HOW TO CREATE A PERFECT AQUARIUM THE FIRST TIME YOU TRY 

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Father fish is a biologist/ Ichthyologist not necessarily a hobbyist! Major difference he teaches correct fish care unlike a hobbyist who sometimes are arrogant and force feed you BS! Thanks Fsther Fish you rock! 🐠✌💓

My fish acted like they was dying so I got sand washed it green land peat moss from a creek weighed it down with the sand Suddenly they are the happiest fish on the planet. One trip to the creek and father fish saved my fishes! Thank you greatly!❤

1) organic potting soil Make 1-2 Inch of mud. NOT soup. 2) cap it with sand. Make it double the dirt amount. I like black diamond blasting sand. Don’t get the fine grit. 3) fill with some water 4) place decorations and plant plants 1 Inch deep in sand. 5) put a few fish in there. 6) don’t feed them for 1-2 week. If you do just a small bit. 7) medium light for 2 weeks 24/7. 8) allow some algae and limit feeding 9) get some snails or shrimp

I have been in almost every fish, pet store in Tucson. None of the workers in the stores ever heard of a natural aquarium or Father Fish. When I tell them about putting soil in the bottom they think I am nuts. After accidentally watching your video 3 months ago, I became interested in aquariums again and will be starting up a tank in the next few days!!

Hello.i m italian and i live in UK.i want to Say to you that are about 3 months that i ve start with this hobby.i ve watched many many video about It. I can Say you re the best teacher. You explain easly anything.thank you very much for your help.❤

I wish I had known about Father Fish when I started my aquariums. It would have saved me so much money on all expensive filters, co2 systems and other tech I thought I needed because of the bigger aquarium youtubers. Back to basics and keeping the tank as close to nature as possible was always the answer! Thank you for all your videos! Please keep doing them.

I've learned more from you in 2 videos ,then I've learned in the last year since I started the hobby thank you Father Fish

You don't need any other guy to teach you. This is the person you are really looking for to learns how to keep aquarium perfect

My soon to be 11 year old son is SO excited to be starting his own aquarium (its a 67L tank) He got a bit freaked out at first when you spoke about taking mud and sand from outside, haha. I know nothing about fish yet, but as a mother of 5 who kept everything as natural as I could in labour and in feeding my children, I can tell you have the same intention of keeping things as natural as possible for your fish. This can only be a good thing, so we look forward to absorbing your wisdom. Thank you sincerely from wet and windy Scotland. Xx

Personally If I'm worried about keeping up with the PH of the water I put snails in my tank. If the PH is too acidic then their shells will start to become thin and white, if that starts to happen I'll just plop a couple of small pieces of lime stone to help remove some of the acidity and if I put enough in then the snail's shells will start to thicken and darken in color.(the lime stone will reduce in size over time from acid erosion whenever the tank becomes acidic)

Father Fish, I'm almost seventy years of age and have tried so many times to keep and enjoy watching them but each time they have all died. It really is heart-breaking to watch. I can't stand or walk, so I've always relied on a my wife or kids for the 'tedious maintenance' associated (until now) with fishkeeping. Thankyou so much!!!

I am so excited to have found you Father Fish!! I currently have an empty 90 gallon and have always wanted to do a natural substrate tank but haven't found any good videos. Then today your Loach video showed up on my shorts and I've been glued to your channel all morning!! I am so excited to try this! 🐟

I kept fish since I was 12 years old. Fish stores kept advising to buy more and more expensive equipement and products in addition to telling me to use RO water and have consistent water changes. Fish kept dying, plants rotted away and thus I ended up leaving the hobby for over 18 years. I found your videos 6 months ago and wow....I havent lost 1 fish or plant since I followed your natural method of the hobby. Thank you so much! I have fallen inlove with the hobby again.

This is a godsend for a new hobbyist

I was hesitant about an aquarium, as I k ow from the past it’s like taking care of a Pool. I stumbled across your videos, and set up a 10 gallon tank for my daughter. Dirt, sand, plants, river rocks from outdoors, and drift wood. Feed the fish bloodworms. 1 month later water is crystal clear, plants and fish are thriving. Foundational principles are always supreme. Thank you

FatherFish, I am glad to have found your channel. I love that you are definitely a Fish Guy that does RU-vid videos to help hobbyists and be friendly in general and share your wonderful knowledge. SO many others are RU-vidrs rather, that do Fish videos, which I dont like if that makes any sense. So thank you.

