STEM PLANTS BUNDLE SALE - Over 75 plants - 15 Species for $59! Limited Time OFFER so HURRY! father-fish-aquarium.myshopify.com/ For Special Soil Supplements, Plants, FIsh & Merch in your country: fatherfish.fish/
I love this guy I just started watching a few weeks ago and everything he teaches corresponds to what i want in my aquariums just subscribed sir. My aquariums are all planted tanks working towards no water changes. Great advice guys!
Father Fish we have used different leaves and twigs. Our after school Fish club (middle school) We have a 40 gallon breeder our substrate is dirted capped with a mixture of sand and pea gravel. We have eight different species of plants and (5)glowlight tetras(6) serpae tetras(2)imature marble angels(2) panda corys and (6) bladder snails, and the students feed them every other two days a very small amount of food and the students document behavior of the fish the growth of the plants. The plants get all natural light, and there is so much diversity in the aquarium especially with the microorganisms. We have five aquariums setup in the school
This is such an awesome idea!!! I always loved the aquarium in the library in my elementary school-it would have been so nice to have had a fish/aquarium club like yours!
Thank you for sharing your wealth of wisdom. Your 22 year old fish tank is proof that you are consistent. I appreciate your response to my questions as well. I saw a title of one of your videos no water changes and you are one of the few doing this. It really does come down to biodiversity and a balance between ammonia from how many fish you have to microorganisms turning that into nitrate for the plants and the amount of plants to absorb all those nitrates. I am trying to grow food so I have a separate tank because the fish were eating my roots but I’m trying to get the balance right and I have too many fish. My plants just can’t absorb all the nitrates yet. I see you have a ton of plants in your fish tank and not a huge ammonia load like mostly small fish and you have other things in there eating the ammonia. I just want to say thank you for sharing!! Great stuff!! And I love your guest on this video she is a wealth of knowledge.
Now I completely understand what's happening on my tank. Before we left for a vacation for 4 weeks I was battling with green algae on my plants & glass. So after we came back I was surprised that my tank was clean, clear, & no algae. But once I start dosing with daily fertiliser, the algae came back. Thank you once again FF...if it's wasn't for your knowledge of sharing with us, I probably quit with this hobby.
It's not like nature does it on purpose. It's just the "gravity of the situation". If there is an overabundance in nature we get algae blooms. Just like our tanks. This isn't harmony. It's a fight for life
Interesting talk. I very much enjoyed my time with you two! I'm reminded of invasive endemics here in California. This year because of the weird rain we had a super bloom if European mustard. Very pretty from far away to see the hills bright yellow but very bad for our natives. And what will be the first thing that sprouts on roadsides and soil moved by machines? That same yellow mustard. Our natives can't thrive in disturbed soil. I wonder if those catapa leaves everyone raves about are like Dr Laura was referring to being super quick to break down and that's why they're so popular? And while you guys say oak is ok, I've read Live Oak isn't ok? I usually use guava, avocado sand magnolia or Liquidambar but I have a lot of oak leaves and oak duff. Would avocado duff be ok to use in the aquarium? I have a really good layer under the fresh fallen leaves that's broken down and half composted that I can tell is actively being worked on by fungus and micro critters.
Your intuition is right on target. Ignore those who know nothing and claim everything. Do what you believe is best. We are here to back you u. Go for it.
I do water changes & vacuum & Prime conditioner after every 2 weeks 20% Because i have no live plants only rocks & driftwood 90 gallon 20 Tiger Barb tank ..Good Video
My water is very soft as I have a water softener in my house. My plants are not dying yet, but they really are not thriving at all and I have to clean up melted leaves every week. I dont have calcium in my water and I have 2 snails. Should I put crushed up egg shells in the tank or filter for my plants and snails? Will it hurt my fish and change ph quickly?
There should be an outdoor faucet with water that has not gone through your softener. Use THAT water and you will probably have hard alkaline water, perfect for plants.
None of them do AFAIK,in a dirted deep substrate tank co2 will be produced in the substrate and the roots will take it up,no need for expensive co2 equipment
im happy im learning so much from you,im taking on board as info as i can, i hvave bought some .tetra active substrate, can i mix that with mud, and than put on top white sand bio substrate. thank you for your time, with love from uk🙏
No. Read the directions for the contents of the substrate. It is described in many of my videos and is printed on the Father Fish Shoal at discord.gg/G4fkAE6qNw
Hello FatherFish, I just recently found your channel and must say I really like how you are doing fish keeping. I was given a 56 litre tank a little while back. It had gravel and a fake crocskull in it. It sort of didn't really make sense. So figured I'd scape it new and try to make it natural. Now I live near a lake and was wondering would it be an ok idea to use the dirt/sand from the lake as a substrate?
@Father Fish brilliant than I just need to plan everything with that skull 😅 the bristlenoses love hiding in it. And I have to have patience and grow the plants first so they need their hiding spots
Curious, is it better to collect leaves 🍃 that have already fallen in the water (pond) or should we collect leaves that are still on the tree ? Any reply is greatly appreciated. Love your show btw . Big fan
I hope your having a great weekend. I recently found your channel and was wondering in a situation that the ammonia may be slightly elevated or the nitrates slightly elevated are you saying don’t do a water change ? Or when you set up a tank with the process you recommend that’s just not Something that occurs. Thank you for your time and all the best.
Live plants are primary ingestors of ammonia.Nitrates are nutrition for plants. Neither requires water change unless the cause of the ammonia is severe rotting matter that needs to be removed. Removing water that has dissolved ammonia does not remove the cause of the ammonia.
how can i start over, Father Fish .i got my fist fish tank 5 gallon with 1 betta fish. i am in my late seventies no experience i did what the pet store avised me to do. i got gravel a filter and added the fish later. i added a heater, a spunch filter, and some plants . i started to goggle information. my thank did not cycle i had amonya but no nitrates the amonya has gone now but i never had nitrates. im confused and have found it stressful. i found you and watched a couple of videos from you . you make sense to me. how can i add dirt and sand now and stop doing water changes and do it right for about two months now. i would really appreciate some advice thank you Sylvia
@FatherFish thank you father fish I have a 1.5 gallon bowl. Could I start with that for practice and but my betta fish Mr. Diesel in that and then start over with my 5 gallon thank . I'm a bit nervous. I don't want to lose my betta, and this is all new to me. so I would like to get the ingredients from your shop. so I would like to know exactly what I need to start . please let me know. Thank you so very much for your help
I speak for many years of horticultural experiences. Poor soil condition need to be corrected or amended.The question is, do you know how to amend it in a correct way.
