Jill's Jartopia (AKA the Jar of Pests)

[Ahruk]

Ok so this "tank" was inspired by a post on nano-reef. http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/344145-my-super-low-tech-reef-jarquariums-with-diy-pj-reef
It began as an experiment and while I originally made a couple of huge mistakes (...not measuring salinity was definitely one of the dumbest mistakes I've ever made) After a couple of months of benign neglect its doing awesome. I recently cleaned it to get some of the excess algae out and added some new inhabitants.
This tank has no heater or flow to speak of. It gets occassional ml water changes and whenever I feel like it cleanings. I feed a few pellets every week or so. Sorry for crappy pics, hard with the curves also don't remember how to make it vertical, might change that later.

There is a thriving colony of large anthropods and a large predatory black snail and at least one asterina star which have been alive and well for probably close to 3 months.

I recently added xenias which unfortunately didn't make it (I also added some new aptasia and mahano aptasia (I killed mine during a water cleaning while trying to get it off the glass).

I also added some a zoa eating yellow nudibrink (Not sure he'll survive for long without zoas to eat but considering most people would simply kill him I'm willing to give him a shot. I hope that doesn't sound cruel). I really enjoy trying to find him in all the algae and his color is great.

 

[Enderturtle]

This tank's temperature fluctuates from 40 degree to 70 degree every day. It has no flow either! And all the critters are alive.

 

[Jim123]

Hey Ahruk,

I love this "tank". It is, for sure, "Conceptual Art".

All sorts of things come to mind.
"A tank for the lost and unwanted."

The definition of "pest" sure depends on your point of view.
Humans might be pests on the global ecosystem.

I think maybe you could use a Bristle Worm also, or that may be too scary...

Thanks for sharing this,

Jim

 

[Kensington Reefer]

Proof that any vessel can be an aquarium
I had a reef in a drawer out of a bar fridge at one time
Amazing to see what lives

 

[rygh]

Fun!!
You may want to look at whatever lives in tidepools.
They might be suited to that sort of system.

 

[JAR]

cool

 

[Ahruk]

Thanks for all the Positive feed back
@Jim123 Thanks I did have a bristle worm and brittle star in the jar for a while but they didn't survive the shift to 1.050 sg water I added on accident.... Glad I learned that lesson on the jar and not my main tank >,<
I'm a little bit nervous of the bristle worms as I've heard they can irritate your skin so I'm chosing to stay away from them. I decided that after killing two brittle stars I'm just going to add any I find to my display tank.

@rygh Hmm...I'd never thought about that. I kind of like sticking to what's already in captivity and unwanted though to keep my conscience clean...

 

[Ahruk]

I was excited to discover a mini-feather duster that I thought was dead is alive and well. I went over to look at my jar and boom a burst of movement. The feather duster closed back up. I later saw him open but if I get too close he's quick to close up. I love the Feather-dusters!!!

 

[Ahruk]

May have put too much stuff in the jar :/ woke up this morning to a pod bloom. Water looks almost milky white, did a small water change with water from tank so here's hoping that clears it up The kenya tree which I got at the frag swap was doing fine until this morning and now its all closed up and a brittle star is dead at the bottom of the jar The asterinas, aptasia, chitin and snail all seem to be doing well though

 

[Ahruk]

Okay, so its time for a little update. At the last frag swap I picked up some xenias for the jar. Also as soon as I put them in they melted but I had too many to put in my jar so I decided to put some in another jar by themselves. I stuck the jar by the kitchen window and waited for them die. It's been over a month and they're still alive and pulsing. It's really fun to watch them as I do dishes

 

[Enderturtle]

They pulse all the time. Temperature fluctuates from 80 degrees to 50 degrees in a single day and there they are pulsing away.