Father Fish is a warm, caring gentleman here to help because he wants you to succeed, and for you to be happy and contented. Listen to him, cross check what he says with a microbiologist like Diana Walstad. You will not fail. 😊🍀

i have to say, everyone knows you're the go to guy for this, but as someone whos trying to make a platned tank for the first time and theres so much info availble about the walstad method and everything, the simplicity of this video is amazing, all im missing is a sponge filter! i feel alot more confident

I discovered Father Fish on RU-vid last night. I subscribed immediately. I have been doing fish tanks for around 30 years but am still very open too listening to others. Mostly I will say thank you and walk away. Occasionally, very occasionally I will hear advice from someone like Father Fish and find myself fascinated in what is being said due to the wealth of information and knowledge. This is a fantastic video for beginners and RU-vid channel for anyone who enjoys aquariums.I wish I had this kind of information when I was starting out as it would have saved me so much time, money and grief when loosing fish and plants. I love listening to someone who knows what they are talking about. It confirms what I already know but also teaches me new tricks. Many thanks Father Fish from Australia 😊👍🙏

I've been creating or maintaining home aquariums for 50 years and I can tell you from my hard-earned experience, this man's advice is worth its weight in gold. If you are a beginner, you will be light years ahead of everyone else if you simply follow the advice presented in this single video. And I mean every step, exactly the way he describes it. And understand, you will NEVER hear this quality advice from a standard pet store or a big box store. The advice on starting off your new aquarium with actual outdoor mud (preferably from a lake) is brilliant and will put you months ahead of lowly hobbyists who are simply watching YT videos and wondering why they can't keep anything alive. Starting the life cycle strongly is crucial in keeping your precious fish alive and well. My #1 advice is that if you want lots of fish, you are going to have to invest in LARGE tanks. The bigger the tank, the easier it is to maintain and for the fish to thrive. Overcrowding is the fastest way to kill your fish and it happens very easily. You would think that beginners should keep to small tanks as their experience is small, but the opposite is true. It takes more talent/experience to maintain small aquariums than it does large ones. Also, the more surface your aquarium has the better. Stay away from tall aquariums with small water surface. They are more trouble than they are worth, unless you have experience in the hobby.

So glad I found you Father Fish!

You guys are now my Netflix channel

Starting today, I'll only listen to Father Fish. I'll disregard all the information that I gathered from ytbers that contradicts your teachings.

I'm obsessed with Father Fish! Lol. I just bought my membership 🤪 I love the way he explains the process without making you feel like you're listening to a science lecture.

I am setting up a small pond outside, thank you for all the advice for keeping them alive!

I made my first dirted tank from your other videos and it's doing great. Thank you for making more videos like this. I setting up my second dirted tank tonight.👍

Father fish is a Maverick!

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience with the world! 💖

Thank you father fish for all of this valuable information!! From personal experience, this couldn’t be more accurate. I’m so glad I found your channel ❤❤

I’m so grateful I found you! Bought a tank and have been researching like crazy for the past weeks . I want lots of plants and I remember seeing someone 20 yrs ago who had an amazing tank with lots of plants and no filters. I recently took a trip up the west coast and found a moss ball. Brought home sand, some sand dollars, water and the ball and created a little eco system and have been so excited to create the same thing in my new tank. Thank you sooo much for sir for sharing all of your knowledge!

Thats exactly what i need . A wise man who is teaching you how to fish .❤ bless you father fish

Father Fish I have recently discovered your channel and have been binge watching. You have a wealth of knowledge and I cannot thank you enough for sharing and teaching, you inspired me, and a week ago I started my dirted tank and its doing wonderfully thus far with about four small fish as well as plants. Will be gradually adding to it, thank you again Father Fish!

Father Fish...you are the best...THANK YOU! Keeping fish is probably the one thing I have been doing my whole life...I really, really enjoy a nice aquarium... Used to get our fish from KMart way, way back in the day...when they would put the fish in a Chinese food takeaway container...(do you remember those?? Oh my, that was a long time ago...)... Anyways, thank you sir!

