Random Bits: What I Found in Conservatory Water NYC

Conservatory Water in Central Park of New York city is one of my favorite places.
This pond is an inspirational and starting place for many of my adventures shown in previous videos.

Let's see what in this water on May 25th, 2019

This one looks like Water Scavenger Beetle.

The beetle is too deep for me to catch it.

And there are many baby fish.
Let's take a closer look on the fish.

This pond is the place where this fish growth through the Summer.
The fish gets moved from this pond to other ponds and lake around Thanksgiving time.
And this Conservatory Water pond gets drained for Winter.

Here I get another fry to look at.
This fish feeds on algae, larve and whatever else it may find in the water.
And there is a lot to find :)

I let the fish go back to the pond.

Pond snails are the easiest to find in this pond through the Summer.
Here is one, quite large example.
Let it go.

I have pond snails in all my aquariums.

Oh! Look on this pond snail.

It's pretty and very large.
It should be a couple years old to be that big.

And next to it is a dragonfly nymph.

Even a smaller one would eat my adult dwarf guppies.
So, I better let this one go.

And the next to it is...aha!
It is something that I actually want to take home.
It is a young trapdoor mystery snail.
And it comes with something else...

Okay.
The old pond snail is on the left.
The young trapdoor mystery snail is on the right.
And a worm-like critter is wriggling on top, tangled into debris.

I release the pond snail back to the pond.

There are many different critters in every wild sample I take.

I want to see what other critters could be in this sample.

And here is another look at the bigger fish in this pond.
The previously shown fry will be about this big in a couple months or so.
It grows very fast on algae and larvae without any supplemental feeding.

And this larger fish is most likely the one that survived through the last Winter in this then drained pond.
More about it in a separate video.

And here is also a couple years old mystery trapdoor snail.

At home, I move the mystery trapdoor snail to another nursery.
And the rest of the sample goes into a large tank.

Notice a tiny moving speckle...it could be a seed shrimp.

Add dechlorinated water.

I keep this nursery on a windowsill - the direct sunlight should help the growth of algae and any other "things".
Here is the nursery 10 days later on June 4th.
A view from the top.
Common green algae gives water the tint.

I see many seed shrimp and Tubifex.
And copepods.
Half of the water evaporated.

Let's take a closer look.

I add a pinch of homemade fish food flakes to boost algae growth.

Also, I add water and duckweed.

June 7th
Notice some growth on the wall...probably it is some bacteria.

Do you know what it is?
Notice tiny bubbles moving up.
I think those bubbles are made of oxygen...correct me if I am wrong.

4 days later on June 11th the growth on the wall spread up noticeably.

All critters in this nursery feed on algae that grows on its own thanks to the abundant sunlight and waste produced by those critters.
It's an example of the simplest self-sustaining aquarium.
Generally, every new "thing" shows up in the first couple weeks in all wild collected samples.
So, there should be no more surprises.