I honestly have a lot of trouble, but most of that is because I experiment rather than just sticking to a series of recommendations. My main take away is aquariums are designed as systems, and Frankenstein approaches are likely going to have problems. High tech tanks over-fertilize on purpose, and the remove excess after a few days so as not to feed algae because these are more synthetic systems that utilize unnatural soils. Kinda weird that Amano decided to go that way, but whatever... Dirted natural systems on the other hand have to be more cautious by nature when it comes to fertilizer and overfeeding because you don't clean the substrate and are less fastidious about removing mulm in general while simultaneously trying to avoid frequent water changes. It's nice in theory, but difficult when trying to raise a bunch of baby fish, shrimp, snails, etc. which need to be fed frequently. I'm trying to raise a bunch of golden mystery snails as well as keeping the few adults from eating live plants by tossing in vegetables regularly, and now I'm getting too much algae. I also had to remove most of my old oak leaves because I was getting too much detritus covering the plants. I've added a nitrifying filter back onto my powerhead, I'll probably do a bit more cleaning of the substrate surface, partial water change, and only feed the babies, but nothing else for a while.
I've successfully raised tons of baby fish and shrimp in natural planted tanks. Depends on the fish, but shrimp and nearly all small fish should be able to find plenty of food with minimal extra feeding if you have an established natural tank
@@mrdesperate1 Perhaps of you're raising a small amount of fish, or a larger amount of less demanding animals, but this doesn't even answer my issue with some snails.
Greetings from Cape Town Father Fish. I want to thank your for sharing your wisdom. There truly is only 1 one and that is the natural way. Father Fish, I have a question if you don't mind. My problem is that my swordtails eat all the algae and biofilm as soon as it appears which means nothing left for the other creatures. They are truly ferocious eaters that just don't stop. Thank you Father Fish. God bless and keep you
In my area there are no oak trees other than those planted by people, in fact the ecosystem is dominated by conifers which have leaves and wood that can be harmful for tropical fish. The only hardwood tree that is common here is the red alder or in some areas there are a few big leaf maple, other than that there are only shrubs and bushes like salal or ferns that are good leaves to use. I think red alder leaves are a little more sturdy than other species of alder like the white alder since they seem to last over the winter and not fully break down until the end of the next summer when on land but break down fast underwater, the sturdiest leaves are the salal bushes which are very tough and may take years to break down on land, salal tend to have a very thick layer of leaves under the bushes despite not growing especially fast and being an evergreen tree that keeps leaves for a long time.
Yes. The first section of our book will detail a group of leaves common to both American and European climates. This is expected to be published in June.
You make me want to get rid of my cichlids. A fish tank is an artificial system which is different than the natural grassland which has hundreds of years of development, and is more damageable by change like increased nutrient. Good video, good guest. Can you do one on species recommendations for things which will multiply in numbers in the right tank?
What you bring up about cichlids is the reason I keep shying away from having species of fish that can't(?) be successfully kept in planted tanks because the fish will destroy/eat the plants. I've toyed with ideas for using emergent plants, with the roots protected from the fish, but I haven't had a chance to try that yet.
@@FatherFish Great, I am thinking about some kind of barrier to make a refuge area where small things can go in and out. Like with the plastic grating that is sometimes used for a tank divider except it would be more of a box and have some kind of mesh cover so like eggs could fall in but nothing big enough to eat them could get in. That, and maybe glass walls glued to the bottom of the tank like 6” high and maybe a second level behind so I would end up with a 6 inch substrate behind the glass and sloping up even higher, but the middle of the tank would only have like an inch of sand.
@@dawnt6791 I think I do something like what you describe. I have a bunch of rocks in the tank and a Tupperware on top of them filled with gravel and lava rocks - this is the filter. There is emergent bamboo and Philodendron growing there and sometimes I get some moss going too. I think a root mat is the best filter imaginable, plus I have fiberfill on top too. It keeps the water pretty clear and when I clean it every 9 months or so, the stuff coming out is black but not too smelly, like it is processed. Oh, and yeah, you can simply dip some roots of many different tropical plants into the water and they will grow well and help clean the tank, I am seeing people do this increasingly. But, yeah, fish have about 24 hours a day to mess with plants if they are so inclined.
@@mattbatcher802 I have emergent plant roots visible in all of my tanks that include those plants. Some of the plants are directly in the tank - tucked into/onto lava rock structures - and some are inside plant holders hanging on the tank rim but their roots have grown beyond the holders. Works both ways. I'm sure some fish would have a field day with those hanging roots. It'd be worth playing with, though, if someone has fish that tend to shred plants. I know even goldfish can be kept in planted tanks with the right kind of plants and the right sort of setup. It's sometimes just trial and error to figure it out. Depends how patient someone is, I guess. As long as I know something won't harm fish or inverts, I have no problem playing with various plants and setups to see what works. Play and learn. LOL
Wrong question. What is the relation of oak to other tree species in the aquatic environment, is a better question. Thiis will be answered in the new PDF unit soon to be published by Father Fish.
@@FatherFish great! Thanks I just set up my little Betta Aquarium with a mud and sand base with a hornwart plant and I went down to the river and dropped in a couple leaves and some broken down plants from the bottom. The fish and snails seem to be very happy.
One thing i learned: Every change you need to do, you gotta do it in small doses. If you think they need food, you might add a little bit. Or a bit of fertilizer. Want to add a new fish? Go slow. But don't change it too much. You are ruining the whole stabilization that the system had.
I wonder if feeding faster decomposing plants would boost the number of micro organisms enough to prepare for more fish or fish that produce more waste like a goldfish.
