I purchased some aquatic plants from an awesome fish store in Fort Collins and discovered some invertebrate hitchhikers among the roots. They have settled in comfortably at home and all acquired names pretty quickly… It is now my mission to keep them alive, well-fed, happy, and under constant god-like surveillance. I can’t count the hours I’ve spent staring into their habitat on my desk, watching all their antics (mostly eating and pooping) instead of getting my work done.
Try to convince me that Herbie isn’t the most adorable thing you’ve ever seen.
I’ve been obsessed with aquascaping and micro aquariums for years, owed in part to Pinterest, r/Jarrariums, and this guy on YouTube. After finding a large glass jar at a thrift store I decided to take the plunge and build my first micro aquarium. It hasn’t been without peril. Several days after planting some aquatic greenery and building up a scape reminiscent of an underwater forest with a gnarled old tree, it started leaking from around the base and across my desk! I frantically rushed to migrate everything over to another jar, half the size, so that I could try to salvage the plants, shrimps, and Herbie the snail. It was kind of a mess, and the old gnarled tree doesn’t fit in the new jar. So I fashioned a miniature Stonehenge of sorts out of rock slabs collected from the Wyoming desert. It’s OK but not entirely what I had in mind, so I think I will be building a second one soon…
