Inspired by all your beautiful ecospheres my 6 year-old and I started our summer vacation today by making our own.
We collected water and mud from a lake near Copenhagen. I tried to be careful and only scoop from the top so we didn't get any larvae, tadpoles, etc., but this evening, when the water started to clear up, I can see that it didn't work out as intended.
The entire jar is crawling with small and large insects. I've asked my AI why our glass is so full of life (I have seen pictures of several new glasses in here where there was no life at all) and Danish lakes are apparently just gold mines.
But what are the bigger insects? Is it something we should put back into the lake? There's also some kind of worm.
by Then_Chemist_9477
1 Comment
Not the best pictures…can you do a video where the critters can be seen moving? It’s often the movement that gives it away.
Also, here’s the favorite freshwater critter ID guide with lots of pictures and pages for you and your daughter to look at and compare critters:
[https://wildlife-education.com/aquatic-critters-guide.pdf](https://wildlife-education.com/aquatic-critters-guide.pdf)
Now having said that, I can’t see the whole jar in these pictures, so I have no idea if you have actual aquatic plants in there and enough airspace, but those 2 ingredients make or break the jar in the long run.
I have a jar going on 6 years, never opened, but it has lots suitable plants. Emphasis on suitable.
I suggest to give this a quick look:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Ecosphere/comments/13hf5rr/newbies_after_having_seen_one_post_after_another/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Ecosphere/comments/13hf5rr/newbies_after_having_seen_one_post_after_another/)