A low maintenance/self sustaining ecosystem and aquarium!

self sustaining ecosystems have always interested me and I thought that its just a simple ecosystem so i am making this instructable I hope you like it.
I decided to add a bottle garden (one plant in a bottle or any airtight container) to a self sustaining ecosystem to add to the look
WARNING: this project contains live animals and no animals were harmed in the making of this nor should they ever be.

Step 1: Part one:

be sure to get some distilled water or you can get something that makes tap water ok for fish (the yellow bottle on the right.)
aquarium gravel or sand is good too.
Go to hobby lobby or any store that might sell vases and get a small jar or whatever that will fit into the second jar, the second jar must be very large or atleast large enough to fit the small jar in it and have enough room for fish and plants you can also get the glue gun and glass glue from there.
What is going to happen is you are going to put the smaller vase/jar into the bigger container.
you can also have decorations but i prefer the natural look.
(NOTE:be sure to wash everything very thoroughly)

Comments

[neldaga]

what purpose does the venus fly trap serve in this ecosystem? Couldn't this same ecosystem be achieved with just the large jar filled with the gravel, shrimp, algae, etc.? All in all I like it though and I definitely want to do it myself, how much were the shrimp?

[boxercurl]

I love this idea and will definately give it a shot!! It allows me to have fish but not have to worry about the larger tanks! Thanks so much for a great instructable!

[nephicarrera]

This is awesome!

[laurab7]

Where did you get your jars? I wasn't able to find any that large online.

[alcachofa]

I love the Luna reference :D

[ilpug]

We did something like this a few years ago in Biology. I forgot about mine ad it went into my closet, and then everything in it died. A few months ago i found it, put it in the sun, and a few weeks later it revived.

[furrysalamander]

Cool

[robot797]

will it work without the venus flytrap

[xFyrios]

It looks like you used a peacock fern in your setup, from what I've seen those are a scam and actually don't survive underwater for very long as they are land plants. How is the setup surviving so far?

[burdockwing]

It's actually still doingnvery well

[xFyrios]

Glad to hear it :) I'll have to try it out!

[Scott_Tx]

I put my tap water in a jug over night and that lets the chlorine evaporate and brings it to room temperature.

[burdockwing]

I accidentally said distiller water I meant unchlorinated water

[TSC]

Were did you get the shrimp,

[burdockwing]

I got them at bobs tropical fish online and they are red cherry shrimp

[scoochmaroo]

Fantastic! I used to have one very expensive store bought version of this. They included a magnet inside that I could use with another magnet from the outside to clean the walls when needed.