Just to clarify, no, fish foods not a scam. You definitely need to feed your fish. This only worked because tank was big, there’s lots of microfauna and fish were small micro predators. DONT STARVE YOUR FISH!!
The problem with a closed bio-system, is that if something goes wrong, it goes really wrong, really fast. It's also very difficult to bring things back to equilibrium without first suffering ecological collapse. This was an early lesson out of the Biosphere 1&2 Project. Totally doable. Just a lot harder than it needs to be for most people.
Thanks for bringing this up, I was about to make a closed ecosystem tank, but your point makes a lot of sense. It wouldn’t take much for an invasive bacteria to take over and stop the cycle.
@@chspotato4774 Well there are things like biobulbs. Where some stuff goes into a glass jar that is then sealed and does fine for decades. I think the root of the problem is trying to fit too much complexity into too small of a space. everything add increases considerations by a lot. For instance. You can probably keep a single cricket alive for it's natural life span with just a few plants that are too large for it to eat all of before they have new growth. , that cover a wide enough range to meet it's nutritional needs, and are big enough to find an O2/Co2 exchange balance with it. But add even one more cricket of the opposite sex and you introduce the possibility of running out of space, resources and disease running rampant. You automatically need a lot more plants to meet the demand for food and air at any single point. You need a lot more space to avoid disease spreading too easily. You probably need at an area that is inhospitable so you know if any of them end up trying to stay there that it's truly over populated. And you need natural predators to keep their population in check. Plus everything their predators need to survive besides them as a food source. I'm not saying don't even attempt it. I'm saying it's hard and with good reason. The people who can do it consistently I believe have stumbled onto winning formulas that they don't fully understand. They found something that works and don't stray far from it. But probably can't say why in granular detail. And that is to say, don't get discouraged by failure if you try it. Because it's probably not easy for most who do. And be willing to adjust expectation of what success looks like. You might have a neatly complete ecological collapse only for your closed system to find it's own balance that you didn't design later.
Would i be wrong to assume, though, that the larger and more diverse the system you have, the more stable it will be. It makes sense to me because the earth is basically 1 giant enclosed ecosystem. For example, the more diversity in the same roles should mean the system as a whole is more protected against any 1 thing being taken out collapsing the whole system
@@censorsstarve When we say closed system, we mean that ideally nothing material wise goes in or out. Or that what does is miniscule in mass, quantified, accounted for, and allowed. So 1 cubic meter of any biome on earth is not the same thing as 1 cubic meter of a mostly sealed off artificial biome. If you take under observation just any slice of outside. You would note that there is air moving through it constantly. Some of that air might carry dust in it from as far flung as the Sahara. A bird might come by, eat a bug and make waste. Then fly off again leaving a small feather behind as well. Water run off will take away some amount of soil. Rain will bring new minerals in etc. Any designated area of observation in a natural environment is being constantly interacted with and changing all the time. Even the earth constantly leaks some gasses and is receiving new material from space in the form of meteorites. A closed system is an area that doesn't have nearly this level of interaction and interchange with everything that surrounds it. It's a condition that is almost always artificial. Closed systems can be species and material loaded and will still not be as dynamic as an open system of the same area. And will suffer ecological collapse without constant and careful, well informed management. Specifically because they don't have that interchange. Diversity isn't just about diversity of species. It's about diversity of conditions as well. Because conditions create selective pressure. In a closed system you have a singular condition. So the type and amount of selective pressure doesn't change (except during that snowballing of things dying). You can load down a closed system with dozens of species and very likely (at least on the macro level) only a few will pull through collapse and find a new equilibrium. But everything in there that's left is bottlenecked genetically. So given enough time all that will die off as well.
