Week 4

After two weeks of no observations, the state of our water was the first thing we noticed.  It is very murky and has fragments of what appears to be the rope floating in the water.

Murky water

Guppy and Elodia

Our elodia has gown but our algae seems to be dying because it has shrunk in size.  Our smaller snail seems to be doing great as it crawls up and down the bottle, but our large snail seems to have died because it has not moved since we last saw it.  Our guppy also seems to be thriving as he swims around the water close to the surface.

Snail :)

The terrestrial section has finally grown a plant! We have one stem that reaches almost the top of the bottle.  It has three leaves and seems healthy.

Our terrarium weighs 1.574kg this week.

Our Terrarium plant has grown!

Death Toll

Second Observation:

We seem to have lost a bean to the aquatic section

After one week in the terrarium, the water in our aquatic section is a little more cloudy and a little brownish.  The elodea still looks bright green and healthy and seems to have grown another branch.

Our terrarium after one week.

Death Toll: 2 Shrimp

Both of our shrimp have died.  Instead of being the clear, white color they were when we first got them, they are bright pink and no longer moving.  Only the tail remains of one of our shrimp, which leads us to assume that one of the other organisms ate him.  

The guppy appears to be a little larger and healthy and one of the snails is very active and crawling around the bottle.  Our other snail does not appear to be moving, but we still have hope that it is alive.  

Snails

We still have no signs of growth from the beans in there terrestrial section, but we do have condensation which is a sign that the system is functioning.  

The smaller snail had begun to eat the dead shrimp while we were observing and measuring the terrariums weight. We assume that is what happened to the other shrimp. 

Our terrarium weighs 1kg and 586grams or 1.586kg. We think the weight of the terrarium will increase over time. The growth of the plants will add to the weight of the terrarium.

First Day

February 3, 2015
Goal: We created a terrarium where we hope all organisms will survive and thrive until the end of the project.  

Ceci and Avana's Terrarium

Our terrarium is made out of two plastic liter bottles that we cut up to allow a section for aquatic organisms as well as a dry area for the terrestrial section. Our aquatic section contains spring water with two ghost shrimp, 2 snails, a guppy, small piece of alge, elodia and a small piece of fish food. There are three garden bean seeds in the terrestrial section of the terrarium, and we buried a piece of string in the dirt that goes through the bottle cap and reaches the water to bring water to the beans. 

As of now, the elodea is bright green and healthy and the water is clear.  There are no visible plants at the top of the terrarium and the guppy, and ghost shrimp are swimming around at the bottom.

Our initial questions when we built our terrarium were: Will the animals stay alive? How dirty will the water get? Will the beans grow?