Aquariums need no water change because the plants and sand clean the water. That’s what happens in the rivers and streams and lakes and ponds and even the ocean. -Anna, 8 year old grand daughter.
The KZhead video titled "What is a food web? How does it feed my fish?" delves into the critical concepts of a food web, food chain, and their significance within the context of an ecosystem, specifically a balanced aquarium. A food web illustrates the intricate connections between various organisms in an ecosystem, showcasing how energy and nutrients flow from one species to another. In contrast, a food chain simplifies this by depicting a linear path of energy transfer.
Within the realm of a balanced aquarium, understanding food webs is crucial for ensuring the well-being of aquatic inhabitants. It elucidates the interdependence of species, emphasizing the importance of maintaining equilibrium. By comprehending the food web, aquarium enthusiasts can make informed choices regarding fish species and their dietary needs, promoting a harmonious and thriving aquatic environment.
FATHER FISH is an advocate for natural aquariums. His research over 25 years provides a wealth of information about the creation and maintenance of natural aquariums.
On this channel you will find scientific research as well as personal testimonials by countless hobbyists who have applied the Father Fish System and are enjoying its amazing benefits.
THE FATHER FISH SHOAL on Discord is a wonderful way to meet and make new fishy friends as well as get the help you need.
24/7 live on Discord: / discord
You can buy plants, soil supplement, leaf culture & more:
father-fish-aquarium.myshopif...
Father Fish Facebook Page
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All clips and images are used for illustration purposes only.
Clips used under CC License:
sciencefix
• Observing Microorganis...
Aqua Apprentice
• Seachem Flourish revie...
Aquarium Adventures
• Online Aquarium fish o...
• H2O2 / Hydrogen Peroxi...
QueAquatics and Exotics
• My Electric Blue Jack ...
The Fish Room
• How good is this water...
DAH KITE BERAJAL
• Bettafish pop Eye dise...
TANK FISH
• When you have algae in...
Derek Yannone
• My Fish Died and ITS A...
0:00 Teaser
0:34 Intro
1:09 2 Toxin Types
2:33 Food Web
3:58 Setup
5:49 Excess Nutrients
8:04 Join Us
#FATHERFISH #naturalaquarium #plantedtank #plantedaquarium #fishkeeping #dirtedtank #walstad #foodweb #fishfood #naturalaquarium #deepsubstrateaquarium #balancedaquarium #selfsustainingaquarium #healthyaquarium #sandsubstrate
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/
protect this man at all costs
Father fish your knowledge is priceless. Please write a book.
This must be the best philosophy and outlook I’ve seen for a beautiful healthy living aquarium.
Father Fish had a Soul Brother in Nate from the KZhead channel Garden Like a Viking. His channel embraces the holistic methodology of Korean Natural Farming (KNF) and utilizes over 4000 years of traditions. One of those is to take the living culture of the largest tree nearby and gather the cultures of the ground below in the forms of the microbes and fungi to inoculate what you are growing. Just started two aquariums ten one and two weeks respectively and placed some of that in my substrate and pond muck. So far off to a good start ( I think- time will tell). Again Father Fish and Nate the same core values underpinned by a solid foundation in nature.
I love the community that this method of fishkeeping is creating.. Even if I have heard the information before, I love seeing all the different shots of the tanks from the members on discord. Could watch them for ages. Your video editing is coming a long way 👍
Hello FF - I took my friends out today and reset my tank with earth /sand plants with a few garden leaves, it’s the beginning I’m no longer a slave to the industry $ and their BS Nature knows more than us I’m glad for you. JF ❤
I think a lot of people are trying to achieve a “picture perfect” end result. Which is fine but is then both sterile and unbalanced and needs a lot of maintenance. Rather than accepting what your tank produces naturally due to it wanting to balance out. So accepting that certain plants will not thrive or that you can only put so many fish in your tank. Although I’ve been guilty of this myself, i’m looking forward now to creating more of an ecosystem. But to each their own.
It is a true joy to listen to such a beautiful description of how nature works. Some people talk about bringing nature into your home....Father Fish feels it in his heart.
