Let's get some biology types in on this; i'm crossposting. The company's
web page does give quite a bit of information about the lifeforms used in
the ecospheres. They list
plants: chain of stars, hornwort
animals: ramhorn snail, pond snail, trumpet snail
amphipods, Daphnia, Ostracods and Copepods
I'd like to get one, but their prices range from $65 to $125.
Who's got a supply of hornwort?
John
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liu at cs.unc.edu (Alan Ve-Ming Liu) wrote:
I was browsing through one of the mail order gift catalogs and
came across what they call a Biosphere. This is a completely
sealed glass globe containing water, plants, algae and small
animals (snails etc) living in a closed ecology. The ad claims
the system can be stable for years.
Has anyone bought one of these things? Do they actually work or
are they a scam? Does it arrive in working condition only to have
everything die off two weeks later? It seems almost incredible
a self sustaining ecology with fairly complex organisms are possible
in such a small environment (the smalles is only 3.5 inches!).
How long do they actually last, and will it survive with just
light from a desk lamp?
The company that actually makes these things have a web page,
http://www.paragonsdc.com/
I am not affilated with them in any way, just real interested.
Last and perhaps of greatest interest to me, how does one go about
making one's own self contained echosphere?
Al
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