Ecosystem: the complex of a community of organisms and its environment functioning as an ecological unit.- Webster’s Dictionary.
Because it is able to conveniently fit on a table or desk, you may find it difficult to believe that there is much to the Wild Creations
EcoAquarium™, but inside each is a world unto itself. More than just gravel, plant, and frogs, its balanced ecosystem habitat offers a bit of nature and science at your fingertips.
Years of study and research are behind each ecosystem habitat, and each aquarium component serves a very specific and vital role. For beginners, you may think the plant inside each aquarium is just bamboo … but think again. It’s actually “Lucky Bamboo”, or
Dracaena Sanderiana. This hardy plant, like the African dwarf frogs swimming around it, is from the rainforests of West Africa. It thrives on very wet and low light conditions, which is why it works so well in each aquarium. Next, the brown gravel, or
Living Gravel™, which you will find at the bottom of each aquarium, serves as a natural, biological filter, converting toxin
s in the water to valuable nutrients utilized by other components of the habit. Lastly, the ecosystem wouldn’t be complete without the frogs, which contribute to the ecosystem much the way we do to ours.
How does a frog thrive in this ecosystem? For African dwarf frogs, shallow puddles and streams of water are their home. This is why the comfortable habitat of the EcoAquarium makes such a great home for them. These tiny frogs, much like us, enjoy the quiet luxuries of a safe, predator- and hazard-free home, with all the amenities of their own natural habitat.
How does the ecosystem work without a pump or aquarium filter? Well, quite simply because there IS a filter inside every EcoAquarium. As mentioned before, the brown Living Gravel is literally a biological filter, home to MILLIONS of beneficial anaerobic bacteria, eating waste and providing food for the other components of the aquarium.
The beauty of the cycle of life, often reflected as an ecosystem, is that it can be as all-encompassing as the world itself or as big as a space that can sit on a tabletop.
EDITORS NOTE: This was first published back in 2009. Since each Christmas, we gain so many new EcoAquarium Owners, it's a good idea to repost this article since it covers a lot of ground concerning African Dwarf Frogs.
