This Advice Has Helped More Than Any Other Since I Started Fishkeeping. From Experts to Beginners
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 มิ.ย. 2024
- The way to aquire new knowledge in an internet based world, where the truth and the facts are not always so clear. Beware The Dunning Kruger Effect. The Problem that gets more likely to happen the Longer you are working on learning something ... until it occurs. Cheers!
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Almost done watching, but I wanna pause to say, you are SO right! I had a much higher level of anxiety when I started fishkeeping 5 years ago. I was listening to people who gave the "industry" advice. I no longer run right away to a chemical solution for fixing my problem. There are so many natural fixes, and sometimes stuff like chemicals will work, but I have planted tanks, so I rely on natural remedies first. When I first started fishkeeping, all the videos I watched had me in a panic mode every time I saw something wrong. Now it's so chill and I can enjoy it now that I know more. You and Father Fish changed everything for me. Both of you are like a perfect balance of ideas, because you are different but the information was key for me finding the sweet spot.
I've got a 30-gallon planted tank I set up about a month ago.
No fauna yet.
Any advice?
I'm honored. And like to think father fish and I balance one another out when one of us goes "too far " lol
There is always more to learn.
Aaallllways!
I definitely find your channel as the most trustworthy source as it aligns with what I've learned as a biology degree. You've also taught me more things that actually work than any other channel.
Haha thanks. I'm trying, I'm sure I'm wrong or have bad info too, but I try and listen to the community on most things. ( I have some opinions on bettas that I'm stubborn on lol 😆 but otherwise I'm always ready to hear new evidence). Thanks for the support and kind words
@@Fishtory Ya, I like understanding the reason behind the methods in order to possible improve upon the design of it. My ultimate goal is always to be as self-sustaining and hands-off as possible with my set-ups. I'm currently trying to create a safe haven for live foods within my mini ricefish ponds and indoor aquariums. I've already created a great home for the beneficial bacteria. The best filtration I've come across has been a DIY UG filter using a wide funnel adapted to a narrow PVC pipe to create an open free flowing water flow under a mesh, under Peat moss, under small lava substrate. I'm trying to incorporate Kaolinite clay to acidify water more. I do this because when I add specific rocks that leak out iron and other essential minerals for crustaceans, it will harden to water to around 7 pH. It's a balancing act.
Thanks for sharing your wisdom 🙏
Just feeding the algorythm. :-) Great video, true words!
Yes! Thank you!
I know you’ve gone through some hard times with your health but you’re looking fresh and energetic recently. Good to see.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks. I actually found out some not great news, on that front, but I'm trying to rest when I need to. I just absolutely hate feeling drunkenly dumb at times. I quit drinking 6 years ago this month and yet here I'm, several times a day I get so tired I feel like I drank a 12 pack unless I rest a couple hours
Had some beautiful aquariums before cellphones and WiFi and bought a lot of books.
Was a hit and miss learning curve.
Didn't know a thing about shrimp.
Watched all U-tube posts so that I could learn as much as possible.
A lot of posts are totally different from each other.
I felt totally confused.
Then I found you and immediately felt that your posts really taught me a lot.
Listened your posts over and over to remember and learn.
I also feel like I have found my people!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge with all of us.
You're my man😂
Well I'm honored. I'll keep my mind open if you keep yours open as well haha
Great explanation of the Dunning Kruger effect. Once you know enough about a subject any subject you realize that you don't know everything about that subject and are willing to learn new things about that subject.
I watched loads of you tubers even reef keepers to get diverse opinions , then I found you and Lucas and went natural no regrets
Well I'm glad it's working for you! In honored to be a sliver of that journey haha. Have s great weekend my friend
Your spiel about bettas really hits the nail on the head. Very well said.
Love your content. The term "confirmation bias" doesn't refer to trusting information from a previously useful source. Confirmation bias means that you look for information that confirms your current beliefs rather than searching for information that would disprove your current beliefs.
NOTE TO VIEWERS: I WAS WRONG IN MY DEFINITION ON CONFIRMATION BIAS AND YOU SHOULD LOOK IT UP YOURSELVES FOR THE EXACT MEANING.
Frank You are correct :) THANK YOU FOR THE CORRECTION!
I rarely comment on youtube but i was watching this on my tv and pulled up the video on my phone while watching just to comment.