The fish's father. I am following you from Saudi Arabia. I am very impressed by the amount of information and wealth of knowledge that you provide to new and old fish breeders as well, and I hope that you will publish a book that focuses on this knowledge acquired over the years. I hope that God blesses your heart, your knowledge, and your health. I also want to ask you, is it possible to ship a bag of soil supplements outside the United States?
nature is in your body too/// i jump again to this rabbit hole after doing some organic gardening and yeah it changed everything
I love the way you explain, Father Fish! Every word you spoke with such feeling, thats not a hobby for you, its a passion, and so on you have made it an art. I would like to help you with the CC, to make your channel bilingual and accomit your knowledge to reach México.
Excellent. Join us on the Father Fish Shoal where the folks who are involved in making the videos are working. Join the team. Happy to have you aboard. discord.gg/G4fkAE6qNw
Fatherfish - thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and empowering young generations of aquarium-keepers all over the globe. After 10 years of absence, I began again - using your method. I used a bit of water and mud from a nearby pond (northern Germany, close to Denmark), and slowly increase the number of leaves and other rotting materials from reed/cane. I even took moss out of our garden and a nearby forest for a little embankment at the rear side of the tank. It works wonderfully and there is a visible diverse fauna developing. German fish-keepers, of course not all of them, tend to have a huge amount of fear of parasites if you put anything not sterile in your tank. But on the contrary, the animals and plants are doing just fine and are growing splendidly. I am excited if around 10 Danio margaritatus and some Neocardina davidi will live on their own. At this moment, just after 2 month of setting up the tank, I still feed artemia nauplii. Any advice on how to improve micro and macro fauna even further to feed the little carnivore fish? Wishing you the best of health and a long and happy life! Nils
Get on Father Fish Discord. We could use some more germans and danes (I'm from Denmark)
Thank you, you've inspired me to add a layer of biodiversity my tanks have been sorely lacking. Im gonna find some nice leaves to add, and hope nice micro-organisms do well.
Thanks for sharing your ecoaquarium knowledge, its highly valuable for me. Thank you. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.
Great video, so well explained!
Beautiful video, thank you.
Put 2 Nerite snails in the tank and hung a bunch of terrestrial plants roots in the tank. What a difference!!
Happy Friday Father Fish! My deep substrate planted tanks are incredible. Thanks 🙏🇮🇪
I have some across your page and I must say your technique is amazing, neutral and pure. You remind me of my father whom just recently passed away. He had fish since he was 10 years old. I always been interested just not much to set one up until my daughter's were born. Long story short my dad helped me set up my first tank in March. Maybe there is a reason you came my way but t thank you for what you do. God bless you when I watch your video it reminds me of him.
Father Fish has great advice. I have had great success since I started watching these videos. I'd love to see some Cichlid videos from Father Fish at some point.
Love it!!!!!! Thank you sir!!!
Merci beaucoup !
Saludos desde Atotonilco de Tula México.. Y si es el padre de todos los acuaristas. Saludos y bendiciones
Very good video. I have an outdoor pond about 4000 gallons full of fish, and I never considered that the dead leaves that are in it are an integral part.
thank you The fish's father. very impressed by your information. will try to build one. some question how about water changing, is it still need for periodically?
love it....
Fader mükemmel bilgiler veriyorsun sana çok teşekkür ediyorum .İyiki varsın.
Teşekkürler
I am curious what are your thoughts about an axolotl tank You definitely change my perspective about how I keep my aquariums. Thank you❤
Love ya fatherfish! I gotta get to the local stream this weekend for some goodies 🙂
i love this channel so much i've been Learning so much
I agree with his approach. The tank should be a self sustaining eco system. Like Earth itself.
Love your videos! I helped my dad set up a food web in his rainbowfish tank, however after adding some plant matter from a creek after a few weeks we started seeing parasitic lice attach to the fish in some cases preventing the fish from eating. We caught the fish out and the lice dropped off but my dad treated the tank which I know just undid all that work of the web. How do we reestablish a food web without fear of causing the fish more harm from parasites? For context its a rainbowfish and gudgeon tank amd seems to affect the rainbows most. Thank you
Gonna hit that 100K subs soon FF,💪💪💪💪
Looks like in about 2 months.