I am struggling. I discovered father fish videos too late. I have only gravel in my 64 litre aquarium with 2 live plants. 4 week tank with 10 small fish. How can I change the floor now? Can I add any good things for my aquarium? I have a pond near by but not sure if I can just add leaves or soil on the gravel.
You will be fine. Add 2" of sand,. just pour clean sand into the water about 1/2" a day. Add small amount of leaf mulch from the pond once a week then begin adding dried leaves.
When you bring in leaves from ponds or outside water sources, are you not worried about parasites? I had a huge leech and hydra outbreak from a plant I bought from the pet store. I can't imagine what would come in from outside
Really nice talk and very explanatory, thank you so much for that. One question from me would be, in cases where you have a fish community that keeps on reproducing, they will eventually cause an overcrowded aquarium. In this case, what would you recommend? 1. Introduce a predator that can delay the spam? 2. Remove overcrowded fish elements? 3. Reduce food/nutrients? Seems any approach has a downfall :D
Natural predation whould maintain a stable population. A predator will cause vastly more damage than intended. I am thinking about a vid on this subject. Glad you reminded me.
My personal instincts tell me to go for introducing a predatory species depending on what the problem prolific breeders are. For example, endlers cannot self predate on their fry, so a predator must be present to keep things in check or else remove them. If it's snails that are the problem, feeding less would do the trick
@n_e_y_o That would be most any fish that don't guard their offspring like cichlids are known for. For example, corydoras and other egg scatterers must have the adults separated from the eggs, or they will eaten by the adults. Most livebearers like mollies, platies, and guppies (not endlers) will self predate on the young that are popped out if not separated from the adults. The exception to this would be the cases like endlers where the young cannot fit into the mouth of the adults.
I'm in a constant battle with my floating plants. I wonder if too many nutrients is why they reproduce so fast? Also, I'm going to be starting an outdoor pond soon (my first one) and I was wondering if all this knowledge about aquariums would apply to a garden pond? It's going to be in a stock tank, so kind of an outdoor aquarium.
Thoughts anyone? Slowly increase 'nutrients' (plant matter, food, etc) until you see excessive algae or some other sign indicating an excess of nutrients, then remove some 'nutrients' until the situation appears to be in balance. Once the system appears to be stable, if you need to remove excessive plant material (nutrients), put the plant material in a blender and return the blended material to the tank to more easily and accurately maintain the balance balance you've already achieved.
Hello Father Fish. I have set up 4 tanks using your methods and the fish have been doing well in all tanks, except for one where I have 2 corydoras (one panda, one sterbai) having issues. They seem to start floating and being quite lethargic. What could be the cause and some treatment for this? Thank you very much.
More information is required. pH, temperature, food type and frequency and many other things can cause the behaviour you are explaining. Does it happen after feeding? At night when the lights are off? During day when lights are on? Do they do it at the same time? Or different times to each other? Is it a regular thing, or only occasional? Do both do it, does one do it more than the other? Do they struggle to swim down or are they just chilling at the surface (could indicate low O2 levels in the bottom of the tank)? There are a number of other questions I could explore, but these are a good start. Just a note, cories always do best in schools.
Corydoras do better in schools. I had 3 and not much movement. Added 5 more, and they zip around. When they lay still on the bottom, they are generally close to each other.
@alexnguyen floating is the swim bladder. I have lost a few corys to this in the past. Only ever happens to me when I bring new cories from a shop. They are perfectly fine at the shop and start floating (its usually just one fish out of the batch but the last time it was 5 of the 10 cories!) when you introduce them to your tank. The last lot I managed to save with a salt bath. 9-12mg table salt in 1 litre of tank water for 30 minutes (no iodine, just pure common table salt). Was going to repeat the process for 3 days, a bath once a day but the next day they were cured. Can’t be sure, but it is the first time I fixed the problem. All 5 are cured and normal now. I believe the problem is the transport water - I left them in it for too long. Unlike normal I left them overnight in partially diluted transport water. Big mistake! When you open a bag of transport water from the shop VERY BAD THINGS start to happen with the pH and toxicity of nitrogen. As long as you leave the bag closed all is good. If there is pure oxygen in the bag they will last in a closed bag a longer time. When your cories come home acclimitise them asap is my advice. Never tried a salt bath before but it works on cories it seems. Apparently cories can not be kept in salt for long periods. So it should be kept to a minimum. Never add the salt to the aquarium. I simply take one litre of tank water, dissolving the salt first in a tiny bit of boiled water from a kettle (never use hot water from your home water heater) and throw it out after. My cories get acclimitised within 1/2 hour. I don’t plop and drop - I acclimitise slowly, but not too slowly. Do not use ‘marine salt’, only common table salt.
Absolutely correct Ph ira. Do not remove without re[placing. To remove is to deplete the biomass rather than increase it. You cannot get more with less
@@FatherFish Not exactly, don't forget you are regularly adding nutrients into your system via feeding (I assume you are feeding). So it would only make sense to remove it by pruning plants WITHOUT adding replacing. Because when plants decay, they release the same nutrients back into the system, so there is a net gain of nutrients, which would eventually result in imbalance if nothing is done. Even your guest, Laura, said she removes plants from time to time to export nutrients. Yes there are natural processes in place to remove nitrates from the system other than plants. In large water bodies, the rate of denitrification usually far exceeds the rate of nutrients being added, but this is highly unlikely to be the case in home aquariums. If you ever tested the nutrient levels of healthy lakes and ponds, you'd notice their nutrients levels are very low. And in rivers like the amazon, where many tropical fish originate, TDS readings have shown to be below 10 even, that's like RO water! That said, even natural water bodies are susceptible to excess nutrients via pollution and runoff.
I would be interested in a safe method to get biodiversity from nature into the tank without introducing pests like turbellaria or hydra ... for the safety of my shrimp and dwarf crayfish. Any ideas?
It would be an extraordinary event for you to actually bring those pests in from a natural environment. they are found in so called clean tanks, never in biodiverse systems.
@@FatherFish are you telling me hydra vulgaris or planarien would be rare out in nature? Srsly, we both know that is not true ... What makes you so confident that this wouldnt be something likely to happen? I have a hard time following your logic when you say it would be an extraordinary event.