@@The1Helleri you seem to be confused. Why are you saying 1m³ space? It can be any size. The larger and more diverse is what i was saying would make it more stable. I was talking about the earth as a whole, the entire planet, is a closed off system. Nothing is essentially entering or leaving the system. We are an exception, a small amount of gas from earth escapes, and most space debri and rocks will burn up in the atmosphere. When you make these tanks you are just replicating a small section of 1 ecosystem. Its like you want to argue that because something is only typically done a certain way it that is the only way it can be done. So if i took a room in my house and sealed it up in a way that nothing could get in or out, could that not be a closed system just like your smaller tank? This video may have been about fish, but this is something that can be done with any type of life. AntsCanada has a giant (as he put it) rainforest vivarium. He does manage it somewhat, but from his videos its more the occassional addition of new species. But he isnt adding food in for them, they eat whatever they can find in the tank. For the most part the more diversity you give should help with keeping the food web intact and nutrients properly flowing. Like if you have a couple different things that eat the waste products from other animals then your less likely to have a sudden spike in waste if something kills off a bunch of 1 of the species. Its small things like that that were popping in my head for diversoty that would help ensure balance can be maintained. If i go outside right now i wont find just 1 species cleaning up other things waste, i will find dozens of things doing the same jobs, keeping the ecosystem in balance. Sorry i keep jumping back to reread what all you said. You bring up gas and space debri which i did mention, but i wanted to also bring up the same is true for his fish tank. The open top means its constantly having air from outside that can enter the water, dust, small pest. Any number of things that are a larger effect then the minute amount of gas leaked by earth and the space debri entering it. Which is why i say earth is a closed system. We dont really have the possibility of foreign life coming here and contaminating the planet.
Those arent aquariums they are fish gulags, I wish there was better info on how to care for fish. Fish keeping isnt hard its just all the misinformation makes it hard to learn.
@@Exquailibur if you consider the sparse tank to be a gulag, then the tank with the plants, microfauna, and PS5 is just an American prison. They’re all unnatural, involuntary, confinement.
This is why I love making a little ecosystem in my aquariums because then you can go on vacation and not have to worry about somebody killing your fish (overfeeding, neglect etc)
Aquasoil is going to have a longer lifespan than regular soil, is less likely to leech through your cap and is also going to give you more control over the microorganisms that you do introduce into the system
I haven’t fed my 55gal planted gravel (no soil) tank in almost 3 years. Dozens of mollies live happily and local pet store gets a heap of fish every couple of months.
Aquaponics lovers are growing veggies in nothing but a tub of water with fish in it. Just the roots of the vegie plant hanging in the water with no soil, rocks etc. Then you have aquarium hobbyists claiming you need more than just the fish to grow plants while linking you products to buy. Its almost like in the aquarium hobby everyone blindly follows the sales pitch while in aquaponics people just do tests themself and see what works out of the love for it. The entire point of aquaponics is remove/replacing the soil that feeds the vegies with fish to feed the vegies. It doesnt mean flooding your field with water so you can have fish swimming between the crop and the soil :/
I’ve heard stories of established planted tanks keeping fish alive for 6 months, no fish food. When you apply the basic fundamentals of the food web to your tank it can auto pilot for a minute
I did this as well. I had a large heavily planted aquarium that was mature. Life for busy and I neglected the tank. I had 3 pea puffers and when I check back in a couple months I had 5+ the original 3 and 2 tiny guys. My tetras thrived as well. The water looked great thanks to my plants and my auto topoff kept the water level stable
No! Feeding fish is not a scam. Believe me, some fish are just lazy sob’s. I have an aquarium full of ancistrus and they only eat spirulina and wood tablets, not feeding them is cruel af!
You also have to get alittle pond water and that's when they get natural food. I will go 1 or 2 days without feeding but that's it...they give me sad eyes 😅
One time I trimmed my planted tank I had full of white cloud minnows. I decided I wanted to grow out some of the clippings and put them in a bucket with a light and put it in the attic. Completely forgot about the bucket until I moved 4 months later. No clue how, but there was a live minnow in the bucket I must have accidentally picked up when I netted out the trimmings. Amazed he survived up there for four months just feeding off whatever was on the plants.
It's not their nature habitat. Most fish we own doesn't even exist in nature we created these fishes by artificial selection. The only reason these fish didn't die is because they are too small so they will eat the bacteria in the water if you did the same thing any big fish like gold fish or carp they will die in a year
Everyone arguing over how hard fish keeping is while I have a tub with nothing but water and fish in it with wire mesh ontop holding veggie plants above the water with their roots hanign in the water. I in turn dont use any soil or fertilizer to grow my vegies and the fish thrive to the point they overcrowd the tubs to the point most aquarium owners ask how I look after them so well. My answer, The fish doing the best are the fish in the tubs I forgot about and didnt check on for over a year
I have a 6 gallon tank with wood, lava rock. Gravel. Aqua soil. Have dwarf grass thats slowly carpeting. And anubis floaters. It has 1 betta fish. Some bladder snails. And seed shrimp. The water has brackish. So i have trouble seeing the seed shrimp. The bladder snails i occasionally see 1. The betta fish basically gets fed once a week. And its healthy and happy and have lived longer rhen my previous ones. I guess its been snacking on them tank buddies. Oh and no filter.
I had a small goldfish and a couple cory catfish in a tank. The tank and gold fish were a gift during a relationship, after it ended I was crushed and neglected my fish and tank. Sheldon the goldfish and the catfish survived without food or tank cleaning for several months. Their survival was inspiring to me, I feel/felt so bad for my neglect but they lived on
no, you are killing your fish with your kindness, I mean you can feed your fish once/twice per week but no more than that, if your tank is a planted aquarium
In conclusion. This only works if you have enough bio media in the tank already as well as hiding spots (by plants, rocks, wood) as well as organic material for smaller organisms to feed on (dead plants, wood, fish waste). Then you’ll also need small predatory fish (Dario Dario are great micro hunters). In conclusion it’s hard for this to work for just anyone. Any larger fish would starve so do not try this
Fish Journal Day 12 The flakes didn’t rain down in over a week. This is a first and even longer than the week last summer. I am not worried, just a bit concerned. Day 29 No flakes, no food. Larry ol’ governor said it’s the end of all things. We are all hungry. Things got tense. But what point is losing hope? We always get flakes, this time they will come, just later… Day 51 Henry jumped the tank. He had a panic attack, a complete meltdown and just… jumped out the tank hitting his head on the filtration pipe before dropping. We see his body now through the glass… all the way on the floor. He was a fool. But a good friend… still a fool. Day 52 Henry’s body was gone in the morning. His corpse just disappeared. He just vanished from the floor he was laying on yesterday. What is going on? Day 78 I don’t know how long I can take it anymore… everyone is hostile. No one trusts each other anymore… Simon and Jen are gone. They just disappeared. Some claim they jumped but I know something terrible has happened… Day 104 Eli died today. He went on another of his rampages and lost control. He hurt Oliver and then came at me. I put him down. I had no choice. But if I’m honest… I just wanted it to be over with. I’m tired of everything. Day 118 Sam died today. We ate him. I wish I could say I felt horrible. But he tasted better than any flakes we ever had. What has happened to us? Day 156 Liz has a last ditch idea. Before we die pitifully by killing ourselves and starvation she asked who would try to climb the filter out of the water. There is another tank on a level below us. How she knows? We don’t know. But anything is better than waiting to die. A few of us will try to jump tanks… This is it. The quintessential leap of faith… literally. This might be my last note. So adios… if you read this - Don’t trust the humans Day 157 It’s a miracle. Flakes rained down on us again. In buckets. Continuously. Food that will last us a long time. The emotions were too much. We cried, laughed, we were disappointed, relieved and most of all… alive. Day 158 We are saved. But something happened. Something I can’t believe. I must be going crazy. Liz isn’t a fish…
I see the same thing in my pond, the smallest fish (new spawn) don't actually eat the food but eat the microorganisms in the pond. I don't think this will work for bigger fish though, simply not (large) enough natural food available
I have a 250l tank. 5 inches of soil and sand substrate. LOADED with plants. I have hundreds of cloud minnows, celestial pearl danios, flame tailed guppies, different rasboras and shrimp. I never feed the tank but they keep breeding.
