Walstad Jar

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Some Repashy powder added today. Making sure everyone has adequate snacks.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

The jar project is going amazingly well. The other day I moved a blue rilii into the jar, but I could not find him to take a photo today because of the density of the plant life. 

Here is the clear-ish shrimp which is often hard to spot.

Do bladder snails burrow? Does the photo above appear to have a snail in the sand? Or perhaps I planted him when I tucked a plant back in.

Here is a photo of the snail situation. But they are so small, and I haven’t noticed any difference in parameters. These quick breeding snails still make me nervous, but at the same time I know they are contributing to the ecosystem here.

Also great news! The walls of the jar have algae. Which means food for everybody that lives there.

I may need to pull some of the hair grass, as it is yellowing in some spots. I will not do that until I have replacement plants though.

@FLFishChik

Edited April 25, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Guess who was out and about today? The blue rili. Right at the top. I was able to get some decent photos.

 

 

The moss I had secured with thread has gotten nice and fluffy.

The moneywort may reach the light soon!

Each day I see bladder snails upside down on the surface, cleaning it. Very curious creatures! I’ve come to learn that they are called bladder snails because of their swim bladder (air bladder?), and how they use it to float on purpose. One day I thought they were dying, but nope. That’s their mannerism.

Did a small top off today, conveniently using shrimp tank water and a cup. Slowly pouring it in at “airline tubing speed”.

I seem to still have plant matter coming to the surface. One was a piece of moneywort stem with leaves on it. Seems sus…

Edited April 26, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

Might be a carbon rili (black rili) with some shadow genes.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 4/26/2023 at 12:45 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Might be a carbon rili (black rili) with some shadow genes.

It’s blue in person.

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/26/2023 at 1:52 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

It’s blue in person.

Very cool.

For some of the Cardina there are these things called shadow genes. They may have one pattern, but they carry and show traits from other patterns. Sometimes subtle, sometimes a bit obvious.  There's king Kong black pandas with blue in the white bands being a really common one. There are also blue steels with white and grey tones that are pretty interesting looking too.

I would imagine, your shrimp have a lot of the crossing of different lines and you do see a lot of similar type of things while you're on your first few strains/sorts/culls.

Always interesting though, that's the fun surprise so far!

I can't say for certain, but you might have some deep blue bodied shrimp and then that one above might have a carbon rili shell. The blue tones underneath (on the flesh) and then the shell being a more black color. Not sure if that's how it works at all, but definitely interesting stuff to dive down the rabbit hole researching.

Edited April 26, 2023 by nabokovfan87
clarity

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

50% water change today. Removing some tannins so I can see my creatures more clearly. After:

The rosette sword is sending some shoots up to the surface from the middle of the plant. Maybe it is trying to propagate, like this. 
 

 

video of jar:

https://youtube.com/shorts/-3JwKCDt-dU?feature=share

Edited April 29, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

First trimming! Prolific moneywort = good fortune? 💰

I planted the cutting.

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

It is often tricky to capture this on video, but my jar is full of life!  Microfauna fun:

Enjoy Nature Daily 🙂

Edited May 1, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

A perfect molt. 

Now there is a lot of chasing going on. You know what that means..!

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Wow, my floaters actually survived? And are growing?

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

More microfauna footage, plus shrimps doing shrimp stuff.

@Guppysnail what is the creature at the beginning above the limpet? Moves differently than an ostracod, no?

Edited May 4, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Guppysnail]

Fish food 😄

Seriously though it looks like copepods.  I use pipettes and suck them up to feed small fish. They are a sure sign your ecosystem is now alive and thriving. 
I need a magnifying glass with my not so great eyes but they are fun to watch. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 5/4/2023 at 8:30 AM, Guppysnail said:

Fish food 😄

Seriously though it looks like copepods.  I use pipettes and suck them up to feed small fish. They are a sure sign your ecosystem is now alive and thriving. 
I need a magnifying glass with my not so great eyes but they are fun to watch. 

That makes sense because I used tank water and I know copepods were already in the tank.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Feeding dish version 2, since the ceramic one crushes plants. A little gravel makes it sink. I thought this was a good way to deter bladder snails from the commercial foods, but some figured it out.  I want them to focus on the algae. I also found this makes a good shrimp trap, and I used it to easily move 12 to the 29g, with no netting and very little stress.

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/6/2023 at 8:06 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Feeding dish version 2, since the ceramic one crushes plants. A little gravel makes it sink

Just cut it and make it have a small lip. 😉I think they do make small glass ones up to say 30-40mm size.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 5/6/2023 at 1:10 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

glass ones

I can’t use anything with weight. It needs to sit on top of plants.

I may cut the lip. The small bladder snails are under it and I think I have to get them out with a paintbrush.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 5/6/2023 at 2:02 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

the lip. The small bladder snails are under it and I think I have to get them out with a paintbrush

Pushed them out with pipette water.

There is a berried female in the jar. She’s a petite girl to begin with, but yeah- she may have been the one that molted a few days ago and sent out the bat signal.

Edited May 6, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/6/2023 at 4:56 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

sent out the bat signal.

Would be too funny to edit this with a shrimp, but yeah... One of the best intros ever created.
 

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

It was time. The hairgrass had to go. It grew tall, it made runners, it rooted well, but it was yellow. I believe @Mmiller2001 said it needs to be combed? Which I never did so I’m sure that was where I went wrong.

Replaced with S. Repens.
 

Also look at these baby plants. I guess they are baby moneywort.

Then I did a water change, rescued all the bladder snails from the grass I removed, and then dripped water back in while bird watching and feeding crows in the backyard and overflowed the jar (lol..just a little).

Day 1:

Day 51:

I may move out all the shrimp, to the 29g. Which I have done in phases a bit already. Because it is hard to see them now with all the plant growth. Although they seem to be really enjoying their home in the jar. They can fit in between the plants and they have lots of stuff to eat. They annihilated a boiled spinach leaf earlier today. 🙂 I bet they would appreciate more swimming room.

Edited May 12, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Mmiller2001]

On 5/12/2023 at 4:58 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

said it needs to be combed?

😆 @gjcarew was April fooling me, definitely don't comb it. It 100% doesn't work lol.

Edited May 12, 2023 by Mmiller2001

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 5/12/2023 at 7:02 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

😆 @gjcarew was April fooling me, definitely don't come it. It 100% doesn't work lol.

I only half read that post. 🙂  I would not buy dwarf hairgrass again. What a pain.

[Mmiller2001]

On 5/12/2023 at 5:04 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

What a pain

Agree completely with you!

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I spent $9.79 for that clip light. I am really impressed with it!

Also as a side note, Diane Walstad did not have luck with grasses in her jars either.

Edited May 12, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[gjcarew]

Hairgrass tends to do better when you comb it with a fork, like Ariel from The Little Mermaid