies: yelohk AT yahoo





Sam wrote:
I bet the "gray poppyseed" is a fish fry. It probably hitched in on the
plant roots. It is most likely a danio or minnow, but hey, you never
know.

They actually turned out to be ostracods. Kinda neat. Unfortunately they
all died. I don't know what killed them. Just saw them floating on the
surface one day, one was in its final struggle. The outside of my
building was recently painted, and the bucket sits below the window. But
then I also hadn't changed the water for a while, and it was smelling
sulfur-y. Or maybe I changed too much of the water at once? The number
of pond snails have dwindled too. I accidentally added too much iodine
and killed off the ghost shrimp that was eating... actually I don't know
what it was eating, but I occationally threw in fish flakes or algae
tablets just in case. I also had some things that I guess were planaria,
or leeches or something at one point. I was kinda enjoying the mini
ecosystem for a while. Some of the plants are still alive. I could
always order from aquariumplant.com and see if I get more snails and
ostracods. Haha.

--

direct replies: yelohk AT yahoo com