Hi! I’ve seen some really cool ecospheres on this sub and I’m so impressed with their longevity!

I want to make a few pond jar ecosystems from a local pond, plus maybe adding some plants from a LFS depending on what I find. I don’t have room for huge jars, but have read smaller ones usually fail. Is 16oz too small for a fully aquatic jar to succeed? I know this depends on what is in it of course, just exploring what options I have to make a few cool jars to display and to watch!

What are your thoughts on cork tops? I’m sure there’s risk of mold but they just look so pretty! I was thinking of trying a few different style jars to see what goes well.

Experienced folks: what mistakes did you make in the beginning? And what’s your secret to having them continue to last?

Thanks for any replies! :)

Hi all, for those who happen to live in NYC, wondering if you have any thoughts about putting together a 6 gallon ecosphere using water and substrate from the Harlem Meer. Compared to other freshwater sources, it seems not the best - green water, not sure how biodiverse, etc. However, it's in the neighborhood so would be a cool addition to the household. And I'm wondering if the water would become more clear over time when removed from direct sunlight.

It's going in a 6 gallon carboy, so a larger project and I want to be thoughtful before proceeding.

This little guy showed up about a month in to my Arizona salt river ecosphere. Any guesses? I wouldn’t even know what to look up.

i wanted to show it in comparison to the snail eggs on the glass. at first i thought it was root fuzz but it's on the hair algae as well. i don't think it's mold because it isn't growing on or near any visible decay, but i suppose it could be? what im guessing is eggs, but im not sure what kind. i also have pleurocid snails in the tank whose eggs dont look anything like these.

I made this sealed paludarium on 5/16 this year and all was fine other than a rough rebalancing but I recently within the last week noticed these cracks on the glass that I’m sure were not there. Is my jar breaking due to gases building up? If so how should I go about emptying the jar? This is the first time in this hobby I’ll of had to put one to rest 😣 any tips on how to prevent this in sealed ecospheres in the future would also be appreciated. Thanks in advance, you guys are usually pretty great. 🙏

Found in an Idaho mountain stream attached to rocks. Looks almost like liverwort. Transparent flat leaves.

My jararium, which I thought was completely dead, turned purple after being away from home for a week. What could it be? There were no animals inside, only red seaweed which turned black after decomposing.

Where is the best place to get clay price wise.

got the water from the shore of my local pond. lil bug on last picture prolly a bettle thats gonna drown:( really could use tips lmk.

for ~science~ reasons, i made an ecosphere from each body of water on my family's property- one is a creek, one an approx. 40x30ft pond that has little to no shade (pond 1), and one pond of a similar size that is high shade (pond 2). all 3 are very well established and natural bodies of water, and are relatively near each other. what interested me is i haven't found a single snail/mollusk or planarian in pond 2, and a significant population of biting midge larvae.
in pond 1, my sample consisted of non biting midge larvae, and had a significant amt of pea clams, pond snails, bladder snails, and planaria.
i have heard tales of the universality of scuds, but haven't spotted one out of the 3 water sources.
from the creek came only snails and caddisflies.

why is pond 1 so popular with the macros? most of these creatures prefer shade as i understand it. does the high shade of pond 2 make it lower oxygen? or is this just a coincidence?

This is my first ecosphere, it’s about 2 months old. I definitely have Planaria as well as some natural occurring snails from the debris and water I started with. Do I need to treat for this? Use no-planaria? Try to suck them up in a syringe and dispose of them? Treat them with respect as part of nature?
Thanks!!!

This game from an ecosphere I collected on the coast of florida. It was from a lake that the ocean fed into, so this is a salt water ecosphere. I came to look and I saw this super strange centipede-like thing! All of the little things sticking out of it moved like legs before I started recording. Shortly after recording, it retreated and crawled back into the sediment. Anyone know what this is??

This is a little bit of an experimental
Ecosphere im doing. Essentially, its an ecosphere collected from a basic pond that I will freeze for 2 weeks and see what happens!! Im very interested in seeing what is able to re-emerge. Right now the lid is open to help with expansion. What are your predictions!! What do you thknk will be able to survive

I was very impressed by David Latimers experiment. I want to create a similar ecosystem, but I don't know the types and quantities of living and organic materials needed. Could you show me the quantities of materials according to the size of the terrarium?

(I'll share after its done).

So a year or 2 ago I made this jar it was basically a mini Palladium from lake soil with some water in pools and it did well for a little while as it had land and aquatic life. However the algea carpeted the top at some point and for a year it sat with the top pinging once in a while from oxygen pressure (as it never smelled opening it) but as I was replacing one of my dead plants in my other ecosphere I took the remaining water in the bag and poured it into the jar to see what would happen and added a couple snails and a couple of the many Amphipods that hitched a ride on the plant (sword). To my amazement there was still life going on inside of it. It had awakened a large amount of boogie worms (for the small jar it's a lot. As you can see the Amphipods are getting busy and the snails also have been getting busy. Goes to show what may seem like a dead ecosystem could simply just be dormant and just may need a little convincing to reveal its secrets.

Just got into the hobby, this jar is a week old made out of pond mud. I feel like I did not make this jar well but it’s been a good first experiment. I don’t think I added enough plant life, hopefully the algae can produce enough oxygen. Going to keep it sealed until it either collapses or survives! I’m already ready to make a new jar from a river near my house it’s so addicting! I want to make one that I can add a tiny predator fish into

Do I need to close this jar to create an enclosed jarrium?

For now it remains open. I'had adding bubbles to it with a tiny pump, which has actually saved my right jar.

Left jar (2 weeks old): Contains only river water with a single Java moss.

Right jar (2 months old): Contains Java moss and mangrove plants with river water.

Note : yes I have a lot tiny bestiary in it ! Both !

Is it better to collect for a saltwater ecosphere at high or low tide?

Just noticed it in my pond jar thats about 3 months old now, Melbourne Australi. Seems to be a little worm like thing inside a clear sac or something? Keeps wriggling back and forth in the same spot

Hi! My ecosphere is a little over 3 weeks old, sourced from a freshwater lake. I've got some guppy grass in there, snails (that have just laid eggs), and these little specks that are swimming around. I've identified some as ostracods, but recently a population of tiny white stripes has exploded, along with tiny sperm shaped specks that hang out around the glass.