@@diedampfbrasse98 Of the thousands of cultures I and others in my group have collected from natural sources these parasites have never become a threat.
I youre not convinced that a high biodiversity tanks controls pests and pathogens, collect wet leaves from a healthy forest. You miss out on lots of biodiversity this way though
Too many natural bodies of water fall apart and crash because of pest organisms despite having high biodiversity. And it doesnt take much natural changes for that too happen. A lot of bodies of water in nature are in a cycle of collapse and renewal (humans aint the cause of everything), rather then staying in a marvelous biodioverse balance for ages ... which means high biodiversity in itself isnt a protection against pests and pathogens doing serious damage. As mentioned above I have a problem with the claim that its safe/unproblematic to randomly collect stuff as described and introducing it in aquariums. Especially as some probes taken from the accessible spots of a waterway/lake certainly dont reproduce the biodiversity/balance in that water. I do not have a problem with the advise of using more diversity in aquariums. Just with the naive gambler approach and fairly direct transfer advertised here. 'we got lucky so far' is not an argument for why fairly common pests wouldnt be able to become a problem. I expected better reasoning for that claim or at least a detailed method which makes it safe. For my tanks the issue is that there are limits to what I could introduce in order to counter certain pests if they show up, as those are usually also a threat to what I want to keep and breed. So far I micromanage the introduction of small organisms with keeping samples in jars and waiting a considerable time until I become certain that pests of concern aint in it. Long story short: this channel proposes the right idea, but it really is making too bold claims about how unproblematic and effortless it is.
I lovr this mans channel i grew up well kinda poor ended up trading a go kart for ten aquariums from a well crackhead. Back when i was kid and did a bunch of naturL aquariums outta what i found around the house. But im jjst now hopping back into the hobby i was like 12 then 23 now doing jt the same way for the fun of it now. Im using straight dirt as the main substrate and planting ut all over i want ut to look like a swamps bed after a storm which it does rn inna few months when everything decomposes thatll tell me how i did when it decomposez and other stuff starts growong 😊
Wait is Father Fish from Maryland? Or is Laura? Thought she was in Germany? I was watching this video (I'm from Maryland) and wondering what leaves I could go find in a stream when she said "Maryland...". LOL
Jo has a point. I like Father Fish. However, many videos address the same topic. I set up a Father Fish tank and it's doing well. What is the gas that is generated by the dirt layer and that bubbles up? Thank you
STEM PLANTS BUNDLE SALE - Over 75 plants - 15 Species for $59! Limited Time OFFER so HURRY!
father-fish-aquarium.myshopify.com/
For Special Soil Supplements, Plants, FIsh & Merch in your country:
fatherfish.fish/
I love this guy I just started watching a few weeks ago and everything he teaches corresponds to what i want in my aquariums just subscribed sir. My aquariums are all planted tanks working towards no water changes. Great advice guys!
Welcome aboard Robert!
Father Fish we have used different leaves and twigs. Our after school Fish club (middle school) We have a 40 gallon breeder our substrate is dirted capped with a mixture of sand and pea gravel. We have eight different species of plants and (5)glowlight tetras(6) serpae tetras(2)imature marble angels(2) panda corys and (6) bladder snails, and the students feed them every other two days a very small amount of food and the students document behavior of the fish the growth of the plants. The plants get all natural light, and there is so much diversity in the aquarium especially with the microorganisms. We have five aquariums setup in the school
This is what its all about! 💙💙💙💙
This is such an awesome idea!!! I always loved the aquarium in the library in my elementary school-it would have been so nice to have had a fish/aquarium club like yours!
@@lauradietrich6736 imagine what aquariums in schools could do for children with ADHD for example.
Get more pandas. All cories do best in schools of half a dozen or more.
@@AndrewFishmanHi, those snails aren’t going to take over the tank ? I hear they multiply so fast…
I just want to tell you both, Thank you so much for being a viable Teacher. I appreciate you.
Thank you for sharing your wealth of wisdom. Your 22 year old fish tank is proof that you are consistent. I appreciate your response to my questions as well. I saw a title of one of your videos no water changes and you are one of the few doing this. It really does come down to biodiversity and a balance between ammonia from how many fish you have to microorganisms turning that into nitrate for the plants and the amount of plants to absorb all those nitrates. I am trying to grow food so I have a separate tank because the fish were eating my roots but I’m trying to get the balance right and I have too many fish. My plants just can’t absorb all the nitrates yet. I see you have a ton of plants in your fish tank and not a huge ammonia load like mostly small fish and you have other things in there eating the ammonia. I just want to say thank you for sharing!! Great stuff!! And I love your guest on this video she is a wealth of knowledge.
Thank you. Laura is a jewel.
Now I completely understand what's happening on my tank. Before we left for a vacation for 4 weeks I was battling with green algae on my plants & glass. So after we came back I was surprised that my tank was clean, clear, & no algae. But once I start dosing with daily fertiliser, the algae came back. Thank you once again FF...if it's wasn't for your knowledge of sharing with us, I probably quit with this hobby.
What a valuable discussion…Thank you Father fish!!!
Nature always tries to balance itself using time. But humans are so impatient and complicates everything😕
Absolutely true charlie!
Ouuuuuch😅
It's not like nature does it on purpose. It's just the "gravity of the situation". If there is an overabundance in nature we get algae blooms. Just like our tanks. This isn't harmony. It's a fight for life
We just want the balance that results in crystal clear water, healthy plants, and healthy fish.
Thanks Father Fish and Laura!
What a interesting conversation to hear Ty so much father fish ❤
Delighted you appreciated our conversation Toes.
Interesting talk. I very much enjoyed my time with you two! I'm reminded of invasive endemics here in California. This year because of the weird rain we had a super bloom if European mustard. Very pretty from far away to see the hills bright yellow but very bad for our natives. And what will be the first thing that sprouts on roadsides and soil moved by machines? That same yellow mustard. Our natives can't thrive in disturbed soil.
I wonder if those catapa leaves everyone raves about are like Dr Laura was referring to being super quick to break down and that's why they're so popular? And while you guys say oak is ok, I've read Live Oak isn't ok? I usually use guava, avocado sand magnolia or Liquidambar but I have a lot of oak leaves and oak duff. Would avocado duff be ok to use in the aquarium? I have a really good layer under the fresh fallen leaves that's broken down and half composted that I can tell is actively being worked on by fungus and micro critters.
