Wy Renegade's 20L Bog Tank

[adeebm]

By cap, do you mean the impeller blades? It wouldn't be able to pull water at all without those. Maybe it broke off? I can't imagine how a minnow got in there, unless if was skinny enough to fit past the grille on the intake. Maybe it jumped in!

--Adeeb

 

[Wy Renegade]

By cap, do you mean the impeller blades? It wouldn't be able to pull water at all without those. Maybe it broke off? I can't imagine how a minnow got in there, unless if was skinny enough to fit past the grille on the intake. Maybe it jumped in!

--Adeeb

No, the blades are there, just wondering if there is some type of cap on top of the blades themselves.

Don't know if its skinny enough to get past the grille, possibly, as its pretty small. Can't imagine it jumped, it would have had to go up about 3 inches and over about the same distance. Pretty far for a fish that is about an inch long. Course the world may never know .

 

[adeebm]

There's no cap that I've seen. Just the blades on the impeller shaft. Could be chipped, miss-seated or dirty if it's making noise. Well, if the fish went down the impeller side, I can't imagine how it didn't get turned to spaghetti Must be a survivor.

--Adeeb

 

[The_Desacrator]

Where do you get the insects for the bog?

If I did this would I be able to stick a frog in there?

 

[Wy Renegade]

Yeah, I can't imagine that it got in through the impellar side either - spagetti for sure.

Something is definitely not right on the impellar, I pulled it again and cleaned and reseated, and now if anything it is noisier than before. Its also not self starting when I plug it back in, have to reach in and turn the impeller with something to get it turning.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Where do you get the insects for the bog?

If I did this would I be able to stick a frog in there?

The invertes are all collected locally from streams and ponds. I would tend to think that a frog in this small of a tank would make pretty quick work of the invertes, and maybe even the fish.

 

[The_Desacrator]

OK thanks.

Gathering them from my local ponds/rivers seems pretty difficult. Do you know if they are available online?

 

[Sisserydoo]

I haven't read this whole thread yet, but from what I've read it's the most awesome thread ever! I would like to do something similar sometime, I want to get some fiddler crabs, but since they like brackish water I'm sure the plants would have to be very different.
I just love this tank though! Thanks for sharing )

 

[Wy Renegade]

OK thanks.

Gathering them from my local ponds/rivers seems pretty difficult. Do you know if they are available online?

to my knowledge you can't get them online. Collecting them isn't really difficult however; you need a plain old food strainer with a handle (I use the ones that are about 8 inches across - available at Kmart or Walmart) and a pair of wadding shoes. Wade into the creek, place the strainer downstream on the bottom and use the other hand to stir the substrate above the strainer ~ any invertes will wash downstream into the strainer. You will usually find more in areas with small cobblestone bottom, rather than sand or big boulders. You can also sweep among the plants on the stream or pond-side, and/or simply pick up larger rocks off the bottom and turn them over to see what is crawling around. Not only great fun, but educational as well.

I haven't read this whole thread yet, but from what I've read it's the most awesome thread ever! I would like to do something similar sometime, I want to get some fiddler crabs, but since they like brackish water I'm sure the plants would have to be very different.
I just love this tank though! Thanks for sharing )

Well thank you! Yes, the brackish water would require a whole different set of plants, but I bet you could find some nice smaller ones from a estuary or brackish marsh that would work quite well. Just make sure you are not violating any laws by collecting.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Midwinter Hatch

Walked in to a bit of a surprise this morning. A couple of the stoneflies we added to bog molted into their adult form. Seems just a bit early to me.

Here's a picture showing one of the molted exoskeleton on the moss, and you can sort of see the adult off to the right;

Close-up picture of the exoskeleton on the moss;

And here is a close-up of the other one, which is hanging clear up in the fern (on closer examination, this one appears to be quite a bit older, I'd say we missed it when this one hatched - maybe over the Thanksgiving Holiday);

Here is a shot of one of the adults on the glass (no sign of the other one, s/he must have escaped out of the bog);

And here is kind of a cool sideshot;

It already escaped once today, and we had to capture it and return it to the bog. I want to hang onto it long enough to show all the students, then I'll probably preserve it in alcohol in order to show students what an adult one looks like. Here its lying dejected in the mud, after its failed escape attempt;

 

[Nomadu571]

Very good quality photos. Very nice. Cant stoneflies adult emergence be at any time of the year? There are larger numbers that emerge late spring I early summer but I thought they could transform anytime proving the conditions are right. Your bog must be at a nice temperature for it to develop. It would be good to keep it but If your not, stoneflies of north America are always collecting species. Is he feeling sorry for himself now, lol, being stuck in your tank, he doesn't know how good he's got it.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Very cool pics man!

 

[Wy Renegade]

Very good quality photos. Very nice. Cant stoneflies adult emergence be at any time of the year? There are larger numbers that emerge late spring I early summer but I thought they could transform anytime proving the conditions are right. Your bog must be at a nice temperature for it to develop. It would be good to keep it but If your not, stoneflies of north America are always collecting species. Is he feeling sorry for himself now, lol, being stuck in your tank, he doesn't know how good he's got it.

Yes, you are quite correct - they can emerge at any time of the year. But, for around here its pretty atypical for them to emerge this time of year (temps last night hit -5). I'm sure your right, in that its more an issue of water and air temperature in the bog that caused the premature emergence. Both are kept at room temperature. Now that I've showed him off to all the students, I'll be preserving him to show off. Its actually in good shape, so it will make a nice educational specimen. You're right though, he doesn't know how good he has it right now.

Very cool pics man!

Thanks Jonathan, glad you enjoyed em. Thanks for looking and commenting.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Well, more out of season hatching going on!

Today we found our first dragonfly of the season;

Here's the molted exoskeleton;

And here in a little better close-up you can see that it's wings are still soft and not yet fully hardened;

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Sweet! That dragonfly looks legit

 

[adeebm]

That is pretty inspirational lol. I need to add bog tank to my list of future tanks. Btw, what did the dragonfly nymphs feed on?

--Adeeb

 

[Wy Renegade]

Sweet! That dragonfly looks legit

Thanks, I think .

That is pretty inspirational lol. I need to add bog tank to my list of future tanks. Btw, what did the dragonfly nymphs feed on?

--Adeeb

Thanks - like the adults, dragonfly nymphs feed on insects and invertes, such as daphnia. Occasionally they also wander out of the water and feed on terrestrial insects.

 

[fort384]

Wow, great photos and a very neat tank. I have tossed around the idea of creating something like this, ever since elwaine's sticks and stones journal a few year's back. Some day maybe. In the mean time, keep up the good work! Your students are lucky to have someone who is so hands on. It makes it a lot of fun for them I am sure.

 

[severum mama]

That is really cool! Please keep posting more photo updates! HN1 and I have taken creek monitoring classes through the local Parks and Rec Dept. and have seen the larvae in the creeks. It's very cool that you are hatching them out of season.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Thanks fort, I'll have to do some looking and see if I can find that reference. Try to make it fun when I can.

That is really cool! Please keep posting more photo updates! HN1 and I have taken creek monitoring classes through the local Parks and Rec Dept. and have seen the larvae in the creeks. It's very cool that you are hatching them out of season.

See what we can do. Cool that you're taking some of those classes, only problem with hatching them early it what the heck to do with them. Unfortunately without its food source of flying insects, I doubt it will survive too long .