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I added (at various points), shrimp, Hyalella and several species of daphnia (big ones got gobbled up very fast but I have a tiny species that hangs on the substrate that still appears from nowhere whenever I have a tank without fish in it - a bit like a mini ostracod). Other than that ostracods, cyclops, freshwater limpets and various other microfauna seeded themselves really. Also had less welcome planaria, hydra and leeches at various points.

I've also now got Asellus and Lumbriculus in some tanks which both make excellent additions. My new Paros are going mad for the Lumbriculus - the worms bury in the substrate with one end waving in the air, which the Paros bite off with glee. Apparently just about any Lumbriculus segment is able to regenerate into an entire worm so they should just grow back.
 
The Lumbriculus? Nope, I got them from Darrel who got them from Gerard who got them from the USA :p. They are available from some scientific suppliers (in the UK at least) if you're willing to pay a very inflated price.

The Daphnia came from a guy in the UK who traded as 'Daphnia Direct' but seems to have closed down now. The Asellus I also got from Darrel, and the Hyalella from a guy called Colin Dunlop who runs a small fishroom up here in Scotland.
 
Back to the living earthsoup: i never heard of most of those critters, let alone seen them as fishfood. I was thinking to use some live caught "slootinfuus"as we call it, just sive through a small creek/ditch and collect all living matter. Put it in a white bucket, discard everything wich sticks to the side, and put the rest in the tank.
I don't think i could buy any of the one you mention here in the Netherlands.
 
None of them are commercially available over here either really - you certainly wouldn't see them in a LFS. I'm sure if you asked around a few societies/groups you'd find some though. I could try and bring some over next time I'm in the NL but I've no idea when that may be, probably not until towards the end of the year.
 
Hi all,
The Asellus I also got from Darrel
The Lumbriculus? Nope, I got them from Darrel who got them from Gerrard who got them from the USA. They are available from some scientific suppliers
I've now found that as well as Daphnia, Cyclops, Ostracods and Asellus. Lumbriculus spp. are pretty common in ponds. After Gerard ("Frothhelmet") sent me the "California Blackworms", I was able to compare them with the small annelid worms that I'd collected in the submersed moss and dead leaves around the the garden pond, and I found that they were one and the same.
pond_view_june2012c.jpg


A bit more research discovered that Lumbriculus is found in both N. America and Eurasia and that they were introduced to Australia. I've got them in the tanks, and I also have both Asellus and Lumbriculus cultures in the filter, amongst the filter media. I also introduced some to the Daphnia buckets in the garden (buckets filled with rainwater, with some dead leaves in the bottom), and they do fine in these as well.

I'm pretty sure I should be able to send some to the Netherlands successfully, they should be fine for a couple of days in the post.

cheers Darrel
 

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I.ve found Lumbricus for sale here, They're in water. I will give these a try first. ( gonna get them in a small araeted container first, to multiply)
If i want some i'll ask you Darrel, Thx.
I want to get some daphnia going too, but the missus doesn't like open standing water (mosquito larvea:) )

Realy nice pond btw!
 
Hi all,Get away with you, top quality food for free and Apistogramma (and all other fish love them), that is partially why I have the buckets.

cheers Darrel
I have a 70 litre mini pond. Dwarf water lily, and plenty of live food in spring summer and autumn. Edged with veronica beccabunga .
 
Hi all,
Edged with veronica beccabunga .
I've got Veronica beccabunga as well, it is a good flowering plant and will grow both in the water and wet emersed.When I dug the pond out, I threw all the limestone rubble back in to make terraces, and these mossed over really quickly. I don't top the pond up, so it has quite a large "draw down" zone in the summer.

A lot of the native plants have done really well for me, in some cases a bit too well (Eloecharis palustris, Eriophorum latifolium, Ranunculus lingua, various Sedges, Lotus uliginosus ), so I'm going to have a bit of a thin this spring.

cheers Darrel
 
Sounds perfect Darrel.

Can't beat a proper planted pond.
 
Hello BigTom, this tank has been a big inspiration for me and I plan on starting a similar tank in two months time, so naturally, I have a few questions.
1) When you planted the plants in the caddies, how deep did you place them in the tank, I've heard that the riparium plants can rot away if they are planted too deep?
2) How did you make sure the hills of gravel so they do not erode away? Especially where you planted your Lilly, was it separated with rocks or did you make some sort of special scaffolding?
3) How did you measure the amount of lights that your plants need, I know that 6500k is a good rating, but the WPG way is outdated, so I presume you used a PAR meter?

Thanks in advance for all the answers, and sorry for all the questions, I'm still a bit of a beginner...
 
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