Great video! would be lovely to see you setup a tank in all those steps in a video.

Im obsessed with you. Such a pure and wise man ❤

Ive been fish keeping for nearly 10 years and can always seem to watch your videos and learn new things. i have a spare little 30 gallon tank that i think im going to throw some mud and sand in, and try growing some plants before populating it

I learned the hard way about how to treat ich . I used a popular brand of medication at half strength because I had clown loaches. I lost two loaches before I raised the temperature on my tank to 86 . Within 2 days the ich totally disappeared. So the moral of the story as you said is raise the temperature for 3 days and don’t use medications

I've only been keeping fish for just over a year . So glad I found father fish early on that journey.just setting up a third deep substrate planted tank.Everything father fish says goes against everything they told me at the fish store but I'm glad I listened to the Father. Healthy happy tank . Thankyou Father Fish😁

Grazie , veramente interessante. Grazie mille

wish we had people like you 45 years ago when i started out. we learned the hard way, the new hobbyist starting out today have so much information, all they have to do is listen to the right people. thanks again father fish joe h navy seabee

Father Fish ❤ Love your videos! Very informative. I am new to the fish world and it’s been so hard to keep my fish alive and also I did not know that the big fish ate there baby fish until I came across your videos . My have had baby 2x and they have been eaten or have died 😢

Protect this Man at all cost!!!

You help a lot,thanks to the informations you're giving...hoping for more...

Omg your just adorable! I've never tried your method with the substrate in a tank. I'm setting up a new very small community pool in my kitchen and I'm following your instructions to the note! Thank you! I'll also be getting my plants from you, can't beat your prices.😊

Thanks God I discovered you soon enough. This is the method I definitly want!

So incredibly helpful for a new fish/plant parent. I have learnt a lot from you, Father Fish. Thank you from Australia.

Your the man answered everything questions I had thank you sir your a godsend

So great thank you! I know you said never go below 80 degrees for the temperature of the aquarium, but due to strange circumstances, the tank of my mother (now deceased) contains tropical fishs, cichlids from Lake Tanganyika, which lives at only 71.6 degrees for at least 5 years, and they are doing wonderfully, they are even making babies :) Of course it was not entirely premeditated, but since they got used to it we did not put the water heater back on.

Awesome information. Thank you.!!

at last someone whom talks sense thanking you x

I watch the commercial to thank you for these videos.

Setting up my first tank with the father fish method jst put my soil in looking forward to watching this ecosystem develop ❤thankyou father fish ❤

Interesting, I am a farmer/ market gardener now retreated, that love plants to the point to try aquatic ones 😂 I started in the beginning of january, in a 20 gal long, with 2" of aquasoil at the lowest, topped with 1" of black sand and sprinkled some small lava rocks to add surfaces ( and a little " river/road" of pool sand sprinkled with smashed coral). I add wood pieces I collected during last decades, river rocks, and a lot of plants ( 27 species) after I let it run, with fertilizer( florin multi) and trace minerals. I use tap water, conditionned, and grow lights for gardeners. I have a sponge filter too. I put a piece of crude shrimp from my fridge in. After about 3 weeks, parameters seem kind of good, so I add 3 rabbits snails, they gave me 2 babies that same week. And after 2 other weeks I add 20 shrimps, and I got babies, again, in less than 2 days. I dont feed them. In fact, I try, but they prefer grazing in my tank. I remove the food everytime, after some hours. Even Repashy or fine cuisine is not touch 😂😂 Now, I add yesterday my first fish, a group of 6 oto. They got ich !😅 So I have to deal with it. At least they poop like crazy. I didnt knew you when I begun, but indeed, a backgroud in gardening may help. And an approach base on observation. I still have so much to learn, and I am stress as f* sometimes, because my lack of knowledge. I still check all my parameters, everyday, so worried for my little environment and inhabitants.