I think what you covered in this video is incredibly important. It's your videos like this one that I find so refreshing, where you cover topics that may be slightly disconnected from the fish hobby itself (such as the springtail video), and yet are so important to understanding the ecology of our tanks and improving ourselves as hobbyists. These are topics that are rarely touched on, if at all, by the rest of "fishtube", and it is what, to me, separates your channel from all the rest.
The effort you put into this channel is incredible, and truly appreciated. I really hope you have more luck with TH-cam's mysterious algorithm in the coming weeks.
❤ Emm
Haha thank you so kindly. I truly appreciate your support and viewership
Nice Refresher course on questioning yourself and reviewing why you think something even if it's a long held belief
There is always a different way to do something. It doesn't necessarily make one better than the other, and everything is situational. The best filtration, best fish, best plant, best light will always be the one the keeper gets the most enjoyment from. Everything else is just an opinion and has no meaning. Perfection is in the eye of the beholder, and no one's vision is the same. Healthy happy fish should be everyone's goal. How we accomplish it is part of the journey. 😊
100% I hope people get that I feel that way. I explore nature tanks etc just as a way to push myself. But still keep every filtration method I know of esssentially
Excellent explanation of the evolution of learning the fish hobby.
Glad you enjoyed it
Hello. You we talking about newcomer hobbyists misconceptions, and I thought about this effect of "an idiot will never undertand he's an idiot, because he's an idiot (and smart people are always uncertain to some extent)". And couple minutes later you mentioned the Dunning-Kruger effect :)
And I remember a quote by some soviet governor who became an intelligence worker: "I thought I knew everything, but now I know I know nothing at all".
Thank you very much for dedicating your time to talk about these fundamental things.
Haha sure thing. And you nailed it!
That actually originally came from the greek philosopher, Plato.
I agree with everything you spoke about Alex!!! Always stay curious. There is always something new to learn in this hobby.
Thanks for this video, media literacy is important in all things we research
Absolutely!
Absolutely can attest to this phenomenon. I've been keeping fish in glass boxes for decades, I had a pH crash on a big tank due to water company stuff, I managed to resolve the ph issue but had no idea that at low enough ph values the nitrogen cycle can completely collapse. The tank completely crashed, I was devastated. Very nearly turned my back on the hobby that weekend. It wasn't until my wife talked me into doing something again that I came back. Now I'm doing tiny tanks with lots of plants, never enjoyed the hobby more than right now!
I've never had a noticeable nitrogen cycle crash as I've always had plants. If the cycle collapsed the plants always took care of it so I never noticed.
Also my pH runs at 6 - 6.5 and I have 0 kH so I'm always in a "ph crash" I suppose.
thank you, Alex. I'm reminded that it takes a wise person to say "I don't know."
I never know what's going on lol
@@Fishtory I saw this on the news and think some permutation of this story would make excellent content on Fishstory -your take & wisdom, perhaps beyond invasive goldfish and with regard to other exotic invasive species (crayfish, mystery snails, etc...th-cam.com/video/-lhjJODJ77M/w-d-xo.html
I use a sponge filter with a powerhead. However, I think of the sponge more as a block to keep fish out of the powerhead than as a filter. The substrate is the filter and the power head moves water around across that filter.
Sounds lovely
Love your channel Alex! And the range of topics - excellent! The advice I got that has really impacted my life is from my microbiology teacher in college - he told me yes you have to pass this test, but honestly a lot of what is on this test will not be correct in 5-10 years due to advances in the field, so the most important thing you can learn is how to learn. And that included where you source your info. His stats may not have been accurate, but the message has been incredibly useful. Thanks for the great examples in this video.
He is 100% correct. Such great advice, thank you for restating it. I feel like if high-school students could do that one thing... our society would improve drastically
Excellent speech 🙏
Thanks for coming to my TED talk haha
Thanks!
Holy smokes! Thank you kindly my friend. Good to see you. I hope you have a great week!
Don't worry Alex, you're our leader and we know we shouldn't 'believe' or 'listen' to anyone else..
