I Built an Aquarium-Pond and It Filled With Life

I built an outdoor aquarium-pond, and it filled with life: a small natural pond with native plants, Gammarus, copepods, dragonfly larvae, and Endler’s guppies.
Step-by-step process: river inspiration, recycled-glass build, leak test, and two months of ecosystem growth.

In this video, you’ll see everything from the river inspiration to the life that took over the tank: how I built the pond, why I allowed algae and snails to stay, the introduction of emergent and floating plants, and the arrival of birds and insects. I show macro shots of the creatures, the leak test, and why I added Endler’s guppies to control mosquito larvae (roughly 8-gallon tank, 3 fish).

• Tank: about 8 gallons — three Endler’s guppies.
• Plants: native species + Limnobium (floating, non-native).
• Wildlife observed: copepods, Gammarus, Physa snails, dragonfly larva, water boatman, visiting birds.
• Tip: when collecting materials from a river, always check for “hitchhikers” (algae, snails, microfauna) and respect the environment.

If you enjoy this kind of project, subscribe for more mini-ecosystem experiments and updates (I’ll upload a winter follow-up soon). And if you want to see how I built everything step by step, check out my video on setting up a filterless aquarium.

#NaturalPond #Aquarium #Ecosystem #Biodiversity #NativePlants #Guppies #Endlers #Gammarus #Copepods #Dragonfly