Awesome documentary! I really enjoy watching the fish in their natural habitat. It is amazing how clear the water is. I have just been to the Peruvian Amazon and it was impossible to see any fish, I was only able to spot some Mesonauta near the surface close to a fallen tree. I loved the Satanopercas at the end of the video as well!
it is much more tricky to find clear water in the Amazon lowland, in around Iquitos you have to go deep in the forest where small Terra Firme streams are - 10-15cm deep and with clear water, but there are very few places with deep clear water, you have to get much closer to the mountains for that.
I don't care if you use new or old footage as long as you keep showing natural habitats like these. Seeing Cichlids going about their everyday business is always great to watch, thanks!
In my opinion, Apistogrammas are the closest thing that Central & South America has to the African Cichlid. Thank You for your amazing footage, you rock man. God Bless You!
Loved seeing these wee fish in their natural habitats. I’m picking up my first pair of checkerboards this week, and every bit of information is helpful. So cool seeing them flip leaves, I have added a heap of oak leaves to the aquarium, hope they like them.
@@belowwater picking them up tomorrow, so excited to be getting them. They are fairly rare in NZ, there’s been one import recently but I think that might be it. I first saw them on your videos and thought they looked great in the wild, so you are definitely responsible for them coming to me!
@@helenchambers9357 good luck, get them a lot of space, and try not to keep them too hot, that way they live longer. I just set up an aquarium with D.warzeli (one of the other 3 Dicrossus species found in the Rio Tapajos basin).
Mine are D. maculatus. Thank you for the information, I like to learn as much as possible about new fish, preferably from people who actually know what they are talking about! When I first started keeping fish, a loooong time ago, I had Axelrods Encyclopaedia of Freshwater Fish and that was it. Now there’s easy access to so much information, which is fantastic, but also a lot of misinformation.
Thank you for this video! I've just got checkerboard cichlids and love them so much that I want to create a biotope aquarium for them. This video was really helpful and interesting.
Wow! Wonderful documentary! Planning on stocking the checkerboard cichlid soon in a large biotope style tank…very helpful so I can better mimic their natural habitat. Thank you!
Combined with you commenting on such a high level, the quality is totally fine - I don´t come here for the cinematic views. I hope this habitat still exists? Geolocation?
Oliver, do you still have copies of the book available? I don’t see any link to purchase in the description and the link on your website doesn’t seem to work.
I have wanted Checkerboard Cichlids for a long time. I finally had a chance to buy some at my local LFS and I almost passed on them because they were so skinny and ragged looking I figured they had parasites or were zombie fish too skinny to save. I have a rule against buying any sickly looking fish and these were rather expensive despite their poor condition, but for some reason I gambled on these wild checkerboards. I nursed them with live blackworms and daphnia. I did not lose a single fish of the 7 I got, which is honestly rare when I buy wild fish usually a few die for seemingly random reasons but these guys are troopers. Fat and happy they are much less picky than some other fish I own, they eat flakes like a farm raised tetra. I am hoping they breed but I have only 1 female - 6 males...
maybe, if you choose one of the smaller, less aggressive species it should work. A bit bigger size would be better. Or a 90 gallon with a 6x2' footprint.
the opening sequence? It is Moenkhausia lepidura or M.dichroura, one of several Moenkhausia that has that flag tail. They are in the open water in many habitats in South America
Does anybody have advice on how to breed dicrossus? I got them to lay eggs once but they ate the eggs. I have a group of 4 individuals and a few eques pencils. Thank you!
Hi so I have a 120L tank with blue emperor tetra and bronze Cory. I’d like to go for fish from the area/ river of the blue emperor. What fish would you recommend? The naitve Cory are a bit ugly
if you mean _Inpaichthys kerri_ , you have limited choice from Rio Arapiuana, but they are very nice - just rare and expensive. _Corydoras gracilis_ and _C.zawadskii_ come to mind. I think you can go with more general species from the Mato Grosso, like _C.gossei_ or _C.sterbai_ and they should be easier to find and not as expensive.