@@FatherFish 💙💙💙
Thanks Father Fish...
An absolutely amazing gentleman, I can't stop watching your videos. The information you are providing is may I say ' commonsense to be honest ' after 70 years in your trade I can't believe that anyone can even try and argue with you. This maybe a silly question, but will this setup work for Axolotls? All the best Chris c
Absolutely it will.
Really Impressive Teaching. After Following You, I converted my 6 ft Guppies Thank into 💯% natural setup but removing all artificial decorations and plants and put Sand, Live plants and river rocks. It looks way more attractive now. And yes i never used any medicine to remove algae because i have plenty of snails to eat all algae. Need some more information about food for guppies as its really expensive to buy food from pet-shop. Besides leaves which i ll surely add to my tank, How can i organise natural or cheap food for my 1000+ guppies.....
Your videos have so much valuable information. Have you considered doing an interview with Jack Spirko? He works more with permaculture instead of aquariums, but he has the same principles as you do regarding letting nature take care of things instead of constantly trying to intervene with it?
Not familiar. Will reach out.
Someone gave me a 20 gallon tank. I put in sand and planted it. My albino bristle nose pleco tears up the tank. The plants are amazing! The guppies have babies. The snails are at a nice balance. I have black layers in the sand now. The tank just makes me happy. I haven’t changed water for months. I have a filter that makes current.
Bravo
If you like bladder snails for cleanup might not want to have a loach. My loach keeps the population very low. Only way ive defeated algae is by lots of floating plants to diffuse light.
Hang in there FF you are accomplishing something
Excellent video thank You Father fish 😊
You are very welcome
❤ we love you father fish thank you for youre knowledge and wisdom ....can you also educate us on saltwater aquarium ?
Yes. I need to set up some salt tanks.
How many pumps of the easy green will u dilute in a water bottle for dosing everyday
Hello Father Fish! I'm new in your KZhead and discord channels and I fond them very interesting! We have a 120liter tank at home with an external filter. I'm quite interested into natural tanks but my question is how do you manage to clean waste with such a dense plant environment? Do you clean it? And I'm trying to keep the water with its memory when I clean the tank but I still need to add water as there is quite a lot of evaporation without put products to balance the tap water? I'm going to take a few leaves form a local stream like you said and slowly tend to a more natural tank. Thanks! All the best from Switzerland
do not clean. top offs are fine with the same water in the tank.
Okay, thanks for the tip! I'll continue to follow your knowledge and advices. All the best
Hey father fish, I very much enjoy your videos and like your way. I have a question. I see that the food chain and nature itself work very well in community tank but would that work in predator fish tank? Lets say a tank with peacock bass and gars, the part of food chain doesn't exist to control micro organism and worms population. How would you complete the food chain in such predator only tank?
Even large fish will eat macrofauna. Add some geophagus to sift through the top layer of sand. Catfish are also effective for this purpose. VERY heavy planting helps as well.
Last question on this topic sir The bacteria and all the living microorganisms are human safe Because we handle tanks in day to day basis and sometimes we don't clean our hands so 😅 Curious to know !
A living culture does not allow pathogens to dominate the system. A full l50% of all microfauna are parasitic. There is never a chance for a pathogen to dominate in a harmonious, heavily diversified system.
I wash my hands when I come in from tinkering with my tanks.
@@FatherFish thanks for clearing my doubt sir 🙏 😅
good knowledge, ive tested these in all of my tank independently for years. i agree aquarium that is an ecosystem is a great aquarium. requires less maintenance and you dont need to feed the fishthe system takes care of them. you can achieve this in all species but bigger species requires bigger aquarium and bigger ecology as intended by nature.
I’ll see you tomorrow night live
excellent video school doesn't teach this
👌
Hi again Father Fish, I am struggling to find acceptable media to put in my tank, as it has been over 100 degrees every single day for a month in Houston TX, and I fear all the drainage ditches and bayous around me have utterly fouled, all the bacteria dead. We are in a drought. The mud smells bad. I’m literally afraid to put anything from the water in my tank. That is, if the ditch or pond had any water at all. Do you have any suggestions for what I might do in this situation? Should I just wait until things seem a little more “alive”, or is there something else that I might do to increase microbial activity in my tank?
create an outdoor tub with mulch.
