Sophia

awwww Ira, we could have guessed and guessed for weeks hahaha :lol:

Thank you Stella. I liked the story Now I know what's what of the big ones, so I definitely have daphnia (I should have realised earlier as they are the same colour as the dried ones I feed the fish), and ostracods and now I can also recognise the copepods too. There are some other critters that are smaller than daphnia even but it's impossible to identify those ones, they might be mini ostracods. I left a bucket of water out yesterday to condition itself and today transfered the remaining survivors from the original supply (copepods had mostly all died today). Then I went back to the trough and got me some more bugs and a few bits of leaf and twig from the area - thus presenting my first bucket biotope of a sheep trough in Cornwall Park :lol: Aside from the fact that it's in a plastic bucket and that I fed them tropical fish flakes, it's quite environmentally correct. Next thing is to get my husband to make me a basic stand for a small tank and set it up in the garage. It gets a little direct sunlight in there but should I give them a light? Something simple like a normal lightbulb, I was thinking of.

thanks

he can't move house, if he needs more room he will have to buy the house next door and spread out sideways instead

hehe we no speeakee engleesh now you mention it, the one with the ovaries that Stella says is a copepod, is that greenery around her body? In real life are your copepods green? If so then I think I have those but I just can't see the tail bit as they swim. In my video they are the blackish seed pod dots zipping about in amongst the rest.

I can see your photos but that wasn't what I meant. It's OK, I will get my glasses out and have a better look at mine 8) thanks anyhoo

yes I'd like something that is closer to a standard photo if possible, what you'd seen with the eye if you didn't have a bionic eye If it's possible that is... these bugs are very small

Does anyone have any decent photos of them for those of us without a microscope, or can you identify from my videos at all? I'd really like to know what mine are for certain before I go throwing them in the tank.

uh-oh... I'm starting to get ideas about having a bugs tank in the garage with an oxygen stone or something... fishplants the trough I found my bugs are in full sun too

I think we need a thread just for Sam's cat photos :lol: Simon, the trough is in a field in Cornwall Park which they class as a working farm but there are people wandering through. There are usually sheep or cows in this field. There are various troughs all over the place, another one I looked in didn't have of these bugs crawling about, but that field had been limed or fertilised recently and the grass had died, I thought maybe it had polluted the water too. There were no livestock in that particular field. I was thinking I'd start my own bucket of fresh water with some fish flakes and then net these guys out and into there??

thanks HFF, you saved me an embarrassing trip to the store with my camera.... or Joefish having to bribe me with some large amount of chocolate

On investigation with my bare eyes, there appears to be 3 different kinds of bugs. There is the daphnia flea thingy. There is a bug that looks like a green grass seed pod with a bug inside weaving around like a dodgem car. There are tiny pin prick sized orange/brown round bugs swimming about. The neighbour's cat says that the water I brought back from the trough is quite tasty. The trough did have some green water and some green slime algae that had gathered about some bits of grass and floating twig so I guess they are eating off this a bit. hopefully this works - I think I have made a link to the 2 videos and photo in the album http://s103.photobucket.com/albums/m130 ... e%20attic/ if not try this

Probably I'd use fish flakes to start them off. The trough is in direct sunlight but it's raised out of the grass, I can't imagine animal manure falling in there to feed them or much if any vegetation, but there are millions of them milling about. I will report back when I have been fishing!

Joefish there is one at HFF Mt Roskill, it's about $37 but it's pretty big. I don't know what variety it is but it's sitting there waiting for you to buy it.

I will have to inspect further and see what they actually are. I will feel like a kid again taking my fish net and bucket to the park to catch bugs

I think I have found a supply of daphnia in a sheep trough near where I live - is it safe to net some and take home to feed the killies? I know someone was talking about it somewhere but I can't find the thread on Search. Or if that isn't Ok, could I net some and bring them home to use as a starter for growing my own? I think they are daphnia - about 2 or 3mm across, brownish and moving like fleas against the sides of the trough. The water is brown rather than green. There are other bugs in there too, I might have to take a jar and see what I can catch.

Adrienne just came over and after much cajoling and disturbing of plants, 13 fry showed their naughty little heads. I thought for a while my biggest fry had gone too, but she came out eventually. :lol:

thanks I suffer the same condition as Henward, I have trouble waiting for plants to grow so I end up buying more to thicken it out. Also now I've converted to low tech they will grow even slower haha anyway enough hijacking.

why thank you

If the val has started reproducing then they will get thicker quite quickly by themselves. The shoots just keep going until you cut the runner, they don't wait till they are full grown to put out another one. Mine expanded well in my previous tank and up till nearly the end there was no fertiliser other than fishpoop. Maybe just buy some more of those to fill up some corners or wherever since you like them?

If you like tweaking things and messing about to get it right then a small tank is fine - there isn't much room for things to get big and plant selection has to be quite considered. If you want to let your plants grow and do what they like, and be able to buy bigger plants, then a larger one is better. Either way, a planted tank is nice to have a link to my 50cm tank is my signature. It's had it's ups and downs but I like it. Doing a bit more tweaking and planting next week when my new crypts arrive 8)

very pretty

that's funny, he must have been holding his gills out of the water. glad to hear your other fish have cheered up too. 8)

he's got algae at the back hehehe I can't talk, I am trying to grow the algae on the back of the tank glass for the au naturel look like P44 :lol: