This is the video I needed a year ago. I learned most of the things you spoke of through trial and error and experiments. Took a long time and there are very few videos that cover this topic. We need more videos like these. I only knew it was good for accomplishing roles in a balanced ecosystem, but you taught me that biodiversity is also good for healthy competition. LIKED AND SUBSCRIBED. EDIT: BTW, try out this experiment I did. I built a mesh cave system under gravel with dividers so that the fauna and microfauna can hide there and escape from larger predators. There they can multiply fast and if it gets over-populated, they will emerge from the caves and become prey. There is a small tunnel that leads to the surface. I use this as a medaka temporary fry tank but I can use it as an adult medaka tank too. For the filtration, I used this cave as an undergravel filtration by adding an aerator inside a vertical tube that leads into a sponge filter box containing purigen and lava stones. My fauna/microfauna biodiversity include neocaridina shrimp, scuds, various protozoa, aerobic & anaeribic bacteria (added a corner of thick acidic silt), moina, seed shrimp, a ton of black worms, bladder snails, ramshorn snails, nerite snails, & pond snails. I feed them a bunch of dry leaves (doubles as hiding spots too). Try it, it's so balanced. Water is crystal clear with tons of tiny creatures moving around. Fry grow so fast.
@@ikoyDaPnoy Thanks, this was really nice to read. I really want to provide useful information but in a fresh and new manner. Thanks for the kind words, I hope to keep making great videos for you and everyone :) Edit: Whoa!! Very cool experiment, I never thought of doing this, I will have to try something similar! It seems so biodiverse and definitely something that's up my alley.
@@DEXTER-TV-series For that, I'll need to find a way to have some kind of emersed growth plant or mini bonsai on an island that will have leaves eventually wilt off and feed the micro fauna.
Well: Your fourth video is a pretty good one. Easy to follow, you have a well thought out educated line. And your delivery is spot on. Plus your voice is prefect. Gavin; keep them coming, you are getting very good at this!
My favourite part of this video is *YOU*. You're so euthusiatic and it feels like you're infodumping in my earholes with your awesome upbeat voice! Subscribed to listen to you whilst I draw. Longer vidoes if you want to? I'm happy to listen to people infodump about what they love.
@@chickadeestevenson5440 Awww thank you so much :') I am considering making longer format videos in the future but it will depend on the topic I am discussing. I really appreciate the compliment!
You were amazing in this video. I love your approach - friendly warm and factual. Not many channels manage to do that - excited to see how your channel grows!!
Well delivered Sir! A very important aspect for the aquarium world is the need to know the "little" things that make the world go round. One of the best and easy to understand videos on this subject, thank you for sharing.
hey friend- cheers from my fish room channel in Chicago, where I just subscribed to yours. So glad I found your channel and delighted to support it. here's to "free biodiversity!"
Great informational/instructional video. Love the advocation for a diverse, bottom-up, selfmaintaining, selfsustaining tank. Counter to popular belief, I find that a diverse tank with a thick substrate, lots of plants, lots of bottom-feeding creatures, make a clean tank. People frown on snails and microfauna, but they are the ones keeping the water clean of excess nutrients.
It's important to note that there are an unknown number of species in the hobby that are called "scuds." I once got a species that were omnivorous and ate about $80 worth of well established plants. The tank had snails, shrimp, rasboras, and mollies.
@@wetbossfingers3612 Thanks so much for the compliment and the sub, I really try to bring a positive and helpful vibe to my videos :) I appreciate you!
Thanks for the comment Carl :) I keep 3 types of "pest snails" in my tank -- all were introduced as hitchhikers from plants. I have pond snails, bladder snails, and ramshorn snails.
Great video. Balance often comes in stages unless you start off with a crazy amount of biodiversity from another source (established tank, pond, etc.). If you plant first, then add scuds, adding small fish next will be crucial at some point to keep the plants alive. And you'll notice a big recovery on the plants, and without lots of super predatory fish, the scuds aren't going anywhere, they just slightly dip in population and hide a little. I think the biggest problems with shrimp come when they aren't reproducing, which has little to do with a minor amount of shrimplet predation or competition with scuds for food resources. Neocaradina shrimp hate large water parameter shifts. Best to buy from a breeder rather than multi-step shipping. Also best if you/they share similar water parameters, though with time the shrimp adjust very well to a wide range.
Good luck with the channel. I am going through this process right now on a new tank. Multiple snail species, yellow shrimp, and baby ricefish currently. I am holding off on adding scuds and CPDs for a bit to get the shrimp well established first. Those will be added shortly. I also want to get a population of freshwater isopods going in this tank hopefully.
@@carvedwood1953 Thanks so much for the encouragement. From the sound of it, it seems like your tank will be successful and very biodiverse. I agree it's always best to establish the colony of the shrimp first before adding fish. Let them breed a few generations before adding predators. Snails can coexist with the shrimp peacefully, no problems there. Good luck! :)
@@FishtankTwink Thank you. I'll continue to support your content. There are very few hobbyists out there keeping and or breeding the freshwater isopods so I am hoping that will be successful. I just find them interesting. Hopefully they become more popular in the hobby.