😂 haha I screw up very often, I better stop admitting it lol. The handy part, is the facts and truth sound the same from any mouth that speaks them,
@@Fishtory😂 exactly haha! The best way to think is, how would it happen in nature and replicate that as much as possible with plants, fish, deep substrate and tons of micro/macro flora and fauna. Happy Thursday 😎
great sources, as a children’s school librarian for 15 years, I appreciate this reminder.. the logical fallacy is called: Confirmation Bias
Were literally wired to do it, but we are also lucky enough to have symbolic reasoning...Books pass down and build up knowledge upon knowledge left from others... this is our biggest advance as a species... be it storytelling or text...printing press, they all allow for this. Now we just need to curate. I'm sure you know all about that 😉 thanks for working with books and kids...we need that so badly
@@Fishtory my other hobby is collecting books.. it’s a sickness really 😆🤪
Huge fan Love your take on the hobby
Thanks, Alexander. It’s a real encouragement to have our ‘information biases’ challenged; genuine curiosity is something that can be beaten (literally or metaphorically) out of people at such a young age. Yet, it is foundational to the scientific method which also, paradoxically, leads to those truly serendipitous moments. The example you gave of ‘filters’ in the aquarist industry (and how it relates to the Dunning Kruger Effect) was helpful in seeing where I am sliding up and down the curve at any given time. And my fishy friends are all the better for it. Greetings from Australia
I appreciate your feedback. And cheers to the weekend Mate!
My rule is that if a media producer uses clickbaity titles or thumbnails on their video than their information will not be worth listening to, plain and simple, they are NOT reputable. Also, I need to see multiple reputable sources agree on a point before I will believe it.
I appreciate your rant, it's great, and I also appreciate how you don't gatekeep this hobby. I'm poor as shit so I can't deal with being told to buy a $600 light for my 30 gallon reef tank when I can buy a $100 one instead that works just as well and keeps my corals just as happy. I also despise it when LFS owners tell me bullshit information about species that they don't actually know anything about, which I have already researched very thoroughly so I can see their bullshit the moment that it leaves their mouths.
Thanks haha
100 dollars ? You call the poor ? I run a 10 $ LED strip for my tank and it's doing fine.. not enough light but plants are doing well
@@StoopidMonkey08 For a light that is actinic and schedulable, yes
@@falcolf dang awesome. I'm planning to get a good high intensity and high spectrum light that's all no RGB and stuff.. that's all a scam.
Since I have some high end Tissue culture plants I gotta get a good one
@@StoopidMonkey08 good luck, I had the hardest time figuring out a system that would work; I ended up with a combination of the LEDENET actinic blue light bars (a two pack, wooo) and the Nicrew SkyLED light in order to have actinic (to make my corals flouresce their pretty colours,) but had I been smart I would've just gotten the Nicrew Classic LED light which I think is only like $60 CAD and does have actinic, but the very analogue control mechanism for the Classic threw me off. I wanted a digital screen so I got the SkyLED and then endured not having actinic light for half a year until I could get the LEDENET light bars. (If you ever go salty I strongly recommend some form of actinic light for not only coral but for marine fish who flouresce like my citron clown goby but for plants in any water I have no idea, I have no experience with plants except volunteer marine hair algae and sea lettuce lol. I never kept plants twenty years ago when I had my freshwater tank.)
Just thought I'd drop by and check it out. I'm disabled and I have two deep substrate aquariums, a 20 and a 29 acrylic. My 20 high has been up and running for about six years, the 29 about three years. I have the stratification in both. The 20 is coming down soon. I have been receiving plants lately and I'm just waiting for the dryer cartridge for my FZone Co2 system. I'm going to start the new 29 with the HOB from the 20 as well as a canister filter and a sponge filter. After it's seasoned I'm going to reseal the 20 high and set it up for either Cardinal and Neon Tetras or shrimp. I'm leaning towards the Tetras. Then that it for me. I try to time my top offs such that I only have to make one trip with a five gallon bucket. Three will be my maximum. It's all I have room for and about all my back can take to maintain three at once.
Sounds perfect
I am new, and crapping myself every day hoping my tank will be ok. I have a 15gal and was going to do dirt, but the shop talked me into tabs for the plants under a sand substrate. I hope I can still achieve a father fish style aquarium over time, and I'm loving having a planted tank for the first time. I have 8 cardinal tetras, and 3 male guppies. Running a hob and a sponge filter, so far all looks happy. I've been booted from a Facebook group for suggesting father fish. Told I am promoting bad husbandry and my fish will all die! I hope they're wrong, and I can do a natural setup that is beautiful for me, but more importantly a perfect home for my fish.