I can practically leave my fish tank and everything is going to be fine. People will tell you to change water or what not. I don’t change any water unless is absolutely necessary. Just add water 🤷🏻♂️. The tank in my office now has the most clear water and is really mimicking the natural. Fish are happy , shrimps are thriving 👌🏻
Disclaimer - this works because he built a thriving ecosystem with a deep substrate and lots of plants and minimal interference he has driftwood and lots of surface area for beneficial bacteria to thrive and lots of tannins. If you have a cm of gravel and 2 plants and a ceramic castle, this method isn't going to work.
I don’t feed my fish everyday as I am trying to build self sustaining ecosystem. However, it’s either my fish or amano shrimp consuming my alternathera reinickii plant. Sigh, I have to buy and replant new ones.
This is bullshit, those are scarlet badis, if they are alone in a tank they may survive in a well established tank. Their chances will be a lot slimmer if they are in a community tank. Badis need live food. Please do not starve your fish this is nonsense!
I would have to say that for tiny fish AND the aquarium he has, it could work. If you were able to have cichlids AND Plants it still wouldn't work. They would not be able to find enough food to survive
Yeah man, dont even feed my fish or change the water, at this point i just top up the evaporated water got discus and Tetras also shrimp. Used to c02, wayer changes check water it was hard and would go to crap. My tanks looked like your. But now its just over grown dont look as pretty but less stressful 😅
It depends on the type of fish and setup. This wouldn’t work with my monster predator pond for example, but I think it would work with my planted betta or pico reef
It's a question of how big, and how much of an ecosystem does your tank actually have compared to how many fish you have in the tank. I built an ecosystem in my tank so I can regularly go a week or two without feeding my fish and it's not a problem.It's a small ecosystem, So I can only go a short while without feeding them. Because I also don't want them to kill all the microphone.And me to have to start over. But with a good ecosystem, you can typically go on vacation for a week or two and there's no issue for your fish.
Man thats not fair, you have a whole perfectly balanced ecosystem in ur tank, and thats not the reality for most aquariums. In most cases the fish won't have anything to hunt or eat and will probably start hunting eachother and die
When I fed my snapping turtles minows I wouldn't feed them fish food. The eat algae and if any 🦟 s lay eggs. Fish eat damn near everything. Probably healthier than those food coloring fish flakes too.
I wouldn't recommend to NOT feed your fish but it's also true a lot of people feed too much which impacts water quality and might also help parasites/pests to proliferate
If you have big enough tank and your eco system is not sterilizate. Nano fish can easily sustain themselves. Please don't try this with fisb bigger than 3"
You didn’t mention how you dosed nutrients to feed the plants and several steps later this feeds the fish. Or used an active substrate with lots of nitrogen for the plants to uptake.
Bought fish from a local breeder that regularly feeds his fish live foods. Meanwhile, i don't have access to live foods (i did try to culture but always failed) my fish are dying with dropsy one by one. I suspect liver failure because they couldn't handle fish food when they've been feeding on live foods from birth untill a random man who can't culture live foods bought them.
This is the most inspiring video I have watched in so long. Every year with my family we go out to Scotland and visit a fairly unassuming and quaint town, however it hides a place behind it with the most beautiful gorge, full of cascading waterfalls and inside of a temperate rainforest where moss covers the rock faces and trees grow in the most unlikely places. It is unlike anything I've ever seen and we feel so lucky to have discovered it. Your videos remind me of this feeling that I had when I visited that place for the first time, that when you explore somewhere new, you never know what stories and places lie beneath what most people see it as, and it makes me so inspired to show more people that nature is worth fighting for.
The key is to have a thriving and balanced tank, and in order to have them you have to feed the tank for months before you achieve an equilibrium. I once left my pond for months and came back to find all my fish (N. brichardi, J. dickfeldi, A. thomassi) have babies. They survived on algae, pots of lotus planted on dirt, and everything that lived on them.
