<p>It is called an aquarium, put what ever you want in it. With natural waters you have a good chance of collecting dragonfly larva , which will eat about anything else you catch including small fish. Chances of mosquito larva are low in my experience. I don't know why you would not want frog or toad tadpoles ; I have a couple very small feral ponds in my yard and various frogs and toads  deposit uncountable numbers of eggs &gt; tadpoles. Some years I have taken thousands of tadpoles to nearby lakes and dumped them . When I don't do that most get eaten by siblings. You are unlikely to find suitable native plants other than duckweed, so I suggest buying Hornwort at a pet shop -pretty bullet proof.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-18T21:20:07.010Z
Okay, thanks! I would upvote, but I don't have the reputation yet! : )
Blue Herring
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-19T21:10:47.067Z
I suggest a magnifying glass ; 5x is better than 10X to start. There will be rotifers about anywhere. Paramecium are common , a quart of pond water with a small bit of crushed lettuce should make some in a few days.
blacksmith37
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-19T21:27:04.347Z
So, unfortunately, I never made it to the pond, but I did get a sample from this area in the woods behind my house where there's a small pool of water, plants, and algae, put some sand in with a plant, a few rocks, and some of the algae and now it's in a jar in my bedroom. Would it still work with some crushed lettuce?
Blue Herring
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-20T15:03:26.390Z
Very small  piece.  A big problem with a small container is keeping up oxygen  content; any "food"  will use oxygen. A natural body of water, even very small, has good air movement at the surface to promote oxygen exchange.
blacksmith37
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-21T12:09:54.163Z
Okay, thank you!
Blue Herring
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-18T19:39:25.270Z
2020-09-18T19:39:25.270Z
blacksmith37
<p>It's doable &quot;Ecospheres&quot; is a self-sustaining ecosystem, you never have to feed the life within. Simply provide your EcoSphere with a source of indirect natural or artificial light. They use small sea worms, filamentous algae, shrimp and microbes.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-25T03:56:24.643Z
2020-09-25T03:56:24.643Z
LazyReader
<p>I've seen some videos of people scooping up some water from a natural body of it, adding some sand and a few plants, and soon enough, they have a (near) self-sustaining aquarium. I've always wanted to do this, but I'm not exactly sure how. There's a river in a small ravine (about 20 ft. deep) behind my house, and a nearby pond, so I think I might be able to manage this, but before I do, is there anything I need to know, or any suggestions on how to pull this off? Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>P.S. I don't want to take any animals (such as frogs), and trap them is a confined space. All I really want is some organisms that are just large enough to see, and I think I'd be good. If I do take anything from the wild, though, I want to return it, and I want to make it a pretty darn good habitat, so it doesn't feel trapped.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-18T19:46:01.460Z
"Jars" are pretty impractical; you should be able to buy a 10 gal aquarium  for not much more than $ 10.
blacksmith37
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-19T04:38:00.713Z
related Q&A over at pets se https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/26928/aquarium-full-ecosystem you can take a look at  the links in my answer for information about how to do this.
trond hansen
<water>
Self-sustaining aquarium in a jar?
Blue Herring
# Self-sustaining aquarium in a jar?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-09-18)

I've seen some videos of people scooping up some water from a natural body of it, adding some sand and a few plants, and soon enough, they have a (near) self-sustaining aquarium. I've always wanted to do this, but I'm not exactly sure how. There's a river in a small ravine (about 20 ft. deep) behind my house, and a nearby pond, so I think I might be able to manage this, but before I do, is there anything I need to know, or any suggestions on how to pull this off? Thanks in advance!

P.S. I don't want to take any animals (such as frogs), and trap them is a confined space. All I really want is some organisms that are just large enough to see, and I think I'd be good. If I do take anything from the wild, though, I want to return it, and I want to make it a pretty darn good habitat, so it doesn't feel trapped.

**Tags:** water

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: "Jars" are pretty impractical; you should be able to buy a 10 gal aquarium  for not much more than $ 10.  
> **username_2**: related Q&A over at pets se https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/26928/aquarium-full-ecosystem you can take a look at  the links in my answer for information about how to do this.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-09-18. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

It is called an aquarium, put what ever you want in it. With natural waters you have a good chance of collecting dragonfly larva , which will eat about anything else you catch including small fish. Chances of mosquito larva are low in my experience. I don't know why you would not want frog or toad tadpoles ; I have a couple very small feral ponds in my yard and various frogs and toads deposit uncountable numbers of eggs > tadpoles. Some years I have taken thousands of tadpoles to nearby lakes and dumped them . When I don't do that most get eaten by siblings. You are unlikely to find suitable native plants other than duckweed, so I suggest buying Hornwort at a pet shop -pretty bullet proof.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Okay, thanks! I would upvote, but I don't have the reputation yet! : )  
> **username_1**: I suggest a magnifying glass ; 5x is better than 10X to start. There will be rotifers about anywhere. Paramecium are common , a quart of pond water with a small bit of crushed lettuce should make some in a few days.  
> **username_0**: So, unfortunately, I never made it to the pond, but I did get a sample from this area in the woods behind my house where there's a small pool of water, plants, and algae, put some sand in with a plant, a few rocks, and some of the algae and now it's in a jar in my bedroom. Would it still work with some crushed lettuce?  
> **username_1**: Very small  piece.  A big problem with a small container is keeping up oxygen  content; any "food"  will use oxygen. A natural body of water, even very small, has good air movement at the surface to promote oxygen exchange.  
> **username_0**: Okay, thank you!  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2020-09-25. Score: 0

It's doable "Ecospheres" is a self-sustaining ecosystem, you never have to feed the life within. Simply provide your EcoSphere with a source of indirect natural or artificial light. They use small sea worms, filamentous algae, shrimp and microbes.


---