Your intuition is right on target. Ignore those who know nothing and claim everything. Do what you believe is best. We are here to back you u. Go for it.
Very interesting as usual, thanks 😊
Thank you sister Laura and father fish 😊 Let’s go father fish army!!!! One million subs!!!! #passion #love #blessing 🎉🎉🎉 love from Sydney 🇦🇺🧙🏻♂️🔮💜🐟
Thank you Wing
A fellow Sydney sider
@@introtwerp yes my bro! 🧙🏻♂️✊
I have a 5 gallon tank with 5 assorted fish like rummy nose tetra, Danios and I will follow all you're good advice mr. Father fish. Thank you 🤝
im learning as much as i can before i buy my tank am going for a 3ft long tank, and i dont want to get it wrong 🙏
Bravo from Romania Dracula land ❤
OOOH Don't bite me.
Love this video father fish i wish u would go this route more ans more ...
This video came at the right time i was thinking about.... thank you
Glad you liked it Johnny.
I do water changes & vacuum & Prime conditioner after every 2 weeks 20% Because i have no live plants only rocks & driftwood 90 gallon 20 Tiger Barb tank ..Good Video
Happy to help you escape from the chemical trap RICK. Join us on Discord: discord.gg/GdakStEjAy
Thought provoking, for sure!
Thank you!
Thank so much for this video! My question is, do u just ad leaves or can u also ad things like small dead dry brittle branches?
join our discord channel where these issues are discussed in detail. discord.gg/GdakStEjAy
My water is very soft as I have a water softener in my house. My plants are not dying yet, but they really are not thriving at all and I have to clean up melted leaves every week. I dont have calcium in my water and I have 2 snails. Should I put crushed up egg shells in the tank or filter for my plants and snails? Will it hurt my fish and change ph quickly?
There should be an outdoor faucet with water that has not gone through your softener. Use THAT water and you will probably have hard alkaline water, perfect for plants.
do most of your tanks have a forced co2 system? trying my first planted tank next month with your videos in mind. thanks in advance
None of them do AFAIK,in a dirted deep substrate tank co2 will be produced in the substrate and the roots will take it up,no need for expensive co2 equipment
Precisely correct Iron Claw.!!
Amazing video! Learned something today. TY. Love nature! It’s perfect ❤
Good stuff. Thanks Father Fish👍.
Thanks for watching!
Wow this video is above me i have to watch this again
Beautiful video. Thank you :)
Glad you enjoyed it!
im happy im learning so much from you,im taking on board as info as i can, i hvave bought some .tetra active substrate, can i mix that with mud, and than put on top white sand bio substrate. thank you for your time, with love from uk🙏
No. Read the directions for the contents of the substrate. It is described in many of my videos and is printed on the Father Fish Shoal at discord.gg/G4fkAE6qNw
Hello FatherFish,
I just recently found your channel and must say I really like how you are doing fish keeping.
I was given a 56 litre tank a little while back. It had gravel and a fake crocskull in it. It sort of didn't really make sense. So figured I'd scape it new and try to make it natural.
Now I live near a lake and was wondering would it be an ok idea to use the dirt/sand from the lake as a substrate?
absolutely. If the lake soil is too dense mix ir with potting soil and peat moss.
@Father Fish brilliant than I just need to plan everything with that skull 😅 the bristlenoses love hiding in it. And I have to have patience and grow the plants first so they need their hiding spots
Curious, is it better to collect leaves 🍃 that have already fallen in the water (pond) or should we collect leaves that are still on the tree ? Any reply is greatly appreciated. Love your show btw . Big fan
always collect leaves in the water for the culture. NEVER collect leaves from a tree, only fallen dried leaves.
I hope your having a great weekend.
I recently found your channel and was wondering in a situation that the ammonia may be slightly elevated or the nitrates slightly elevated are you saying don’t do a water change ?
Or when you set up a tank with the process you recommend that’s just not Something that occurs.
Thank you for your time and all the best.
Live plants are primary ingestors of ammonia.Nitrates are nutrition for plants. Neither requires water change unless the cause of the ammonia is severe rotting matter that needs to be removed. Removing water that has dissolved ammonia does not remove the cause of the ammonia.
@@FatherFish thank you and i hope you have a magnificent day buddy 🌅
Father fish, do you add liquid fertilizers? Or only leaves?
I NEVER use liquid ferts. They foul the water.
great fishtanks done by great people worldwide.
It is amazing Rich
how can i start over, Father Fish .i got my fist fish tank 5 gallon with 1 betta fish. i am in my late seventies no experience i did what the pet store avised me to do. i got gravel a filter and added the fish later. i added a heater, a spunch filter, and some plants . i started to goggle information. my thank did not cycle i had amonya but no nitrates the amonya has gone now but i never had nitrates. im confused and have found it stressful. i found you and watched a couple of videos from you .
you make sense to me. how can i add dirt and sand now and stop doing water changes and do it right for about two months now. i would really appreciate some advice thank you Sylvia
Sylvia. Put your fish in a small bowl and start over. Join us in the Father Fish Shoal for help. Go to fatherfish,fish to find the link the the SHOAL.
@FatherFish thank you father fish I have a 1.5 gallon bowl. Could I start with that for practice and but my betta fish Mr. Diesel in that and then start over with my 5 gallon thank . I'm a bit nervous. I don't want to lose my betta, and this is all new to me. so I would like to get the ingredients from your shop. so I would like to know exactly what I need to start . please let me know. Thank you so very much for your help
I speak for many years of horticultural experiences. Poor soil condition need to be corrected or amended.The question is, do you know how to amend it in a correct way.
I honestly have a lot of trouble, but most of that is because I experiment rather than just sticking to a series of recommendations. My main take away is aquariums are designed as systems, and Frankenstein approaches are likely going to have problems. High tech tanks over-fertilize on purpose, and the remove excess after a few days so as not to feed algae because these are more synthetic systems that utilize unnatural soils. Kinda weird that Amano decided to go that way, but whatever... Dirted natural systems on the other hand have to be more cautious by nature when it comes to fertilizer and overfeeding because you don't clean the substrate and are less fastidious about removing mulm in general while simultaneously trying to avoid frequent water changes.