Just started a 29 USG Walstad. So far I've added 15 bladder snails, 30 azteca scuds and 50 ostracods. Will be adding some trumpet snails too. No fish yet but I'll be adding Apistogramma borellii and amano shrimp once it's cycled and matured.
Same in my 30gal platy tank I have scuds bladder snails and 3 amano shrimp. It's great! My plants are doing fantastic and the tank is years old at this point
I have a 7 gallon dirted, planted cube with seed shrimp, cherry shrimp, scuds, nerite snails, and ramshorn snails. I've also introduced tardigrades and moina. I rarely add food to the tank and everthing seems to be doing fine
@@DEXTER-TV-series I am not sure how good of a picture I can get with my camera, but I use the moina to feed fish in other tanks. so they are not usually in there for very long.
Great video. I actually started a 125 gal with Otos, Amano Shrimp, Corydoars. Fully planted deep substrate tank and then got to bag of bugs from Phillips Fish works. I haven’t seen any scuds or isopods. I am thinking of putting even more plants buying a couple more bag of bugs and a scud pack on Amazon to try again. I am guessing either they were eaten or because even though I cycled it the tank was just to new for them. So they didn’t make it. I cover the sand with big leaves and scud balls just in case they just come out when the tank is dark 😂
@@WOW_AQUATICS Thanks!! I really aim to provide useful info on topics that haven't already been explained to death, just to provide my perspective/fill in the gaps of info if I can
Great video! I keep a planted 55 myself but I don't have many invertebrates except snails. I did have some nematodes but my angelfish took care of them in short order. I think I would like to keep a tank more like yours once my angels pass.
@@victoriasrandomstuff Thanks so much Victoria! Angelfish can be quite aggressive and will definitely snack on cherry shrimp, but I think if you have enough hiding spaces you may be able to get a population of scuds thriving and act as an occasional food source. I'm thinking of getting some angelfish myself actually... We'll see!
Awesome. I love the idea of bio diversity. I spent so long planning my aquascape and substrates and plants but ended up inpulsively grabbing 6 rosie barbs who apparently are greedy eat anythings. after about 6months now and no water changes needed, just top ups im going to add some more ressurection jar critters for biodiversity. Need some cherry shrimp and clean up crew fish too.
@@bradonbass Sounds like you have a good thing going on! Good luck with the resurrection jars, it's a great direction to take for increasing microfauna.
@@FishtankTwink thanks, it's going well. Some random tiny barely visible critters in there now, and my Rosie barbs have actually bred and I have some fry!
I agree with the method, I do however think a very important factor here, is it works better in a larger aquarium. Because I have this going on in my 90gal, and I tried to do this in a 20gal, but because in a 20gal resources got used up so much more quickly, the whole thing crashed.
I have snails and cardinia shrimp in my Walstad tank. Snail population exploded for a while before I realized I was overfeeding, but everyone is doing well now. Wish this info had been available to me then!
@@fishlove1854 Wow thanks so much for the compliment! I can definitely do a set-up video once I get another tank. I don't currently have a true setup video, but in my previous Walstad video I show starting a planted/dirted cube aquarium. I'll have a follow up video on that once the plants grow in! :)
Bro I have never once fed my snails in my snail-only tank and yet all they do is eat, poop, and breed constantly. I have so many snails! Also good to know about the scuds. I wanted to add them to a tank with cherry shrimp but was worried that they would ruin the population of the cherry shrimp.
You made a good video explaining the balance needed. I have a 3.3 gallon aquarium with 1 male guppy, 2 shrimp and it seems like a million snails. I keep removing the snails and eggs because every time I look at the tank there are many snails all over the walls of the aquarium. Should I be worried about the snails taking over? I'd don't want to have them over run the tank and having not enough food for the shrimp. Am I worried over nothing? Also, it would be great if you could do a video of the plants you have in your aquarium. Thanks again for the video :)
@@missy3609 Thanks for your comment :) my advice would be to not worry about the snails overtaking, but it's a risk because you a low stocking of other things. If you want to increase your amount of shrimp I would say add around 5-10 more, so you have enough females to start a colont. They lay eggs and you want to make sure enough shrimplets survive with your male guppy. 1 guppy is fine so don't worry too much about predation, but I would increase the amount of shrimp just to make sure you give yourself a good start. Currently, you may have mainly a snail tank, with 2 shrimp and 1 guppy. If the 2 shrimp are male, you may not get any more shrimp
@@FishtankTwink Thanks so much for your advise. My 2 shrimp are still young so I have to wait to find out what they are. I'm really hoping for baby shrimp, lol. Again, thanks for the advice :)
@@missy3609 Anytime! Sorry for all the typos in my original response, I was using my phone to respond. Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions :)
Have been trying to get a shrimp colony going. The ramshorns snails have had an exsplosives population growth. I'm worried they are starving out the shrimp. At least the water parameters seem relatively stable.