@@sigspearthumb9574 there really is not much, it is a bit too far upstream, even sp."Chingarno" is more a lowland Rio Madeira fish. You would likely find Aequidens in the habitat, not Apistogramma. I have been to the Aripuana but not caught Inpaichthys there, they are not near the huge waterfall that is the famous feature of the Aripuana.
@@belowwater ok. Are there apisto in the area? Even in other rivers streams etc ? I’m not being too strict on what fish I have in the tank just thought it be cool to have fish from roughly the same area
hi Carlos, email me with your location from my website (belowwater.com) I will try to get it to you. We are rebuilding the website to add a shop but it will take a bit more time.
Yes, awesome footage in some very clear water. Three of my favorite dwarf cichlids in one locality, and catching them spawning must have been either serendipitous or just good planning. Lots of useful information for us dwarf cichlid keepers, which you cannot always find in books. Just one question : how big is your dining room table, Oliver?
Thank you. The territory size depends a bit on the complexity of the territory. If a male can see other ones, the territory is bigger. If there are convenient trees etc that act as natural borders, they may use much less space. A standard would be 2m/6-7' and usually from the riverbank down to around knee deep water. After that larger fish take over the space.
@@belowwater Which just reminds us that we keep our dwarf cichlids in tanks that are way too small for them to behave naturally. Interesting in what you said about apistos territory, I was planning a project on female choice and territory quality in Apistogrammas when my department was closed down and we had to relocate to another college. There, I couldn't get the funding for the project because it wasn't considered progressive enough for the department's profile. But the genetics of coprophilic fungi was! Needless to say, I didn't go into genetics. Thank you for the information, always good to learn something.
depends on the male, the lawyers have the cocobolo executive desk size. Really i think that the territory depends on the natural boundaries, if it is between two huge fallen trees with open view it is bigger, if the surface complexity is higher than the territory is smaller.
@@belowwater thats why you use metric measures . ;). Quite a large territory for such a small fish. Low nutrients and biomass of prey has a role in it. Those S. daemon were absolutully gorgeous.
at least I don't have to give weight in stone or depths in fathoms - the dining room table DRT will be the new standard when measuring fractions of TCs (tennis courts)
Awesome documentary! I really enjoy watching the fish in their natural habitat. It is amazing how clear the water is. I have just been to the Peruvian Amazon and it was impossible to see any fish, I was only able to spot some Mesonauta near the surface close to a fallen tree. I loved the Satanopercas at the end of the video as well!
it is much more tricky to find clear water in the Amazon lowland, in around Iquitos you have to go deep in the forest where small Terra Firme streams are - 10-15cm deep and with clear water, but there are very few places with deep clear water, you have to get much closer to the mountains for that.
I don't care if you use new or old footage as long as you keep showing natural habitats like these. Seeing Cichlids going about their everyday business is always great to watch, thanks!
So enlightening!
This channel is a goldmine
Thank you!
The quality was perfect, because the behavior was clear to see. Thanks for sharing this!
thank you!
I think the quality of this video was very good!
the newer videos and cameras are just a lot nicer, but it is great that people get to see this stuff.
Very cool
In my opinion, Apistogrammas are the closest thing that Central & South America has to the African Cichlid.
Thank You for your amazing footage, you rock man.
God Bless You!
thank you!
Thanks for sharing 👍
Lovely videomaterial and very informative also.
Many thanks!
Great video! I kept getting distracted by those beautiful satanoperca.
yes, i will have a video with some more footage of them in the future.
Magnificent. Thanks for the vídeo ❤
Thank you too!
Loved seeing these wee fish in their natural habitats. I’m picking up my first pair of checkerboards this week, and every bit of information is helpful. So cool seeing them flip leaves, I have added a heap of oak leaves to the aquarium, hope they like them.
yes, they do it in the aquarium also!
@@belowwater picking them up tomorrow, so excited to be getting them. They are fairly rare in NZ, there’s been one import recently but I think that might be it. I first saw them on your videos and thought they looked great in the wild, so you are definitely responsible for them coming to me!
@@helenchambers9357 good luck, get them a lot of space, and try not to keep them too hot, that way they live longer. I just set up an aquarium with D.warzeli (one of the other 3 Dicrossus species found in the Rio Tapajos basin).
