so like they could walk by, stick the shrimp lollypop in the tank for a minute and watch, then take it out and leave it to dry in a little cup next to the tank. that way they could interact without touching directly and getting stuff from their hands like oils and soaps into the shrimp water.

ya know, a little gimmick that makes a tank of ostrocods into into something students could hand feed would probably be a hit. like if you could make a little long lasting lollypop that the shrimp could not resist that students could stick into the tank and watch the shrimp swarm.

figure if this fanart piques anyone's interest, the best place to find the rest of the au is at the ao3 compilation i made here. Which has almost all of the artwork and fanfic of the inner demon au. except for the latest fic, which isn't quite finished yet.
archiveofourown.org/works/495059...

they look like chickpeas

/2plus then you would genuinely be able to make the excuse you're *literally being paid* to maintain some very rare plants and the bugs that rely on them as part of your career as a scientist. cus like, that's what people pay scientists to do.

do you have a donation thing? i'd be willing to give ya some money to do some reasonably safe for bugs backyard aesthetics. like make some gravel paths and mulch to keep visitors out of range of brushing against long grass to pick up ticks with. like a pretty path makes almost any plants good.

is there perhaps a fancy name that can be used to make it seem less like an ugly stepchild and more like an exclusive club for the cool biology hipsters? after all, if the problem is that the shrimp are unpopular, then that is a problem of marketing. and marketing problems have marketing solutions.

thanks to you, i learned what ostracods were and was finally able to identify a number of species in my little creek water/mud/ and reeds terrariums i make in big glass pickle jars. like yall legit an educational celebrity in my book. try to have confidence in your accomplishments.

you need to make more vicious irl friends to go shout at people on your behalf. are there maybe any acquaintances of your work colleges who are just really good at screaming? like it might be embarrassing, but sometimes it cant be helped.

can ya put a tutorial for shrimp photography with regular smartphones here as well? like do ya need a white cup and magnifying glass?