Father fish, so happy I discovered you. I don’t mean to cause trouble, but did you ever try a plenum?
Many years ago I used plenums. They failed consistently.
Leeches are abundant in the lakes, rivers, and creeks near me, is there anything I should/can do to avoid introducing them to my aquarium when adding leaves from outside water?
Your fish will eat them.
Hello! Sorry for the dumb question….do you vacuum the sand at all?
No. not at all.
Thank you, Father Fish, I have set up a 65-gallon deep substrate this summer and it's doing great, one scud at a time...
❤
Sir please make a video of your fish room and a separate video how you setup this tank
I have done so withing the past month.
Sorry I didn't watched it I am going to watch it now And thanks for the reply sir
So i have a question, do you use a filter at all in a tank like this?
I use a sponge filter in each of my tanks.
Hello. I have a question. I collected some live plants in a lake. Should i put them directly in my tank?
yes
What types of leaves for Neocarydina and neons ?
A mix of maples, ash oak and fruit and nut trees.
What kind of soil do you use please and thank you
I use a formula. See here: discord.gg/father-fish-shoal
I would like to create a food web in my aquariums, but my concerns are planeria and hydra. What measures do you take to ensure these critters don't get introduced?
small fish that eat them, like guppies.
@FatherFish silly question but will they be ok in a freshwater angelfish/Cory tank?
Father Fish Our lakes and ponds are low right now where I live and we have blue-green algae. What to do?
collect some of the material and put it in a tub outdoors for a month
❤❤❤❤
Sir I have 2 feet aquarium and some money plant in their and and 4 small fishes my aquarium water not smell it's means my water quality is good?
Maybe.
Please, I would like to enter the discord channel. But all the links I've found are old and unavailable by now.
discord.gg/WtuNJXarxT
Should I still use water conditioner to remove the chlorine from the tap water?
or plants or vitamin C
My respects father fish🙏 It is almost impossible to get sand for my 150 gallon tank and I would like to know your opinion on using clay as an alternative substrate...with mulm on top..
No. Clay will not work at all as a cap. It will dissolve in the water. Find a creek with a sand bed.
Thank you🥰
I need to make a balanced fish tank. Where should I start? Substrate and plants or?
discord.gg/G4fkAE6qNw
@@FatherFishI would like to join the group, but when I click register it won't let me, any ideas why, thanks
Can this system work with no filters, no water changes and no additional feed?
I use sponge filters and you need to feed your fish or they will starve
@@FatherFish I mean having many shrimp fry, perhaps 10 females all breeding. In a 300l tank with only 3 or so fish
@@FatherFish how often do you clean/rinse your sponge filters? Or are they safe if you overcapacity them, ie, 200l filtration for a 100l tank
I’m new to discord. Literally just downloaded to get father fish info. How do I find ?
discord.gg/father-fish-shoal
You are absolutely incredible!!!
Father fish I forgot to wait the 2hr period for the soil to sit. What should I do ?
relax! Nothing terrible will happen
Haha ok . Thank you (: I did it! I'll give you updates soon. I'm so excited
@@FatherFish everything is doing great. My kids love the hobby now
So if I puy dead leaves in my aquarium, I don't need to feed my fish anymore, is this true?
No. It is not true. The leaves are food for micro and macro fauna. With THEM you can reduce feeding.
Father fish how safe is it bring pond, or stream material in one's aquarium.? what chance of introducing diseases? 🇿🇦
wrong question.