Mine are D. maculatus. Thank you for the information, I like to learn as much as possible about new fish, preferably from people who actually know what they are talking about! When I first started keeping fish, a loooong time ago, I had Axelrods Encyclopaedia of Freshwater Fish and that was it. Now there’s easy access to so much information, which is fantastic, but also a lot of misinformation.
Beste Videos, gerade für die Biotop-Aquaristik Gold wert👍👍👍
I like this dwarf pike cichlids ! Thanks for sharing
Thanks for watching
Always so interesting and educational O 👍
More inspiration for my 40 breeder. IMHO it is the best size for a planted and fun to watch community tank.
This video is super cool thanks for sharing 💯👍✌️
Thank you for this video! I've just got checkerboard cichlids and love them so much that I want to create a biotope aquarium for them. This video was really helpful and interesting.
Glad I could help!
That is fantastic
beautiful! TY!
Thank you.
Dein Kanal ist so hammer! Gruß aus Heidelberg! 💪💪
Danke!
Great video!
Superb !
Oliver your a true inspiration for Ichthyology :)
Amazing video!!
COOL FOOTAGE!!! 🤩
Love your content bro
great, thank you!
Wow! Wonderful documentary! Planning on stocking the checkerboard cichlid soon in a large biotope style tank…very helpful so I can better mimic their natural habitat. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
We need to create a fish hall of fame so we can introduce Oliver to it
Tremendous pictures of fish in their natural habitats with great Information about their behaviour and eating habits. 👌🏻
thank you. i am thinking to make the whole channel available in German.... maybe translation instead of winter holidays!
Really good job🥳
Awesome fish and Awesome Video !!
Very interesting
Thanks for being such a superb resource.
Brilliant and most helpful. Your depiction of natural environments helps us immensely in our efforts to develop natural aquariums.
thank you!
Super coool video ! and commentary rly helpful.
Great info! thanks for sharing
Combined with you commenting on such a high level, the quality is totally fine - I don´t come here for the cinematic views. I hope this habitat still exists? Geolocation?
yes, it is fine, near the army base at San Fernando do Atabapo (Venezuela), i saw it several times over 10 years, nothing changed.
Great videos, keep em coming Oli 😀
I’m so happy to discover your channel. I love your videos!
thank you!
Amazing as usual! Thank you
Frage Das Weibchen von Crenichla nur 5 Cm und das Männchen nur 7,5 Cm ? Crenichla Regani ?
I love your videos
thank you!
once again a great documentary. thank you very much for your work and expertise!
Many thanks!
I love your videos! Great job!!
Oliver, do you still have copies of the book available? I don’t see any link to purchase in the description and the link on your website doesn’t seem to work.
I do, write me directly from belowwater.com and i will send you info. We are reprogramming it for the new book so i have not updated it.
These are amazing footage, personally, I don't mind the video quality at all
thank you. the videos filmed with modern digital cameras are a lot nicer... but we are almost through all the old footage.
@@belowwater old is gold. Many rivers wouldn't be the same now
Tolong bahas tentang snakehead atau chana🙏🙏
thank...
What a dream to be able to do this
I have wanted Checkerboard Cichlids for a long time. I finally had a chance to buy some at my local LFS and I almost passed on them because they were so skinny and ragged looking I figured they had parasites or were zombie fish too skinny to save. I have a rule against buying any sickly looking fish and these were rather expensive despite their poor condition, but for some reason I gambled on these wild checkerboards. I nursed them with live blackworms and daphnia. I did not lose a single fish of the 7 I got, which is honestly rare when I buy wild fish usually a few die for seemingly random reasons but these guys are troopers. Fat and happy they are much less picky than some other fish I own, they eat flakes like a farm raised tetra. I am hoping they breed but I have only 1 female - 6 males...
that is the most common ratio, but that should be ok for breeding them also. keeps the males busy with each other.
This comment form Việt Nam 🇻🇳
awesome!!!
Do you think it's possible to keep Checkerboard and Apistogramma together in a 90 gallon aquarium with plenty of hiding spots?
maybe, if you choose one of the smaller, less aggressive species it should work. A bit bigger size would be better. Or a 90 gallon with a 6x2' footprint.
