Self Sustaining System

[korykj]

this is like in the wild (outside) if one sytem fails such as the fish then the fruit flies get out of hand and since the fish died then the predators will die. a way to prevent this is to have multiple things that eat they prey and multiple prey and so on good idea with the fruit flies but i suggest aphids as there easier to catsh and mutiply as soon as there born(thats why WE have problems with them!) make sure the predators dont get out of hand and the aphids will eat the plants too.
the limiting factor would be that the predators eat multiple prey and the prey produce as much as the predators eat. i suggest plants that aphids eat, fish like feeder guppies, and a small lizard that eats fish(dont have a male and a female) imagine 6 lizards against 12 or so fish

[TrojanDylan]

Hey, sounds interesting

I dont think you would be able to completely seal off the plaudarium as you would have to monitor how things are going. For the insects I would recommend "rollie pollies" as they break down dead leaves in the viv. You can also use millipedes and springtails for this.

For the predators I dont think a tarantula would be good, they wouldnt go after the fish in deep water. If you were to have guppies or minnows I would definintley go with a turtle. If you were to have lizards in the tank which the turtle will probably go after if it has the chance, I would get an arboreal lizard like a green anole or house gecko. You should lso periodically release crickets in the tank for the lizards if the other insects aren't breeding

good luck!

[sawzall]

any updates? sounds awesome

[cuervo25_1]

I was thinking of doing something like this in a neighbors tank. Have an aquatic part that has minnows, water born larvae (such as caddis fly nymph, and hellgrammites) and crayfish in it . The minnows would eat algae, smaller larvae, pin heads that fall in and the crayfish babies. Crayfish would eat anything dead and sometimes catch a live minnow, and larger larvae and algae I think. Have it set up where there is a piece of slate at the bottom with sand around it and and a section with sand and rocks on top some sort of plants would be nice as well as a "root" system

the terrestial section could have cricket frogs, tree frogs, anoles ,and crickets along with the various types of plants and moss. the cricket frog would eat the smaller adults of the larvae that survive and smaller crickets while the tree frog and anole will tend to the larger crickets and adults of the larvae that are larger.

I do think it has to be done at a large scale to see what happens ,but have the emergency food just in case