Any tips for a ecosphere from a ditch?

[Jayce0]

Our backyard got flooded again (our neighbors order water and think we want some too but.. We hate it honestly) so our ditch got filled back up. I never really looked in there until now- theres so many cool things living in there, even despite how otherwise dry the place is!

I'd really love to take some of this and just put it in a container before the water evaporates and everything.. you know, dies for the most part. But I have no idea where to start- any dos or don'ts that might be a bit hard to find off of the internet? I have no idea who and what to trust honestly. I also don't mind not doing a self sustaining thing, changing out water and sprinkling some food is no biggie.

I mean- should I condition the water? Should I use some fish tank water? Can I just post pictures here of some of the creatures to figure out what they are? I think I might've seen a teeny fish or possibly just a long skinny tadpole (I know its not a mosquito larvae), what should I do with that little guy if anything? I'd feel bad to just leave em in there when we don't plan on keeping the water.. How diverse should I keep it? Heater? Filter? I saw one of those cool water skating spiders, would it just eat everything?

Edit: oh, and can I feed any of these to my fish? There's mostly mosquito larvae along with what looks like water fleas. I don't want to accidentally kill my poor fish or anything, i know parasites and chemicals exist..

 

[cdw202x]

Here are my opinions- and they are just that...

Starting in reverse:

I wouldn't necessarily catch and feed anything from outside to your fish, exactly for the reasons you've listed: chemicals and parasites. Obviously, I haven't a clue where you live, but in thinking of my own area (DC), I know chemicals are used for lawns, sprayed for insect control, as well as polluted waterways. I wouldn't chance it to intentionally feed something to my fish from the outside. On the other hand, though, I don't freak out if a fly or spider lands in my fish tank and the fish eats it.

I also wouldn't try and take and recreate an outside ecosphere-- not just because of the possible (and unknown) chemicals and pollutants, but also since I have no idea how to make an environment that mimics nature, nor do I have the time or space for that. The question alone of water flow - how to control it; where does it flow to/from; how to pump it-- puts a squash on that for me.

But this is me. Maybe I *try* it if I lived in the country and had lot of time, knowledge, space, time, and money to invest in it, and to be pleasantly surprised if it works I may pursue it.

If you do want to pursue this, I would advise you to connect with the local university/college and it's earth sciences division-- if there is a department that studies and monitors *your area*, these folks would know a lot more about what is in your world (water, earth, air) and how to maintain such a project. (Similarly, if I were to keep bees, this is the place I would go if there was no local beekeeper club)

 

[bettafairy]

Sounds like you want to set up an ecojar! Ecospheres and jars are really fun to do and simple. They don’t require much, no water changes are needed as long as you have proper substrate and plants. The ecosystem will pretty much sustains it self the same way it did in the ditch. And you don’t need to worry about finding any interesting creatures, as you’ve already got them! I’ve made an ecojar from pond water a few years ago that had a lot of interesting little guys in it. I recommend using a 3 gallon jar with rocks or clay balls, screen mesh, charcoal, and soil. You can add aquarium substrate on top of the soil if you’d like, but the soil will help the plants grow a lot faster. Use wood and rocks to decorate to your liking, and make sure you have some type of plant. Java moss works pretty well. Add the water from the ditch and observe. You’ll probably have a few different creatures that you don’t need to feed or take care of. However you mentioned a tad pole, which I wouldn’t put inside the jar and instead place in some type of plastic tub and then do further research on its coloring and species to find out how to take care of it. Don’t be discouraged if things in the jar look a little nasty for a few days. Keep it away from direct sunlight, but bright light is just fine. You don’t need to add any food sources unless that’s something you’d enjoy doing, but I’m unsure of what any of the random bugs and small fish would consume. Maybe an algae wafer?