Try not to get some of those extremely overbred aquarium animals. Usually their immune system is often so messed up, they can't even adabt to diseases. So, how do prevent diseases? First, you almost can never have a completely sterile tank. Actually, the "sterile" tanks are usually those where a lot of animals get sick more easily, because things like bacteria and fungi usually find their way in anyway. The more sterile it is, the weaker the immune system of the animals is. Even harmless bacteria and fungi strengthen the immune system of an organism. But you should still be careful. Acclimate new animals for a few weeks before adding them. Animals bought in shops usually don't know common bacteria and fungi. After putting them in the tank they are easily stressed, making them more vulnerable. Strengthen their immune system by acclimating them slowly. There are some diseases you maybe have to watch out however, since they can be absolutely deadly to some of your animals, like Aphanomyces astaci
Listen to Father Fish, the older your tank is the better it is, like he said in his salt water video, leave em alone, let it sort itself out, let it be what its going to be. The less you have to do, except maybe setting up a new 75 gallon, dirted tank with substrate with supplements, about 3" & about 3" of sand from a local seagrass bed for the beneifical bateria, my tank will have various seagrass, some collect on the local flats, I plan to have a small peice of driftwood and leaf litter. Yes I said leaf litter, on the edge of our local sea bay, it has palm leaves and several other tree leave on shore that have accumulated it several patchy areas, the leaves show signs of being eaten just like in fresh water, if it leaf litter can live in the salt water there it should be benefical too, in my new tank I'd think. It will contain mostly seagrass's, two or three varitity's and macroalge some soft corals, not the fancy corral tanks like most people do, but I want a natural saltwater shallow grass seabeds, a sand flats, like on our local bay behind the St.Marks Fl. lighthouse. My goal is a life long planted tank with leaf litter but saltwater instead of fresh water. PLUS its a dam site cheaper than a $1000.00 fancy pants coral tank. I like simple, I like natural, I sure like cheap these days, but all in all its a type tank that you could take pride in, a whole differant side of saltwater that frankly I haven't seen yet, a Father Fish dirted substrate, plus supplements, 3" of grass flats sand, with driftwood & leaf litter, seagrass, natural searock ( liverock ) native fosslized limestone, soft corrals, various macro alage's, clownfish & ananime, green sailfin mollys, killifish, florida flagfish, black molly's, red coral platy's, yes platy's like molly's are euryhaline fish, meaning they can be acclimated to saltwater. This is my next project, I'm getting things in motion now, I have dreamed about this tank and its not even set up yet. I blame Father Fish, his all natural fresh water tanks have me on the saltwater version journey now. I have dirted freshwater now I'll try this system in saltwater.
Absolutely love it. These are my favorite tanks. Send pics to the Shoal: discord.gg/G4fkAE6qNw
Which specie is Lee ?
Brit
Does this work with African Dwarf Frogs?
They require detritus worms which can be cultured but it takes some serious effort to achieve it.
Oh, my phone I noticed had switched some of my words.
And you are switching your meaning
@@FatherFish No, Father Fish I am concerned about the Galaxy Rasboras that I am being shipped I told you previously that I set up a dirt and sand substrate in my 55 gallon aquarium I said that my PH has been 7.6 and I just looked into the place that they are being shipped from and it said that their PH was 6.8 to 7.0 and all my shrimp died except 4 of them.I also said that I discovered my yellow shrimp was pregnant.
Apparently the first email I sent you wasn't received.
Papi❤
Nature Shmature. The Divine Creator. (I'm getting old so I can permit myself to say what I know.)
Yes.
YES FATHER FISH, simple one sentence , sterile is toxic! if only every fishkeeper knew that fact.
yes!
I would love to create an aquarium like this but my turtle is already too big for it's tank plus she eats everything I put in it, especially plants.
large turtles are best kept in ponds.
I have rosy barbs, a lot (babies) those buggers eat anything! 😂 Keeping the guppy and pleco population, way down.
Nature is a place of miserable, a place of terrifying for all living being who live in it. A place where the strong oppress the weak, that’s why we also called it the wild, the place where all living being living without law, and injustice, fearful and unfortunate life.The reason why human being have a much better life than animal because the creator bless him with a unique pair of hands and a intelligent mind, he know how to fix nature, he know how to separate himself from nature, he know how to change a stinky cave into a beautiful clean house 🏡, he know how to turn a nasty muddy floor into a smooth concrete floor, he know how to fix a messy filthy forest in a beautiful clean and neat garden and neat cut green pastures. He know how to control law and justice to make mankind live in peace and harmony. Same like animal, they all want to live like human but they do not know how! Because they don’t have a unique pair of hand like us and they don’t have intelligent mind like us. That’s why they have to live a miserable life in the wild which is nature. The place where you have to live together with all the wicked enemies can come to kill you at anytime. But The only special way the animal can live better life like human is that they have to live under human care, which mean they become a pet of and human being. When a animal become a pet of a human, it has a unique assistant from a pair of hand of a human. When he is dirty, the hands of a human can wash him. when his place filthy, the hands of human can keep his place clean again. When he hungry, the hands of the human feed him, when his water filthy and dirty, the hand of human can change clean water for him. When he need active and exercise, the human can create plenty space for him to be active and swim. When he fear of his predator enemies, the human hands can separate him out of his enemies. When he sick and illness, the human can give him medication. That is the different between a pet and a wildlife animal.
