My flickr set - these are my favorites from the set, so far.
The initial sketch
Soaking the fern in tapwater. This is the jar that everyone will be in at some point.
The jar in the middle has tiny baby artemia, cocos, and sea bubbles. The clear one is curing saltwater. (This photo was taken pre-snails and bubbles, but the basic setup is unchanged.)
The first snail goes exploring.
Growing algae while the babies get big enough to go in.
I had an idea for an art piece - halfway between diorama and mini-garden. With some Sea Monkey figurines in little robes, worshiping at a tank of brine shrimp. I haven't found the right enclosure yet, but got so into the idea of having Sea Monkeys again, that I had to do *something*.
Then I went online, and found out that I can have more than just the artemia. Which I immediately HAD to do! heheheee.
So, the setup: 1 liter apothecary jar. Chosen because it's got a lid, it's got the size, and it's pretty.
A sea fern, some candy gem gravel (and a handful of flat marbles because the gravel wasn't deep enough to hold the fern), and some beachballs make up the decoration for the big jar. I've got several chunks of algae in there, hoping that it'll take and get all good and green while my artemia get bigger (I started with sea monkeys which never really took - I think that San Francisco is too cold in Spring - and have added some Eggslposion, which looks like it has eggs in it. There's no real way to tell which wiggly dot is which, so they're all just artemia at this point.)
I got impatient and plunked my Sea Bubbles and Coco Snails into the smaller jar. The bubbles cruise around, bumble into each other, and occasionally bug the snails. (I think they're cleaning their shells! I could be utterly wrong, of course.) Occasionally, I'll walk in on a pair going at it. I haven't found information on how long it takes them to reproduce, but I fully expect a population boom.
The snails.. oh, the snails.
They've taken to exploiting surface tension and hanging in the center of the jar, where food often floats.
I found one latched onto a floating chunk of algae. What little a greedygut!
Yesterday morning, one was dangling, about 2cm below the surface, on what must have been a little mucus string. I tried to take a photo, but I don't know if I managed to show that the snail isn't against the glass.
They surprised me by occasionally hanging out above the waterline; I knew to expect that from the winkles, but not the cocos. I found a little trail that goes all the way up to the lid, too! (All six are still in there - I checked. Heh.) I'm glad that I decided to keep the lid on the jar!
When it comes time to tip the smaller jar into the larger, I don't know how I'm getting the cocos out. I'm afraid that I'll hurt them if I just pull them off the sides.
I haven't put the winkles in yet (I'll only have to move six snails, not twelve). I plan on adding them once I've got the big jar populated, although I'm awfully tempted to do it now. I adore my cocos, and can't imagine that I wouldn't love the winkles just as much. (And I SO can't wait until the Puggles are available! Soooooo cute!)
I can stand and watch my tiny little critters for entirely too long. My cat is baffled at what I find so fascinating. (It's like her and the birds, except that I don't want to pounce on or eat any of the things in the jar, but she has no way of understanding that.)