The person behind the room
Why this
exists.
I’m Corey, a carpenter and the founder of Introverted Invertebrates in Renfrew, Ontario. I bring the same care to a shrimp room that I bring to a build: understand the conditions, make the system serviceable, and keep improving it.
Care
Welfare before production.
The animals are the reason this work exists.
I will not sell an animal into a tank I believe is unsafe. Healthy breeding colonies, suitable receiving systems, and thoughtful transfers come before a sale. That responsibility extends to live foods while they are in our care.
Here, separate Neocaridina colour lines, Amano larval research, plant growth, and live-food cultures all begin with dependable husbandry.
Learning
Make the work answerable.
Reliable systems depend on work that can be checked.
I observe closely, keep records, test changes, and share what holds up. Mistakes deserve an honest response and a better next version. I can stand firmly by a principle and still revise a conclusion when the evidence changes.
The research library connects our questions to published work. Practical designs, including the phototaxis zoea trap, turn those questions into tools others can use and refine.
Explore the research library →Faith
From observation to stewardship.
Observe.Refine.Steward.
My faith shapes how I understand this responsibility. I believe God gave me the curiosity, practical skills, and endurance to build a safe place for these animals to teach us. Caring for creation means preparing well, listening carefully, and remaining willing to learn.
Preparation belongs to me: the conditions I create, the decisions I make, and the honesty of my response. Outcomes are not always mine. I am still learning humility and how to walk in step with Christ through that uncertainty.
“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”
The story behind our emblem
What the emblem stands for
A maker's mark for work that answers to life.
This is not decoration around a shrimp. It is a field-research badge and maker's mark: a compact statement of what the room is for, how the work should be done, and what it owes the lives inside it.
- The shrimp
- In the foreground because every system, experiment, and decision begins with the animal in our care—not output, novelty, or convenience.
- The microscope
- The method: observe closely, ask why, test before claiming, document what happens, and improve from evidence.
- Water, plants & substrate
- The whole living system. Nothing in the room is treated as isolated from the conditions that let it flourish.
- Chemistry & microscopic life
- Molecular structures and microorganisms represent the unseen biology and water chemistry shaping every living system.
Welfare · Research · Breeding. The three commitments are held together rather than treated as separate jobs.
- Wisdom
- Evidence and humility: understand before acting.
- Justice
- What the animals are owed, placed at the emblem's north.
- Temperance
- Restraint in breeding, intervention, ambition, and certainty.
- Courage
- Taking on uncertainty and failures without shrinking, at the south.
The outer name forms the final circle: a boundary of responsibility around the system and the lives entrusted to it. Inside that boundary, the motto is not a slogan but a loop—observe what is true, refine with care, then steward what depends on you.
- Observe.
- Pay attention before intervening. Read the animals, the water, and the whole system honestly; measure what matters and document what is actually happening.
- Refine.
- Make deliberate changes, learn from the result, and keep improving the system without chasing novelty or pretending uncertainty is knowledge.
- Steward.
- Accept responsibility for the lives inside the system. Protect their welfare, plan for long-term care, and treat ownership as a duty.
Together: understand first, improve carefully, and care for what depends on you.