It's nice in theory, but difficult when trying to raise a bunch of baby fish, shrimp, snails, etc. which need to be fed frequently. I'm trying to raise a bunch of golden mystery snails as well as keeping the few adults from eating live plants by tossing in vegetables regularly, and now I'm getting too much algae. I also had to remove most of my old oak leaves because I was getting too much detritus covering the plants. I've added a nitrifying filter back onto my powerhead, I'll probably do a bit more cleaning of the substrate surface, partial water change, and only feed the babies, but nothing else for a while.
Like you said. Frankenstein is not human. Nor is complicated technology natural
I've successfully raised tons of baby fish and shrimp in natural planted tanks. Depends on the fish, but shrimp and nearly all small fish should be able to find plenty of food with minimal extra feeding if you have an established natural tank
@@mrdesperate1 Perhaps of you're raising a small amount of fish, or a larger amount of less demanding animals, but this doesn't even answer my issue with some snails.
Greetings from Cape Town Father Fish. I want to thank your for sharing your wisdom. There truly is only 1 one and that is the natural way. Father Fish, I have a question if you don't mind. My problem is that my swordtails eat all the algae and biofilm as soon as it appears which means nothing left for the other creatures. They are truly ferocious eaters that just don't stop. Thank you Father Fish. God bless and keep you
You have 3 choices. One, increase food production by increasing food web leaves. Two, remove some swords. Three, remove everything else. There ya go!
In my area there are no oak trees other than those planted by people, in fact the ecosystem is dominated by conifers which have leaves and wood that can be harmful for tropical fish. The only hardwood tree that is common here is the red alder or in some areas there are a few big leaf maple, other than that there are only shrubs and bushes like salal or ferns that are good leaves to use. I think red alder leaves are a little more sturdy than other species of alder like the white alder since they seem to last over the winter and not fully break down until the end of the next summer when on land but break down fast underwater, the sturdiest leaves are the salal bushes which are very tough and may take years to break down on land, salal tend to have a very thick layer of leaves under the bushes despite not growing especially fast and being an evergreen tree that keeps leaves for a long time.
Well you talked about having different kind if leaves to have in aquarium..can you suggest some?
Yes. The first section of our book will detail a group of leaves common to both American and European climates. This is expected to be published in June.
Do you use any ground or liquid fertilizer in your tanks sir?
None
You make me want to get rid of my cichlids. A fish tank is an artificial system which is different than the natural grassland which has hundreds of years of development, and is more damageable by change like increased nutrient.
Good video, good guest. Can you do one on species recommendations for things which will multiply in numbers in the right tank?
Excellent suggestion. Will work on it.
What you bring up about cichlids is the reason I keep shying away from having species of fish that can't(?) be successfully kept in planted tanks because the fish will destroy/eat the plants. I've toyed with ideas for using emergent plants, with the roots protected from the fish, but I haven't had a chance to try that yet.
@@FatherFish Great, I am thinking about some kind of barrier to make a refuge area where small things can go in and out. Like with the plastic grating that is sometimes used for a tank divider except it would be more of a box and have some kind of mesh cover so like eggs could fall in but nothing big enough to eat them could get in.
That, and maybe glass walls glued to the bottom of the tank like 6” high and maybe a second level behind so I would end up with a 6 inch substrate behind the glass and sloping up even higher, but the middle of the tank would only have like an inch of sand.
@@dawnt6791 I think I do something like what you describe. I have a bunch of rocks in the tank and a Tupperware on top of them filled with gravel and lava rocks - this is the filter. There is emergent bamboo and Philodendron growing there and sometimes I get some moss going too. I think a root mat is the best filter imaginable, plus I have fiberfill on top too. It keeps the water pretty clear and when I clean it every 9 months or so, the stuff coming out is black but not too smelly, like it is processed.
Oh, and yeah, you can simply dip some roots of many different tropical plants into the water and they will grow well and help clean the tank, I am seeing people do this increasingly. But, yeah, fish have about 24 hours a day to mess with plants if they are so inclined.
@@mattbatcher802 I have emergent plant roots visible in all of my tanks that include those plants. Some of the plants are directly in the tank - tucked into/onto lava rock structures - and some are inside plant holders hanging on the tank rim but their roots have grown beyond the holders. Works both ways. I'm sure some fish would have a field day with those hanging roots. It'd be worth playing with, though, if someone has fish that tend to shred plants. I know even goldfish can be kept in planted tanks with the right kind of plants and the right sort of setup. It's sometimes just trial and error to figure it out. Depends how patient someone is, I guess. As long as I know something won't harm fish or inverts, I have no problem playing with various plants and setups to see what works. Play and learn. LOL
Hi Sir, thanks a lot for sharing valuable information.
My plant leaves size have decreased considerably and look like bonsai. Pls help.
Join us at Father Fish Shoal for help. discord.gg/v6x5YVbc
@@FatherFish thank you
Very interesting stuff!
Nice to hear from you Alex. We need to do a collab
Thanks Father
father fish has a relaxing voice, like this is what Sanna does on his free time between the present delivery flights
So is oak wood the best for a fish tank ?
Wrong question. What is the relation of oak to other tree species in the aquatic environment, is a better question. Thiis will be answered in the new PDF unit soon to be published by Father Fish.
Are Maple leaves good to use?
yes
@@FatherFish great! Thanks I just set up my little Betta Aquarium with a mud and sand base with a hornwart plant and I went down to the river and dropped in a couple leaves and some broken down plants from the bottom. The fish and snails seem to be very happy.
One thing i learned: Every change you need to do, you gotta do it in small doses. If you think they need food, you might add a little bit. Or a bit of fertilizer. Want to add a new fish? Go slow. But don't change it too much.
You are ruining the whole stabilization that the system had.
Great video. So what nutrients are added in a planted tank?
Watch the video again. It is there, honest.
@@FatherFish yes I did. Seems like it was getting dead leaves just before hitting the water.