Would you happen to know what species the fish are at the beginning of the video with the black upper tail?
the opening sequence? It is Moenkhausia lepidura or M.dichroura, one of several Moenkhausia that has that flag tail. They are in the open water in many habitats in South America
Does anybody have advice on how to breed dicrossus? I got them to lay eggs once but they ate the eggs. I have a group of 4 individuals and a few eques pencils. Thank you!
you need lots of complexity to the bottom, plenty of spaces - and very soft water. Good Luck!
@@belowwater thank you so much Oliver!
Oliver, is your book still available in the U.S.?
yes write me from belowwater.com
What EU distributor do you have for the book Aamazon below water?
we are working on it!
😊👍
Hi so I have a 120L tank with blue emperor tetra and bronze Cory. I’d like to go for fish from the area/ river of the blue emperor. What fish would you recommend? The naitve Cory are a bit ugly
if you mean _Inpaichthys kerri_ , you have limited choice from Rio Arapiuana, but they are very nice - just rare and expensive. _Corydoras gracilis_ and _C.zawadskii_ come to mind. I think you can go with more general species from the Mato Grosso, like _C.gossei_ or _C.sterbai_ and they should be easier to find and not as expensive.
@@belowwater thanks. I’ve looked at tetra from the area and found some nice ones. Are there any apistogramma in the area other than chingarno ?
@@belowwater also the only Cory I saw when looking was an sp.2 which didn’t look great. But your expertise is definitely better than Google’s
@@sigspearthumb9574 there really is not much, it is a bit too far upstream, even sp."Chingarno" is more a lowland Rio Madeira fish. You would likely find Aequidens in the habitat, not Apistogramma. I have been to the Aripuana but not caught Inpaichthys there, they are not near the huge waterfall that is the famous feature of the Aripuana.
@@belowwater ok. Are there apisto in the area? Even in other rivers streams etc ? I’m not being too strict on what fish I have in the tank just thought it be cool to have fish from roughly the same area
Hello I’m interested in buying a book but I don’t found it in the page
hi Carlos, email me with your location from my website (belowwater.com) I will try to get it to you. We are rebuilding the website to add a shop but it will take a bit more time.
👍🏻👍🏻
süperr
Yes, awesome footage in some very clear water. Three of my favorite dwarf cichlids in one locality, and catching them spawning must have been either serendipitous or just good planning. Lots of useful information for us dwarf cichlid keepers, which you cannot always find in books. Just one question : how big is your dining room table, Oliver?
Thank you. The territory size depends a bit on the complexity of the territory. If a male can see other ones, the territory is bigger. If there are convenient trees etc that act as natural borders, they may use much less space. A standard would be 2m/6-7' and usually from the riverbank down to around knee deep water. After that larger fish take over the space.
@@belowwater Which just reminds us that we keep our dwarf cichlids in tanks that are way too small for them to behave naturally. Interesting in what you said about apistos territory, I was planning a project on female choice and territory quality in Apistogrammas when my department was closed down and we had to relocate to another college. There, I couldn't get the funding for the project because it wasn't considered progressive enough for the department's profile. But the genetics of coprophilic fungi was! Needless to say, I didn't go into genetics. Thank you for the information, always good to learn something.
Wait wait wait. A dining room table in a LA mansion or a dining room table in a 300sqft New York apartment?
depends on the male, the lawyers have the cocobolo executive desk size. Really i think that the territory depends on the natural boundaries, if it is between two huge fallen trees with open view it is bigger, if the surface complexity is higher than the territory is smaller.
@@belowwater thats why you use metric measures . ;). Quite a large territory for such a small fish. Low nutrients and biomass of prey has a role in it. Those S. daemon were absolutully gorgeous.
𝐩𝓻Ỗ𝓂Ø𝓈Ｍ 🌟
Ankle to knee deep and size of a dinning room table😂
at least I don't have to give weight in stone or depths in fathoms - the dining room table DRT will be the new standard when measuring fractions of TCs (tennis courts)