renniefan@... writes:
>this isn't a very active list, but, hopefully some people still read it.
A few do...

>We have a few local ponds and rivers. I'm half-tempted to just go scoop
>water and plants up from them and see what happens.

well... that might work, but you should find out if your existing
sphere is fresh or salt water.

A good place to collect specific species is carolina biological
supply. (http://www.carolina.com)

Also do a google search for "live food" and aquarium. much good info
on maintaining cultures of various sorts. (daphnia make a pretty good
freshwater biosphere addition)

>I have a few kits of Sea Monkeys on order, and I'll be trying them in soda
>bottles (as the founder of the list described).
Glass pasta sauce and jelly jars are good for this as well... they
tend to not get scratched, although they are a bit more delicate.


>We have a tap water filter (one of the ones that screws onto the
>faucet). Is that likely "good enough" to clean up our water, or,
>should I buy distilled water from a commercial source?
Tap water should be fine, filter it and let it sit for a couple days
in an open container.

>(will they peacefully co-exist, or fight for resources?
Any animal in the same spot of the food chain is going to compete for
resources in a closed system. I don't think they will fight.... as far
as i know brine shrimp are not very territorial. ;) If i recall, sea
monkeys have a very quick hatch cycle.... so if you put them in at the
same time, you are likely to have sea monkey adolescents which might
compeat better for the limited resources.

>they require significantly different salt/pH balances?)
Brine shirmp are very tolerant to salinity... they often exist in
seasonal ponds which hace a rather wide range. I have a 5 gallon
pickle jar on the front porch that has been going for several years
now (open top... all i do is top off with rain water) and I've had as
much as half the water evaporate.

We've had freezing weather over the past month, and two days ago i
noticed that there were adult femails (large eggs clusters) swimming
happily around. (the day was warm... they'd probably be sluggish if it
were cooler)... so temperature isn't absolutely criticle as
well. (although a higher temperature is likely to result in more
activity/growth/etc)

Try keeping brine shrimp in an open system for a while...
see if you can get some water from an established marine aquarium for
the brine shrimp.


(out of order quote)
>But, I'd really like to have a little more direction

First, you really should read the archives for this list.... there are
not alot of them since, as you pointed out, the list is fairly
inactive.



--
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