Thank you I and new at this. From New Zealand

Father fish is the best makes every one else look like amateurs

Its called ick? We, noobs thought it was Fungi lol. But raising temperature advise was indeed given by pro guy, whereas shop was pushing some liquid

Father Fish is a blessing to have you alive! That's all I will say, from a dude who got this hobby 3 months ago. Thanks a lot

Goldin advises..thanks alot

I had a mishap last night. As I lay there in bed trying to fall asleep, I heard a noise coming from my 10 gallon aquarium. Normally I'd just go to sleep, but last night I turned on the light and noticed water dripping. Upon closer inspection I noticed a crack on the bottom pane in the corner. Luckily I didn't fall asleep and wake up to a soggy carpet. I had to break it down quickly and I was considering not replacing it. I don't know why it broke like that. This morning I went out and bought a Rimless 10 Gallon Aqueon to replace it. I am putting it on the same wrought iron stand with a 1/2" plywood top, and a leveling mat. I didn't have the latter two items when I set it up two months ago. So I am going to get a second chance to do this, but I learned a couple things when breaking it down and examining it. One thing being that the plants had developed a good root system in spite of not seeming to grow. Another is that I need more plants to start the tank. I have learned a lot from listening and watching Father Fish and I thank you for that; it's been a fascinating journey so far. One thing that has me worried is leaking aquariums. What causes it? I am very careful in handling my tanks, but this makes me rethink setting up my 55 gallon. It's 20+ years old. Should I buy a new one? Sorry for the lengthy post.

I love this mans information! God Bless you Father Fish for sharing all the information that you share! Its eye opening!

Love this all encompassing video

My dad keepbfish in the 70,s and fish keeping was simple when. I,m about to keep £1200 worth if Wild Discus would anything you have talked about help me on my journey... They normally like a lot of food . But l do love the natural methods. And have had a Diana garden soil tank. Please replay.

Thank you so much, Father Fish! I was once 'playing God' with my tanks and never getting stability in them. You've opened my eyes to what's natural and doesn't require funneling tremendous amounts of money.. :D BIG fan; Much respect and love from Kerala, India.

having setup many fish tanks in my time you have really made me want to try another way to do it not that I have had many problems in my own way but I would love the less is more way where the tank takes care of it self

Wow! If only I found you before I set up four aquariums. Such great information. Thanks so much, I can’t wait to give it a try!

Thank U 4 the great advice.

Wish i had seen this before i set up my 54 l tank with guppys a few days ago🤔 I Will have to do a new setup soon😀

Been dabbling in Aquariums since 1969. Much learned through abject failures. Father Fish, you are awesome. I love it that you are not at all condescending given your incredible experience and knowledge. Am about to embark on setting up 2 55's and am going to follow your advice and try to stay out of my own way. Mud in a fishtank? Who ever thought?

Thanks. Perfect timing. I am starting up 55G Community Aquarium.

I could have used your advice 15 years ago when I tried the hobby and after a year gave up. Ick was my major trouble back then and the pet store advice was useless. You have inspired me to try again, thank you.

This makes you think how they feed fish farms for human consumption. "Hungry fish is a healthy fish".

I have watched many videos from Father Fish but this is the one I was looking for and is the one that every single watcher should have watched at least once. I do believe your more recent videos are more professionally produced and have a reduced time to 10 to 14 minutes but the information needed is much longer. This video hit the sweet spot in being not too long and containing information every fish owner needs to have.

Thanks a lot

"Rock Sand" - you don't have to put on the red light!

Melhor canal para iniciantes como eu , gratidão por comprtilhar❤

BMW adds on your channel!!! You’ve hit the big time. :)

Omg, this sounds so old-school! And I mean it in sincere way, not disrespectful. Something you could hear a decade or two before the internet if you are extraordinary lucky, I imagine. In last decade or so aquarium hobby has improved exponentialy, both in quality and quantity of goods available, and in general knowledge, but basics presented here are solid. My objection here would be taking soil or wild plants from nature, there are specialized soil available in stores not even so expensive, so taking soil from the nature with questionable quality would be at best unnecessary drag. Taking wild plants would be invitation for unvanted guests, also there is a question of acclimatization. On the other hand, I've learned here a thing or two, to pay attention not to plant too deep, for example. Nice set of wise and basic advices, excellent for starters, good for others.

Hello. I don't have fish, and i don't have time for this hobby. But i like watching your videos.

