Biosphere-5

[octoxpuss]

thumbs2: Kind of stole Amazons thread name. thumbs2:
Anyway, i will be doing a 20 gallon high biosphere. I pretty much have the plants down as i will be doing a vine type plant, grass "maybe, maybe not" mini ferns, and moss on rocks. For the water, i will do hornwort or a close relative, Maybe i will change my mine and do java fern (not exactly sure.)
Animals still in question.

Questionables:
I was thinking about doing:

caterpillers

some type of flying

and a burrower

My water insects i plan on doing some water fleas, snails, and some ghost shrimp. Seems to be the most logical thing.

For the caterpillers I will put a flowering plant in if they are able to work. Bunch of questions right now. Being that it is still winter "spring starts in 2 weeks" I wont start it for two weeks. Like i said still questioning. "idk if i really said that before in this post"

Thanks for the future :help:
Octo.

[Amazon]

lol looks like I started a new trend:hmm3grin2orange: lol
ohh i didnt even notice you had a thread so I answered on my thread, but stay away from caterpillars, they will destroy every single plant you have, i used to raise them and I would put a huge bundle of plants in there and they would all be devoured in no longer than a day. Plus they let out way to much waste. Your other ideas sound good though. For burrowers I used worms. they help add O2 to the plants roots too. does anyone know what mealworm beetles eat?

[octoxpuss]

My parets use to keep them and all they would feet them were dried oatmeal in a cup. That is it. I figured. Man this is tough. Hahhahahahaha out of all the species of insects there arenout there we are having trouble. I firgures with worms. Hahahaha. Simple but they do the job.

[annageckos]

I would also not use the catapillers. Mealworms eat everything and anything, I wouldn't use them either(I use to raise them) They will eat any plant matter, alive or dead and carrion too, along will all grains. What about pill bugs aka wood lice(not lice, they eat decaying wood and leaves), or millipedes. Um, that is all I can think of at the moment.

[Amazon]

millipeds and pillbugs both fall in the water and drwon. That is what I used in my first failed experiment. I know it is quite amazing how hard this is.

[octoxpuss]

I asked my mom what to use and this was here reply PRAYING MANTIS haha to bad we are in PA and they are illegal to keep. Ha.

[troy]

I asked my mom what to use and this was here reply PRAYING MANTIS haha to bad we are in PA and they are illegal to keep. Ha.
The praying mantises would just eat all the insects anyway.

[Amazon]

I have those here. But im so happy it is spring. I was sweating my butt off today:shappy:

it was a looooooonnnnnngggg winter this year.

[octoxpuss]

If you live U. S. wouldnt spring start the same day as me?

[Amazon]

well technically yes, but the official time is differant than what it really is. I call it spring when plants bloom and all the animals come out from hibernation. Which has happened over here.

[octoxpuss]

Ha, i actually do that too but for reference i always to the logic. IDKY my parents are like that so i kind of rubbed off. I have the tank it is a 20 gallon long and i am going to use a 2 gallon critter keeper for the water. Now what should i use for the soil. Will just regular old sand along with some soil work? I know about the humus but most soils around here have it in it.

[Amazon]

humus is good as long as the soil is not like black. Get some soil that is a dark brown in color and not full of clay. All that organic material gives off lots of CO2, probably more than the animals. but the plants should be able to handle it.

[octoxpuss]

So just regualr old potting soil should do it. Like miracle grow or something.

[octoxpuss]

My vine finally started growing. It was so tiny and now it has a huge leaf on it and it is growing straight up. I also was able to collect about 7 worms i will try to collect more. I believe i got 2 females so atleast i know i have different genders. I also figured out how i want to do the tank.

[Amazon]

NOOOOO! do not use miracle grow. It has fertilizer in it. Remember everything in the tank will never come out. The fertilizer can kill certain bugs and if it gets in your water all that will get bad too. Dirt from the back of your yard is th best unless yall use insecticides or any other _____cides.

[octoxpuss]

Ok. I will just go out back and dig some dirt then. That is the best thing to do. I will just have to get it from the side of our house where my dad will never find the hole.