First time trying guava leaves after reading about their benefits. Hope they are good.
Nothing special. Get wet leaves from a healthy body of water
I wonder if feeding faster decomposing plants would boost the number of micro organisms enough to prepare for more fish or fish that produce more waste like a goldfish.
Yes. Absolutely.
What if I only have 3-4 small plants in my 5 gallon tank with just one Betta, can I use the pump in fertilizer for those plants?
pump in fertilizer ?
I am struggling. I discovered father fish videos too late. I have only gravel in my 64 litre aquarium with 2 live plants. 4 week tank with 10 small fish. How can I change the floor now? Can I add any good things for my aquarium? I have a pond near by but not sure if I can just add leaves or soil on the gravel.
You will be fine. Add 2" of sand,. just pour clean sand into the water about 1/2" a day. Add small amount of leaf mulch from the pond once a week then begin adding dried leaves.
When you bring in leaves from ponds or outside water sources, are you not worried about parasites? I had a huge leech and hydra outbreak from a plant I bought from the pet store. I can't imagine what would come in from outside
The pet store is the precise opposite of a natural environment. Parasites dominate in synthetic environments. Natural ecospheres control them.
Wonderful video!
Thank you very much Nikka!
Really nice talk and very explanatory, thank you so much for that.
One question from me would be, in cases where you have a fish community that keeps on reproducing, they will eventually cause an overcrowded aquarium. In this case, what would you recommend?
1. Introduce a predator that can delay the spam?
2. Remove overcrowded fish elements?
3. Reduce food/nutrients?
Seems any approach has a downfall :D
Natural predation whould maintain a stable population. A predator will cause vastly more damage than intended. I am thinking about a vid on this subject. Glad you reminded me.
My personal instincts tell me to go for introducing a predatory species depending on what the problem prolific breeders are.
For example, endlers cannot self predate on their fry, so a predator must be present to keep things in check or else remove them. If it's snails that are the problem, feeding less would do the trick
Introduce a fish that eats the eggs
@n_e_y_o That would be most any fish that don't guard their offspring like cichlids are known for.
For example, corydoras and other egg scatterers must have the adults separated from the eggs, or they will eaten by the adults. Most livebearers like mollies, platies, and guppies (not endlers) will self predate on the young that are popped out if not separated from the adults. The exception to this would be the cases like endlers where the young cannot fit into the mouth of the adults.
Excellent points 🤌
Appreciate it Iliuta!
I'm in a constant battle with my floating plants. I wonder if too many nutrients is why they reproduce so fast? Also, I'm going to be starting an outdoor pond soon (my first one) and I was wondering if all this knowledge about aquariums would apply to a garden pond? It's going to be in a stock tank, so kind of an outdoor aquarium.
Yes they also apply for a pond in my knowledge, soil on bottom and top it with sand. put lots of plants in and there you go...
Mandy janeSCG What floating plants do you have?
I wonder the same thing. I have water lettuce and jungle Val that grow so fast!
@@pammugridge4106 hi, is jungle val a floating plant?
@@pammugridge4106 I have duckweed and salvina. They reproduce very fast. it normal. I don't use nutrient.
Good information
Thanks
Are pecan leaves ok for the aquarium?
yes
Thoughts anyone? Slowly increase 'nutrients' (plant matter, food, etc) until you see excessive algae or some other sign indicating an excess of nutrients, then remove some 'nutrients' until the situation appears to be in balance. Once the system appears to be stable, if you need to remove excessive plant material (nutrients), put the plant material in a blender and return the blended material to the tank to more easily and accurately maintain the balance balance you've already achieved.
You have the idea. Work on the practice.
@@FatherFish God Bless you Father Fish for your efforts to share your knowledge and help others.
I use red oak leaves in my tank
Great video father fish
Glad you enjoyed it stallion
@@FatherFish this new school fish keepings going nuts no wonder there's a new filter brought out every week haha 🤣
Did I add almond leaf???🤔
Dunno but you may!
All i have is dirt mix a pebble top layer an air pump n water n my fish r happy n healthy
Hello Father Fish. I have set up 4 tanks using your methods and the fish have been doing well in all tanks, except for one where I have 2 corydoras (one panda, one sterbai) having issues. They seem to start floating and being quite lethargic. What could be the cause and some treatment for this? Thank you very much.
No idea. Join us on Discord where we can examine this in depth.discord.gg/vxjcJJUJ
More information is required.
pH, temperature, food type and frequency and many other things can cause the behaviour you are explaining.
Does it happen after feeding?
At night when the lights are off? During day when lights are on?
Do they do it at the same time? Or different times to each other?
Is it a regular thing, or only occasional?
Do both do it, does one do it more than the other?
Do they struggle to swim down or are they just chilling at the surface (could indicate low O2 levels in the bottom of the tank)?
There are a number of other questions I could explore, but these are a good start.
Just a note, cories always do best in schools.
Corydoras do better in schools. I had 3 and not much movement. Added 5 more, and they zip around. When they lay still on the bottom, they are generally close to each other.
@alexnguyen floating is the swim bladder. I have lost a few corys to this in the past. Only ever happens to me when I bring new cories from a shop. They are perfectly fine at the shop and start floating (its usually just one fish out of the batch but the last time it was 5 of the 10 cories!) when you introduce them to your tank.
The last lot I managed to save with a salt bath. 9-12mg table salt in 1 litre of tank water for 30 minutes (no iodine, just pure common table salt). Was going to repeat the process for 3 days, a bath once a day but the next day they were cured. Can’t be sure, but it is the first time I fixed the problem. All 5 are cured and normal now.
I believe the problem is the transport water - I left them in it for too long. Unlike normal I left them overnight in partially diluted transport water. Big mistake! When you open a bag of transport water from the shop VERY BAD THINGS start to happen with the pH and toxicity of nitrogen. As long as you leave the bag closed all is good. If there is pure oxygen in the bag they will last in a closed bag a longer time. When your cories come home acclimitise them asap is my advice. Never tried a salt bath before but it works on cories it seems.
