In this video I build a large terrarium from a spare fish tank I had lying around. Usually my ecosystems are small and contained within jars, however this time I felt like trying a project a lot bigger!
I went out and collected various plants from a local woodland. The woodland hosted a vast variety of plants to stock my terrarium with life. I just knew there would be hitchhikers in the plants and was not disappointed. In fact a lot of new species showed up only after I finished editing the video... You will get to see those species in future update videos.
I decided to add springtails and armadillidiums to this terrarium as they're both species I enjoy to watch. The springtails quickly dispersed into the plants and soil, however the isopods are a lot less timid. Every time I check out the terrarium I see different individuals exploring. They don't seem to be afraid of light.
I decided to start off with a mixed colour variety of isopods. I did this because I wanted to see what colours might show up in the future. I was also curious if certain colours would fade out of the line or if they'd continue to show up over the generations. It guess it just adds a interesting feature to the colony.
I was not expecting to find parasitic mites in this vivarium. I hope that over time predators begin predating on the mites. I do however have a backup plan if that doesn't occur naturally.
I quite enjoyed creating a larger ecosystem and hope to create a lot of videos showcasing it's inhabitants. This video was a lot longer than planned and I'm sorry if the creation process dragged on a little too long. I'm also sorry for the glare, I didn't review the footage until after it had been filmed and I couldn't go back in time to film again. I'll do my best to ensure this won't happen again.
0:00 - Introduction
0:09 - Collecting Plants
1:36 - Adding Drainage Layer
2:29 - Adding Substrate
3:19 - Adding Wood
4:02 - Adding Plants
7:42 - Spraying The Plants
8:03 - Adding SPRINGTAILS
8:44 - Adding Armadillidium Isopods
10:47 - Showing Hitchhiker Species
12:40 - Outro