If you have a new setup you will need to do water changes. Father fish method (low / no water changes) works but only for a mature tank.
Another excellent video!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great video.
Glad you enjoyed it
Great video, Alex. Even folks like me that had tanks many, many years ago then found a renewed interest gets sucked into this type of thinking. Thanks for putting this out.
Sure thing. I have to tell myself to re-examine everything, every now and again. I'm fortunate that the channel keeps me in a beginners mind to a large degree. Thank you for your support 🙏
This video sums everything up about why I love your channel!
Well I'm sure there's a bias, but I try to include anything relevant as a fact. Sometimes I'm sure I edit by skipping topics etc. I appreciate your kind words and support very much. Thank you!
You are so right Alex. It's very easy to fall into the trap of thinking you know it all when you've been doing something for a while. It's important to stay observant and to keep asking questions
I enjoy your content. You understand that maintaining a stable captive ecosystem is immensely complex and variable. A nice aquarium can be big investment of time and money and it will probably take a few years to dial in your process and understand if it works well with your lifestyle and environment. Sometimes people just get lucky and things run smoothly but a ton of people fight with their tanks until they give up. I appreciate the real information over the "5 steps to cleaner water" waste of time stuff.
Well said! I agree, there's no real short cuts, if you aren't engaged, you may get lucky, but if you want to find it a zen hobby, you need the time hands on as well as just observing
Great content man,
Being a human is challenging, hopefully!
Yes. You don't know what you don't know. 😀
Everything you said is true. It happens in every hobby or field. Not everything someone might say will relate to one person's ideas or problems either. The copying from one content creator to another is also a big issue. It is even more of an issue in my other hobbies.
Your information was great in this vid. I never stop learning from one of my fav fish keepers named Alexander. I can tell someone how to do it, but you always explain the why and link it into history somehow which tells others you know what you are speaking about and how it was done before. Thanks. Take Care and Stay Safe.
Thanks my friend. Always great to hear from you. I hope you're doing well.
This is the sad truth with the age of social media and these so called “social influencers” lol. It’s hard to find an actual true channel trying to spread knowledge rather than just hunting views.
❤
I try to keep relearning old topics to keep fresh too
Luckily, helping new aquarists, keeps me reanalyzing early thoughts and questions, but I try to avoid it feeling tedious, by looking for something new in an answer or story.
This is one of the biggest reasons I am put off by people who claim that there is only one right way to do things in this hobby, or “I’ve been doing it this way for 20 years so this is the right way”
One of the reasons I love this hobby so much is because there is always more to learn, I can’t wrap my head around the desire to do things the same way all the time.
Amen 🙏
🙏
I definitely did this with planted tanks. I freaked out about all the critters and I didn't have anyone to talk to or good sources(knowing where to look/what to search for). I got back into fishkeeping after 17 years. I not only decided to try live plants, but I also tried a lidless all in one tank. I hated that tank. When you love and want to keep fish that jump and have lost beloved fish to jumping, you want lids. I'm a good ole traditional tank with a lid and sponge filter gal. I ended up very depressed over that AIO tank. I finally felt better once I got rid of it and got a new setup.
I've always kept lidless tanks and only had 1 jump during a water change. Was a harlequin rasbora of all things.
👍❤👍
Great video 😊 DETROIT
*first bump*
Great video bro and good content!
Appreciate it!
That is suggestibility
My "loop" has kinda been to see how LRB keeps his tanks, ask "what the heck?" and sort of circle back to you to get more info in a piecemeal fashion. I'm so impressed with his practical fishkeeping ability, though he's not the best teacher of the theoretical. He says that anyone can do it, as long as they have "biologically sound water" and (essentially) find their own balance, says that it's the mulm that removes nitrates and whatnot and it's all quite confusing since I lack any theoretical framework to make that make sense. Like, how can I explain that MD had his rainbows die on him once the filter got clogged when he was away for a week, despite being in a densely planted tank, and LRB just keeps the same rainbows without any flow or filter? Latching onto something like the FF method would be convenient, but it's not the entire picture, is it? I don't get really get it (yet), but my "LRB style" no-tech (besides light) tank is teeming with life; I've only recently done a single water change in over six months, and trim some plants sometimes. TBH, my tank fills me with awe for this reason.
