Self sustained tank / mini eco system

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gutted

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jun 19, 2012
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Has anyone ever set up a tank where all or (almost all) food is produced in the tank? Whether it be breeding livebearers, shrimps, algae or plants?

I think a 125 would have to be the minimum size for something like this. I would have 100+ red cherry shrimp with a ton of plants, driftwood and rocks to create a lot of hiding spots for the shrimp to hide and reproduce. Plus the plants would eat up any nitrates/nitrites left by its inhabitants. After a month of letting the shrimps get their population up I'd add a breeding pair of bolivian rams to the tank. I'd rather do german blue rams but its harder to find ones that would raise their eggs on their own. Then maybe a few bristlenose plecos or cory catfish, whichever is easier to breed, add a few guppies or swordtails and finally a golden wonder killifish. He'd be the ultimate fry hunter which should keep everyones population down.

Any thoughts??
 
Interesting! Let us hear the responses. I believe an even larger tank in the >250 gallon range is needed to make this work. Also it should be densely planted with all the plant equipment in place.

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I am also quite interested in this concept. I say you should give it a couple months at least before adding fish, so you can get a robust breeding population of as many inverts as possible - cherry shrimp, blackworms, mts, daphnia, etc. then work your way up the food chain slowly
 
i love this idea but believe creating a perfect balance (or near perfect) will be very hard, will be a bit of trial and error i would think but sounds great.
 
Never thought about blackworms or dafnia. Good idea.

Yea it'll be hard to replicate nature. How could you even tell if the fish are eating more inverts than can be produced?

Another pair suggestion would be Apistogramma's.

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the problem is the water... while nitrate ect will get absorbed by the plants... your TDS and ther toxins will raise.. and eventually you will see die offs... it could be monthes.. or years... with a regular water change regime imo its the best way to do such a tank.. and it's amazing to see one thats balanced.

if you look at review for those spheres.. they are death traps... for the above mentioned reasons.
 
I guess a drip system should be added too. It'll be like a small stream flowing through the mini eco system.

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