Absolutely remarkable and all true. You left out the part that people are part of the natural world. When we live according to the rules of nature every one thrives. When we try to replace nature with our own inventions everything dies.
@@FatherFish I agree with you that we are all part of nature but nature doesn’t mean that it has to be dirty and filthy and messy place. That is nature out of control, nature need to be in control. God created the world but he also created mankind with a unique pair of hands to control nature. Yes we all need trees and plants but doesn’t mean that trees and plants have to grow about of control in a messy filthy way, we can trim it into size and shape in a neat and clean healthy way. A nasty muddy floor and and concrete floor they are all part of nature but one is out of control and one is in control, the concrete floor is part of nature, it made out of stone and rock but in an clean and neat way. A cave in is part of nature, it made out of rock but in a messy filthy way, the house is made out brick, it is also made from rock but in a neat proper way. A abandoned bush are part of nature but in a messy filthy way, a beautiful clean and neat garden also nature but in a proper clean and healthy way. A man can live inside a filthy cave and a man live inside the mansion they all can survive but one is happy and one is not. Yes we need trees in our environment to add the beauty to our eyes and they give us oxygen, shade, nutrients ect… but doesn’t mean that we have to live on the tree or sleep under the trees. Doesn’t mean that we have plant a tree inside our house or in our bedroom. A man or an animal can live inside the messy filthy forest or they can live inside a massive beautiful clean and neat garden with care, they all can survive but one is live with miserable and the other one is comfortable and happy. Now same as a fish, when a fish live inside the aquarium, he live under the human care, he become a pet. he also live In nature, but nature is in control. Which mean proper care nature. Water is nature, glass tank is part of nature, glass is come from nature. Oxygen come into the tank from the air pump for the fish need, oxygen is nature. Plants is needed for the fish in the wild for them to hide from bird and other predators and give them shade, and they can find some bugs to eat in it. But when a fish in a tank the fish don’t need it, because the tank is inside the house already give him enough shade and protection and human give him food, so he don’t need to find food inside the plants, same like the human live in the city, he go to shop to get food, he don’t need to go to the trees to hunt for bird or monkey like he live in the rainforest. Maybe he needs just a little bit of plants for him to play around with it for fun like kid playing with toy or an adult like to watch and touch some flowers or plants to bring him some joy, also plus some pleasures to our eyes as a fish keeper. Now sand and gravel is needed for the fish in nature because that is nature filtration, the fish waste will absorb through gravel and sand and into the soil and deep deep down to nourish plants. But in a glass tank the fish doesn’t need gravel or sand. because the tank has a filter, all the waste will go in there and we clean out all the waste weekly or fortnight to keep the water clean and healthy for fish. If we put gravel and sand in the tank floor then all the waste will stuck inside the gravel and sand for long time, it will produce harmful bacteria which cause disease to the fish, and it make a disaster every time we clean our tank and cleaning the gravel, we stir up all the harmful bacteria and filthy particles deep inside the gravel floor spread out all over water inside the tank, that is a big mess and problems to the fish health, the fish will breath in all that harmful bacteria and filthy particles which causes them gills disease and skin disease. So the best way is to leave the tank floor empty, just a smooth glass floor, easy for us to clean all the filthy slime off it weekly and all that new filthy slime can be suck into the filter and the tank and water can be clean and clear all of that filthy slime and waste into to filter and can be washed out of the filter later.
This is just a disasters way to keeping your pets.
You will never understand with that attitude.
@RobinDuehring
❤