Yeah I do a mix of all 3 of what they do. And if I need to do a water change because all else fails..... well water change time. I too love the simple tanks. But I will be curious to see if LRB hits a wall with fungus and mulm at 3 to 5 years with truly no flow. Because I've hit snags there that just aren't issues until time does it's thing
@@Fishtory I've been thinking about this question. I think LRB when he says he doesn't do water changes, he means it's not regular maintenance, while FF more or less means "water has memory and water changes are bad and should be avoided". I think LRB wouldn't be opposed to doing a 90% water change and siphoning up mulm and fungus if he sees it to "reset it" a bit. It might be the main difference between the two.
Who is LRB?
@@giftofthewild6665 Lucas Bretz. If you search for LRB (possibly + aquarium) here on youtube he will show up. He's a fish breeder
Well...from watching videos and listening to the guy selling fish at the pet store where I live, I learned to do water changes, I learned from some uters to have planted tanks. I don't change my filter as the good bugs are in it and help the tank. Lol But I ain't putting real bugs for my fish to eat. Eck. 🙂
My filter got so filled with detritus worms from running low flow and having a mossy reptile hide in my aquarium so I changed it. Having the hide in I lost 2 fish (removed it). Changing the filters and water at the same time (the more you know😢) I lost 4 more. Now my plan is to clean (not change) my filter every week and do a 25% water change every other week. Eventually I’d just like to change 2L of water every other week and clean filters quarterly because that would be perfect for me. Do you think I can get a seasoned and stable enough aquarium to do that? The aquarium is 3 mos old.
Yes if you have 2 pads in the filter, or just use filter media bags and split the media into 2 bags, clean one at a time and then one will always be cycled. That's probably your best bet. Reptiles, turtles, frogs etc definitely cause a bit more work and usually bio load, but as long as the system scales up with the animal population, it should work fine. Good luck
honestly 3 fish youtuber I oni watch.. You, Lucas, and Pops.. 😂😂3 of u guys have diffrent style...but the point is the same.. natural.. sorry for my English..not my 1st language..
I appreciate that! I'd say you picked good channels lol
You got me to click
The solution is good water, and heavy plants all the rest is just intermediate conditions and knowledge bases.
Time as well :)
I see this constantly! Misinterpretation after misinterpretation then presented as some kind of a fact... The famous line "but I did everything right" 😅😅😅 Thanks for the stimulating video ❤❤❤
Exactly lol. Have a great week
Terrence Howard needs to watch this video.
Hahaha that ACTUALLY INSPIRED THIS EPISODE! the Dr. Tyson's response video played as I was working on editing loll
That response video was great!
Wats up alex
Hey there brotha
Took me twenty years to get there
Me too lol
Develop Critical Thinking.
Definitely not as common as it once was 😊
Was that a rope fish in he side b role around the 18:44-ish mark?
It's a rhinogobius
@@Fishtory just to make sure we are talking about the same one im talking about the one in front of the piece of wood, wriggling around
@mcmikey302 ohhh... he is some odd Pangio loach species. A miniature eel. Fully grown... turn out he had an injury to his side and was rubbing it all crazy
@@Fishtory oh okay, ive been trying to look up all the "eel" like fish lately for an all oddball tank idea. Thanks for letting me know!
My bettas are dying and I can't figure out why. Well, I can figure out why.. bacterial infections. My water parameters are all good. I do frequent water changes. The tanks are all 3 to 5 months old and I used pre-owned tanks that I got from another aquarist who was getting out of the hobby. I put some dirt on the bottom then used the sand which had previously been in the aquariums, which were highly healthy at the point of take down. I've gotten most of my bettas shipped in from Indonesia and now 5 have died with little to no symptoms. 1 had blood in their gills at t.o.d. but no ammonia spike and other fish are OK, one has tail rot that will not go away, one died within 2 days, first day clamped fins, next day dead. Temps ok, just had a battle with ick but it didn't get major. I've been using meds that i can both get in canada and that Cory suggested to be safe like ich-x. I think I need to watch your cycle restart video again.. there was white bacteria stuffs on the bottom but it's gone now.. using kanaplex but it's not working either. Starting to use every med I can get now as I don't really know what to do. Their fins keep clamping one after another and within a few days they die.
