<< I think getting a whole colony while it is still small may be the key to
success.
That way you can take the colony along with whatever object - stick or root
it is
growing on as opposed to ripping a peice off of a bigger colony. >>
Theat's what I was thinking. It's kinda the same thing with people who keep
corals and aquatic plants; it's always better to get a smaller coral or plant
so the things don't get stressed from the move plus changes in water
conditions like an older, more developed specimen would.Then you can let it
mature under the conditions you are keeping it in and it will be accustomed
to those conditions.Smaller, younger specimens just tend to be more hardy in
general.
The fact that you are keeping it in a pond with plenty of bacteria should be
easier feeding-wise, which will give you a greater chance for success in
keeping it alive. putting it in a shady area and having barley straw to keep
the algae down should help too. Algae is one of the things that I could see
killing the bryozoan colony by smothering it.Some of the colonies I saw had a
greenish tinge from algae in parts, but the algae presence in the vernal pool
was minimal due to the many small trees that lined its banks and shaded large
portions of the pool. There were even colonies in the sun-lit areas; these
were the ones with the slight greenish tinge on different parts of
themselves, but they looked allright. There were dense clouds of Daphnia
magna present which kept down the algae diatoms as well.
You are the first person that I know of that has attempted to keep bryozoans
in their pond. I think that's cool; it's one step forward in the process in
learning to keep and culture these organisms in a captive environment.Success
in this would be encouraging in further attempts to keep them in more
challenging circumstances, such as an aquarium. I was wondering, were you
going to try to keep any bryozoans in an aquarium? This will be more
problematic due to the difficulty of providing enough bacteria for the
bryozoans to feed on. If you succeeded at that, you would be accomplishing
the seemingly (at the present time) impossible. I wish you luck in your
endeavors.
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