Ecospheres

[furtech]

Darn it! I really wanted to get another ecosphere , but this site (about pet shrimp) claims that the shrimp are slowly dying, not surviving in a balanced environment.

So, who's right?!?

I had one a few years ago and the shrimp actually grew noticeably over the year+ that I had it (broken in a house-cleaning mishap-- became the "Ghettosphere" at Casa Zor). So I'm not sure who's right.

Any opinions?

Comments

[foxfeather.livejournal.com]

I've always wanted one of those!

The site seems a bit extreme, the shrimp seem to be going on with their daily activities and even breeding on occasion, it doesn't seem like they are being tortured. On occasion in the wild they end up in small ponds where they dry up mostly and have to live in much nastier conditions and still do. Though they do definitely have a truncated lifespan in captivity.

I have some algae-eating shrimp in my planted aquarium that have lived five years and don't seem like they'll ever die - so it is true they can have really long lifespans and never live so long in ecospheres.
But are they really suffering in an ecosphere? Probably not. If the waste buildup is too much for the plant material to handle and it's unbalanced inside, they could sustain organ/tissue damage over years and technically that could cause pain, but shrimp nervous systems don't seem to deal with pain like we would. So!

[furtech.livejournal.com]

I appreciate the feedback! The site does strike me as a little extreme--like they're trying too hard to sell their case (ie, skewing the situation as to leave -no- room for the possibility that they could be wrong). If nothing else, this eases guilt pangs. Thanks!