Clamp fins can mean a multitude of different things but seeing that your tanks are in their infancy, my immediate guess is water parameters. You say your water is "good" but what does good mean to you? You said you've been getting fish from Indonesia so are these feral bettas or are they capture/bred? Native/feral bettas have different requirements than the ones we would find in a fish store and specifically, PH and water hardness requirements that they are more suited to. Blood from the gills tells me that they had ammonia/nitrite (or chlorine) poisoning and I come to that theory as that's how I messed up with my first fish.
Fin rot would be another thing that "usually" points to water parameters as well.
What kind of water are you using? If tap water, have you tested the tap water to know what your baseline is? Tap water (or water from the sink) parameters can vary from region to region, town to town, well to well.
What kind of filter are you using? Sponge, hang on back? Are you cleaning them out in used aquarium water and not untreated tap water?
While you could still recover from this and keep the fish going, it would require daily water changes with treated water as I am "assuming" you ARE treating the water but you dont have the nitrifying bacteria required to sustain the aquarium(s) you have. Especially if its a new tank and you've been throwing meds in to it which "may" have killed off the little bacteria you may have had.
I would start over with your tanks without any fish. Dump some fish food in there and once the ammonia begins to turn into nitrites, get some pest snails that some how get inside our tanks by teleportation and can some how survive being nuked... and let them reproduce like mad. Those suckers can keep the cycle going on their own as long as there is food for them to eat...which there will be because youve been putting food in to start the cycle.
All that said, I am only going in on this with guesses and assumptions so I am sorry if I am recommending you to do something that you already have or already know about. All I have is my own experiences over the last 6 years of fresh water fish keeping to try and help you with.
The response you see in the comments is basically what I would say. I know it's a pain, but I'd rest ..the bettas can chill In a bowl with water changes while you do that. But something parasitic or with the water conditions is just domino effecting. It is likely 2 or 3 things working against you unfortunately. Those symptoms all point to really stressed fish and health
@GenesisDG the fish are from breeders, and they are not wild fish. The water is filtered ground water from our well. we do not add chlorine or anything that will kill bacteria so it should be bioactive water. Water from the tap has no smell, gh of 120ish, no kh, no N or ammonia. We used to get iron stains from the water but not since we got a new filter system. My tanks have a 1/2in or less of organic micorizal infused potting soil, natural freshwater river sand, recycled sand from the takedown of a friends extremely long running aquariums which i only rinsed enough to get the majority of the turds out, & used gravel which i rinsed more completely. I also add pond bugs in a small amount of tested pond water and bottom sludge, then vaccum out as much of the sludge as i can once its settled because its tested but its still a farm pond. Basically anything i could do to get the cycles to start right away. Pond water has caused some of the tanks to get hydra, but all the tanks have freshwater fairy shrimp type things, small detritus worms and copepods which are still visible in all tanks. The male with fin rot was showing symptoms as soon as he arrived, he contracted Popeye and fin rot in transit. Popeye was very evident day 1 and fin rot wasn't very far in, at first fins were just a bit dull and wrinkly like wilted petals. Now he is missing most of his caudal fin. His tank is a 3gal topfin easy clean tank with the same substrate but without potting soil. I was doing consistent water changes adding purchased bacteria starter and prime. This helped the Popeye and fin rot slow down but didn't cure it. There is a couple of plants in that tank and at first they melted a bit but once I cut the dying bits off they took off and are doing well. The lights on the topfin tanks seem to be decent. Plants are growing. There is 1 mystery snail in that tank too who is still healthy. Eventually I tried more treatments for the rot and it started getting worse and worse, I noticed hydra starting in that tank and I didn't want them to add stress to his condition so i switched him to a clean hospital tank. I've added kanaplex, ich-x, stressguard and acurel to the hospital tank and since then he hasn't gotten worse but I also haven't noticed signs of improvement.
