Carleigh Vanhorn, a St. Louis High School senior, has a unique aquatic hobby in which she grows freshwater plants and small crustacean ecosystems, as well as coral.
Vanhorn surprised everyone with news on one of her big hobbies, which is to grow freshwater plants and some small crustaceans, like assassin snails and shrimp. This takes place in large tanks set to simulate what it would be like to live in these ecosystems. She enjoys her ecosystems because she can, “See all my creatures live and thrive together.”
On the side, Carleigh also helps her uncle in growing coral in saltwater tanks. She remarked that in order to grow these ecosystems, one can do things such as, “You can feed them dead shrimp.” She also explained how some corals can be violent to one another and, “Corals can sting and kill other corals and have to be housed alone.” As well as explaining how they can be safe havens for other fish. “Some fish like the clown fish will live in these corals and adapt to the stinging and use it to protect themselves from other fish,” she added.
She expanded more on the topic with her future plans for her tank and things she would like to improve and add to it. Carleigh mentioned that she would, “like to have a CO2 set-up.” To allow herself to include more wildlife. She also has Kuhli Loaches, which she’d like to breed, but they are difficult to reproduce in captivity. According to the Aquarium Co-op organization, “Kuhli loaches are not commonly bred in captivity, but they can be influenced via food and very thick java moss.”
Vanhorn hopes to expand her aquatic terrarium soon adding more life and technology to her set-ups in the next few months.
