what i seen @ the mall

[teena]

while out shopping i stoped in the store that all the massage things were, so think of a snow globe full of water & snow flying around when you shake it, well it looked like that but it had some sort of sand settled @ the bottom a real brown brush gorgonian in it & about 5 little red things swimming & cralwing in there, the box said every thing in there was alive, this thing was no bigger than a snow globe, talk about a desk top aquarium,

 

[just dave]

ecosphere

 

[teena]

thats it, how are they eating? off that plant?

 

[neuroslicer]

I'm skeptical

I'm skeptical

The vendor suggests an average lifespan of the ecosphere of 2 - 3 years... most likely that's under the highly controlled environment in their laboratory. In the hands of a novice I'd be surprised if it were 2 - 3 months. The smaller the ecosystem, and the fewer the organisms within it, the more delicate the balance between production and consumption.

The gorgonian in the ecosphere is dead; it's just there for decoration and "substrate" for bacteria (not much surface area there though). The only thing alive are a few shrimp, algae, and the bacteria. One of the "don'ts" is don't put the ecosphere in direct sunlight, such as by a window. One day of intense lighting and there's little doubt that you'd get an algal bloom and that night the shrimp would die of anoxia.

 

[neuroslicer]

More than you wanted to know...

More than you wanted to know...

The shrimp are getting their source of carbon by eating the algae. Algae are not plants, but belong to the group (kingdom) of single celled organisms called protists (amoebas are in the same kingdom, though amoebas are not photosynthetic).

During the day, the shrimp produce carbon dioxide, which the algae take up and use to grow. Algae get the energy for growth of course from light, and the byproduct of photosynthesis is oxygen that the shrimp need. But at night, both the algae and the shrimp undergo respiration, which is the consumption of oxygen and the production of carbon dioxide. So with too much algae (after one day in the sun!) the algae would use up so much oxygen that night the shrimp could easily suffocate.

Want an ecosystem? Buy an ant farm! It's not as balanced, but your ants will live longer and it's a heck of a lot cheaper!

 

[sperry]

Re: More than you wanted to know...

Re: More than you wanted to know...

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9455340#post9455340 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by neuroslicer

Want an ecosystem? Buy an ant farm! It's not as balanced, but your ants will live longer and it's a heck of a lot cheaper!

I like Sea Monkeys!!! LOL

 

[psidriven]

The red shrimp are probably Hawaii Red Shrimp (Halocaridina rubra) and are really tough little guys. I'd suggest just setting up a little pico instead of the ecosphere to enjoy them. Heard from other sources that the shrimp don't really thrive in the ecosphere but just starve slowly.

 

[willember]

I understand all of the arguments posted against the ecosphere, but I thought I'd play devil's advocate and say that if you have a beautiful, thriving reef tank at home but you sit in a cubicle all day and only get to enjoy your tank for a few minutes a day, I can really see the draw of having a few shrimp swimming around on your desk. It beats having a coffee cup with a beta bored out of its mind swimming (well floating) in it.

 

[sperry]

Look up pico tanks in the Nano forum. Some really nice 5gal and less cubicle tanks.

 

[willember]

Pico = daily maintanance