This information was sooooo useful! Thank you so much!

How do you only have 5k subscribers? Your channel is awesome!

Father fish. Where is your store located ? Would love to visit.

Incredible information in such a peaceful delivery. I have some minor experience with planted tanks and watching your videos explains how the ecosystem works and things I could have done differently. But I was hoping to hear your thoughts on a hobby Aquaponics tank, and if it could work with one of your low maintenance ecosystems. How would having a garden bed above the tank effect the feeding frequency needs to produce enough waste for both the tank plants and the bedded plants? Would more fish be required instead of more food? Thank you in advanced for any tips or advice you have!(:

I just discovered your channel Father Fish as i just started this hobby.Thanks havens i stumbled upon you

New subscriber here. Thank you for the video. I have been out of the hobby for several years now, but hope to get another tank or two going in the future. I really appreciate this kind of refresher course, and for teaching the benefits of dirted tanks. I'd not ever done that before! I was also happy to learn that the blasting sand and pool filter sand of my last tanks, was perfectly ok! I wasn't sure if using it was a good thing, for sure. I wish I'd known I should have had dirt under it. I feel more confident now, to set up tanks again. TY again, looking forward to watching more of your content.

❤

Excellent advice! Subscribed and added you to my collection of Aquarium channels! Going to start working on my 3rd tank soon, and will be coming back to this. Also, LOVE YOUR BEARD! :) ✨🐟✨

Awesome content

Wow, I've been keeping fish for a little over 2 years now and I feel like I just opened the right door to actually understanding what I'm doing. Taking the advice of hobbyists, I've managed to keep fish alive (for the most part) and thought I was doing pretty well. I had been injecting CO2 for a while but was getting sick of the constant maintenance, so I started looking into "low-tech" as they call it and all I can say is wow. I feel like I've been lied to all this time, this is exactly the ecosystem based system I felt made the most sense but isn't being talked about by fishkeepers, even my local small fish store. I want to learn everything I can and form a game plan to covert my setup into a true ecosystem. I won't be able to move my entire community tank over all at once, but I thank you already for improving the lives of my fish! Edit: My only question after watching this back is that you don't mention adding any dechlorinator to the water that you add to your tank. I assume this was just an assumed step and that it is still needed, correct?

Found this useful, like i did? I'd suggest three things in addition to enhance the usefulness. Turn on subtitles (especially for those not in America or not used to the accent) and set playback speed to 1.5. Repeat listen a couple of times making notes as you go along. Btw, the main content starts at 05:06. Thanks for the useful info, Father fish! :)

Awesome video!

Respect and Love you Sir

I'm taking this concept a bit further. I add a layer of crushed coral on top of the sand, then river rock. I have fancy goldfish in my tank & they tear up a tank with sand bottom. My tank is very happy. I have a higher PH, but the fish & inverts that I put in my tank like higher PH. I would have to take a different approach, probably just dirt & sand if I wanted to have fish that liked more acidic water.

Sure wish I’d seen this three months ago when I began my fish hobby. Sadly I have gravel in my tank. I’ve learned so much from you!

I just found you, and I’m so glad I did ❤ One thing to bear in mind! Some of the employees in major retail pet stores love animals, too, and some of us become very disappointed, like I was, when we find out how much information needs updating or is just plain wrong. Some of these employees are kids; please bear in mind they don’t know better but are trying their best. The company has lied to them about what a given animal needs. Eventually, when I realized the company only cared for money, I would regularly redirect customers to local fish/reptile/bird expert stores I knew of until I found a better job elsewhere. Now I just try to avoid those major retailers if I can. Their info is majorly outdated, at best.

Father Fish I am so glade to found you on youTube you talk about things i never herd before I am planing to buld a KOI pond do you sugest i put dirt and sand on top pleas advise thankyou

Best advice out there on hiw to start an aquarium!

My 55 gal tank has no BBA I it but65 gal does

WOW you surpriced me there FF! Wonderful video filled with gold nuggets - In between the two of us. it is videos like this that draws new eyes and ears to the channel. and you did something (perfect) here . IF you are loaded with data aka knowledge like in this ( which ??? know you are ;) )

Thank you froom Romania!