Self sustained tank / mini eco system

[james_unknown]

Crayfish? Or a dwarf cray might be able to catch the rams/ram fry

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[gutted]

One thing I would love to try is to keep a thalassophryne amazonica (prehistoric monster fish) in a tank with self-replenishing populations of guppies and cherry shrimp. Would this work in a 10g probably not, the monster fish would likely crash the feeder populations. How about a 20? 40? 75? At some point, the tank is large enough that a single sedentary ambush predator will never catch all the guppies and shrimp. The key is finding the proper balance.

What do those look like?

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[gutted]

I disagree. Just because it would be difficult doesn't mean it is impossible. You would need the right balance of prey to predator. For example, a 125 gallon tank heavily planted fully populated with cherry shrimp and guppies (and microorganisms, invertebrates, infusoria, etc)... would all these populations crash if you added, let's say, one golden wonder killifish? I doubt it. Somewhere between that and too many/large predators is the right balance. The eventual complication with the rams is that they will breed and when their population gets large enough they might decimate the shrimps and whatnot. You would need a predator that would eat the ram's fry to control their population, but not decimate everything else. Of course it is complicated, but not impossible.

Golden wonder killi would be perfect for that.

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[pudgeking]

like this

 

[pudgeking]

You are right, the killifish might serve that role well, just saying there's a lot of variables involved.

 

[gutted]

That thing is cool looking! How big do they get?

Yea its not going to be a simple 1-2-3 but it would be a fun long term project. Maybe I'd switch out the rams for something a bit more aggressive and do kribensis.

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[hamster]

Dwarf puffers are 10x the hunters as rams. Had one clear an entire infestation of mts in a very short period of time, in a heavily planted 25g. Would love to see what a few could do to some shrimp.


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depends on the puffer some would only eat shrimplets I've owned a few over the year's and I wouldn't say they are as bad aa people make out but again depends on the individual

 

[pudgeking]

Yea they are cool looking. They grow to around 4-6 inches. If I ever have a chance to obtain one, I will immediately do so. One reason that these fish could be an interesting option for a quasi-ecosystem is that they are considered to be obligate piscivores, which means that it would eat the feeder fish, but not the invertebrates that the feeder fish are eating.

From what I've heard dwarf puffers and shrimp are hit or miss. Sometimes they leave them alone, sometimes not.

 

[Inglorious]

A similar idea has been done minus the fish aspect. I'm sure it's still possible but will be a bit more difficult to achieve.
http://reclaimgrowsustain.com/content/40-year-old-self-sustaining-ecosystem-jar

 

[crappiekeeper]

My Pond has a strong population of blue spotted sunfish (50+). A few got in a long time ago that were meant to be LMB food. He eats them every once in a while but normally he can't get them. My pond has a ton of Brazilian elodea and rocks. As long as there is enough space and hiding places I think it could work.