@@braydenboysen2423 I've only had triops very briefly when I was younger but never in a community tank, I imagine they may be able to do well but I would need to do more research on them. I've always been a fan of the way they look
I started a cherry shrimp tank. About a month later it was over run with seed shrimp aka ostracods. The population is so bad, that I have them swimming around the water column and most of the substrate is swarming with them. I also made the mistake of adding a ramshorn snail, now I have about 1000 in the tank too. I do have a lot of shrimp, their population is booming too. The tank though, looks awful, because of the over abundance of snails and seed shrimp. I tried several types of fish, to eat the seed shrimp…but they didn’t do anything but scare my shrimp. Now I have a new tank, and I’m going to attempt to move my shrimp colony to it, minus the snails and the seed shrimp…wish me luck!
Please excuse my ignorance but what exactly are scuds? At my local store there are fish, shrimp, snails and plants available for sale but I have never seen or even heard of a scud.
@@cooliolowrey2495 That plant is dwarf sagittaria :) It's my favorite carpeting plant. It is beginner friendly and grows much easier than dwarf hairgrass
@@AbraAbrakadabraKadabra there's a product called "No Planaria" that is really effective -- but it will essentially kill most of the microfauna in your tank. Be very careful with dosing. Often times, it may be best to start a new tank and start breeding your shrimp in a new colony, separate from the tank with planaria. Good luck, it's tricky.
My betta does not care about my blue dream shrimp! I’m afraid that is I being scuds, he will not care about the scuds and they will decimate my shrimps! It’s a small tank that I just started 4 months ago and only has like 20 shrimps
I have a planted shrimp tank with more snails than shrimp. I want to grow my shrimp colony. Can anyone recommend a fish that eats snails but not shrimp? Or is there a clever way to feed the shrimp? I’m considering using a breeder box because I can keep it off the substrate. The shrimp feeders I see seem to be very small.
@@KingKong4916 Pea puffers eat snails, but I would suggest getting a second small tank and moving some shrimp over to start a new colony. Pea puffers are excellent at hunting snails, but I can't guarantee they won't attack a shrimp or two.
@@FishtankTwink yes, they're so cute, adorable, and smart, but be careful they can be highly territorial, a group of 6 or more is recommended, but sure you can learn more about them.
Like most videos on this subject . You always leave out how to add Scuds to tank. Yes we want Detritivore how can we add them. Yes they may hitch hike on plants 🌱 but I want more than just a chance. Thanks
@@dallasbrat81 Good question: As I mentioned in my video, scuds and snails often hitchhike their way into your tank through aquarium plants or used aquarium equipment. If you wish to add scuds, you can purchase a scuds/detritivore pack directly from online retailers or ask your local fish store if they have. Additionally, other hobbyists in your area may have some for free and provide you with a culture that way. Another method is making friends through groups such as local aquarium clubs/societies or aquarium-related Facebook groups. Another way is to find detritivores in your local bodies of freshwater such as creeks, rivers, streams, and lakes, and introduce them into your tank, but you may introduce parasites and other unwanted hitchhikers like damselfly larvae or planaria. To add them into your tank, you can just drop them in, or acclimate them first through the drip acclimation method, then drop them in. Hope this helps!
I had a healthy breeding population of cherry shrimp in my 5 gal betta tank. The betta died. Not sure why. I purchased another betta. He has largely eaten all my cherry shrimp. Pretty sure scuds would not have a chance either.
@@gillianmiller9710 Hey Gillian, yes betta fish can often be aggressive and will hunt down shrimp especially in smaller tanks. Bettas with shorter tails are much faster than longer/fancy tailed bettas, which are more slow swimming due to the elongated flowy fins. If you have gravel you may have a better chance with scuds as they hide easily in the substrate and are much faster and smaller. Scuds usually fair better than shrimp when it comes to their ability to hide, escape, and reproduce -- but of course every betta/tank is different.
@@pacae911 Do you currently have any fish in your tank? My advice would be to add fish and stop feeding everyday. Your fish will begin to hunt the scuds. Scuds are a live food source so you basically need population control, in the form of fish with big enough mouths to eat the scuds
I laugh when people have "pest" snails take over their tank because I can rarely ever get them to breed. I finally finally finally got some to lay some eggs. I just want a self replenishing clean up crew 😭
The tank that I finally got them to breed in is my 20 gallon native tank that houses all kinds of critters including some diving beetles. I like oddball inverts and fish 😂
I don't know, opinion is so divided on scuds vs shrimp. Many sources say they will prey on young shrimp. Personally, I don't like them in my shrimp tanks at al, but that's me. Snails are fine though.
scuds can prey on baby shrimp i deplete population through competition its not that bad but dont do this if your goal is breed high end shrimp like pintos or something or just dont add before already having a stable population of shrimp
I not understand to dip scrotum and testicles in aquarium to save? How to dip testicles? I see words on thumbnail but I not see in video. Include penis also or just testicles?