Apparently cories can not be kept in salt for long periods. So it should be kept to a minimum. Never add the salt to the aquarium. I simply take one litre of tank water, dissolving the salt first in a tiny bit of boiled water from a kettle (never use hot water from your home water heater) and throw it out after.
My cories get acclimitised within 1/2 hour. I don’t plop and drop - I acclimitise slowly, but not too slowly. Do not use ‘marine salt’, only common table salt.
If you prune and remove overgrown plants, you’re basically removing nutrients. Floating plants are very useful for this purposes.
Absolutely correct Ph ira. Do not remove without re[placing. To remove is to deplete the biomass rather than increase it. You cannot get more with less
@@FatherFish Not exactly, don't forget you are regularly adding nutrients into your system via feeding (I assume you are feeding). So it would only make sense to remove it by pruning plants WITHOUT adding replacing. Because when plants decay, they release the same nutrients back into the system, so there is a net gain of nutrients, which would eventually result in imbalance if nothing is done. Even your guest, Laura, said she removes plants from time to time to export nutrients.
Yes there are natural processes in place to remove nitrates from the system other than plants. In large water bodies, the rate of denitrification usually far exceeds the rate of nutrients being added, but this is highly unlikely to be the case in home aquariums. If you ever tested the nutrient levels of healthy lakes and ponds, you'd notice their nutrients levels are very low. And in rivers like the amazon, where many tropical fish originate, TDS readings have shown to be below 10 even, that's like RO water! That said, even natural water bodies are susceptible to excess nutrients via pollution and runoff.
@@Spooder1989 I am not feeding
Father fish❤
What kind of nutrients do you add?
Just published a video explaining the 11 ingredients in my supplement package.
I would be interested in a safe method to get biodiversity from nature into the tank without introducing pests like turbellaria or hydra ... for the safety of my shrimp and dwarf crayfish.
Any ideas?
It would be an extraordinary event for you to actually bring those pests in from a natural environment. they are found in so called clean tanks, never in biodiverse systems.
@@FatherFish are you telling me hydra vulgaris or planarien would be rare out in nature? Srsly, we both know that is not true ...
What makes you so confident that this wouldnt be something likely to happen? I have a hard time following your logic when you say it would be an extraordinary event.
@@diedampfbrasse98 Of the thousands of cultures I and others in my group have collected from natural sources these parasites have never become a threat.
I youre not convinced that a high biodiversity tanks controls pests and pathogens, collect wet leaves from a healthy forest. You miss out on lots of biodiversity this way though
Too many natural bodies of water fall apart and crash because of pest organisms despite having high biodiversity. And it doesnt take much natural changes for that too happen. A lot of bodies of water in nature are in a cycle of collapse and renewal (humans aint the cause of everything), rather then staying in a marvelous biodioverse balance for ages ... which means high biodiversity in itself isnt a protection against pests and pathogens doing serious damage.
As mentioned above I have a problem with the claim that its safe/unproblematic to randomly collect stuff as described and introducing it in aquariums. Especially as some probes taken from the accessible spots of a waterway/lake certainly dont reproduce the biodiversity/balance in that water.
I do not have a problem with the advise of using more diversity in aquariums. Just with the naive gambler approach and fairly direct transfer advertised here.
'we got lucky so far' is not an argument for why fairly common pests wouldnt be able to become a problem. I expected better reasoning for that claim or at least a detailed method which makes it safe.
For my tanks the issue is that there are limits to what I could introduce in order to counter certain pests if they show up, as those are usually also a threat to what I want to keep and breed. So far I micromanage the introduction of small organisms with keeping samples in jars and waiting a considerable time until I become certain that pests of concern aint in it.
Long story short: this channel proposes the right idea, but it really is making too bold claims about how unproblematic and effortless it is.
I lovr this mans channel i grew up well kinda poor ended up trading a go kart for ten aquariums from a well crackhead. Back when i was kid and did a bunch of naturL aquariums outta what i found around the house. But im jjst now hopping back into the hobby i was like 12 then 23 now doing jt the same way for the fun of it now. Im using straight dirt as the main substrate and planting ut all over i want ut to look like a swamps bed after a storm which it does rn inna few months when everything decomposes thatll tell me how i did when it decomposez and other stuff starts growong 😊
?
If you add liquid fertilizer to an aquarium and the plants eat the fertilizer then that is not a cause for water change.
Türkçe alt yazı beklemekteyiz ..Başarılar
Teşekkür ederim. RUclips'un çeviriyi daha fazla RUclipsr'a sunmasını bekliyoruz. Yakında umuyoruz.
@@FatherFish Şimdiden çok ama çok teşekkür ederim.
Input = output
You have to find out what works best for your aquarium.
yep. Join a club. Make some friends. Share.
Any recommendations on a natural goldfish setup?
extra inch of sand and heavy plants. Join us for in depth discussion of gold fish systems. discord.gg/s9SFhxSK
Wait is Father Fish from Maryland? Or is Laura? Thought she was in Germany? I was watching this video (I'm from Maryland) and wondering what leaves I could go find in a stream when she said "Maryland...". LOL
She is from MD living in Germany
Happy Sunday pappa ❤
you say the substrate is a CO2 factory? How exactly?
By the combining of carbon and oxygen, exactly
I wish I could go visit FF's store.
😢
So far away.
In time and space. Closed the shop 18 months ago.
Lol
Any tips on how to DIY a time travel machine using a dolorean (or my nissan pickup).
Yes. Wish upon a star and click your red slipper heels 3 times.@@mr.octopus6972
@@FatherFish😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
shouldn't we use co2 injection in these kind of stable aquariums ??
We do. The substrate is a CO2 factory.
@@FatherFish
@father fish
What was the one hack?
Guess I missed it...
Watch it again. It's there. I promise. Mentioned about 100 times. lol
Jo has a point. I like Father Fish. However, many videos address the same topic. I set up a Father Fish tank and it's doing well. What is the gas that is generated by the dirt layer and that bubbles up? Thank you
Dirt substrate and time
I hope all the people who own the aquarium see this.
My god please.
Thank you Chou Chou
Inderview lol being Australian and I can't stand the way Americans don't pronounce the T
Or just use easy green and not think about it while having an amazing tank.
A harsh liquid fert. We do not recommend