I have a 55gal where my female bettas are. It has the same system of dirt, natural sand, reused sand and gravel, but also has the tanks original 110gal aquaclear filter with flow turned down, with used/seeded sponge and biofilter cylinders which should also have helped with starting the cycle quickly and i have added carbon since the problems started. It has 2 large pieces of natural driftwood found fully submerged in an area with healthy and growing wild fry. There are multiple kinds of small tetras, a few young bristlenose (under 4inches), an adult bristlenose, ghost shrimp, neocaradina, and 1 rainbow shark in there too. I noticed ick developing on the tetras, I turned the temp up, added ich-x and stressguard, removed the bettas (who weren't showing symptoms of ich) to a container with fresh ground water, added purchased bacteria, sponge filter, no plants and limited food, golden female dumbo, most expensive fish I had, had been sitting on the bottom more than the others since she arrived, but had been improving, but was dead the next day with blood in her gills. All others were fine. Treatment for ick went well, put females back in the community tank, everyone was lively and intensely coloring up. Ich gone so set temp back to normal 24c. Next day clamped fins, one resting at the top on a leaf, put her in hospital immediately, dead next morning no other symptoms. Other healthy male in own tank also had clamped fins and lethargy suddenly, same tank parameters but with sponge filter and no ich or meds, also dead next day with no symptoms, no blood. Today another female is resting on a leaf at the top and I'm preparing for her to go to, she was fine yesterday.
@@candyfairy3974 at work, will respond soon.
@@candyfairy3974 I am going to go from the top of your comment on down and answer as best I can. I cannot comment on utilizing any types of potting soils or soils taken from river banks etc like described in FatherFishes videos and what he practices. I do not know enough about it nor have an open/available tank to practice with.. that a fish is not currently utilizing.
--Water: You said your water has no Kh which is not a good thing. Kh acts as a stabilizer for your PH and stops wild swings or crashing. Ammonia can be MORE or LESS harmful (its still bad for fish, who are we kidding on this one) if your PH is 3, 7, 9 or higher. I am going to assume your water has a Ph of 7 seeing that you said its filtered. You went on to say you have zero Nitrates which is also wildly concerning as zero nitrates means I have crashed my cycle with my tanks. A cycled/seasoned tank will almost always have 1-5ppm Nitrates unless the tanks are very well stocked with plants. This adds towards my *assumption* that your water quality is not as good as it needs to be.
-While bacteria does indeed grow and colonize on nearly everything inside of an aquarium, the majority of those colonies reside in the filter. Taking these materials out of their submerged environment immediately starts their "countdown" to death. In most situations, this is not an issue as these things are transferred within seconds from one tank to another (usually) or placed inside another container for transport with the same water from the donor aquarium. My faith in transferred material drops the longer something has been out of the environment that it grew in which is why I am writing this since I do not know how long it took for it to go from one to another. Yes, transferring material from one tank to another is VERY helpful in jump starting a cycle but in many instances, it does not mean the tank is good to go. It still requires watching and testing to ensure the aquarium IS stable and REMAINS stable. I do not like doing any type of cycling with live fish.
-Utilizing wild substrate - **Opinion here** Taking stuff from a living ecosystem in the manner that is shown on Fatherfish and in some videos, Fistory, opens your tank to many negatives that you now must account for. Hydra being one of them. I am not versed enough to be able to tackle those scenarios for me to feel confident in adding it to a tank. Anyone who wants to begin utilizing those methods should likely do so in a controlled environment with no living animals who could end up being affected unintentionally.
- 3g tank/fish- Alex already mentioned it but it your fish showing up in bad condition already putting you behind before you could even begin. Fin rot, Popeye together can be a stressful thing to treat. Adding Hydra.. Rough combo of things happening which should be addressed as soon as you have the time. Using all of those medications on any kind of new tank is likely to set you back to nearly the beginning of your already new cycles. I believe treating in a hospital tank is the best course of action in many scenarios. Treating the tank could nuke even the most established of aquariums if not administered correctly.
-55gal- Geeze... I am so sorry for the constant loss of fish you've been experiencing. Unfortunately, Alex is still on the money here as well. You treated for Ich but it would seem another Bacteria or Parasite has now just taken its place. With out being able to see the fish and everything else going on, its very hard to say what it could or couldn't be. Fish being at the top of a tank does sometimes mean poor oxygenation of the water but in this case, I think it means they are having a hard time moving the oxygenated water through their gills to actually be able to breathe due to their illness. This in turn causes stress which lowers their immune system and it continues to snowball. I would probably Hospital tank all the fish and bomb the 55gallon with medications which would also mean starting over with that tanks cycle. It would allow you to start back again with a tank that doesn't have nonsense coursing through it.
Or, if the remaining fish are tough enough, let it run its course. I'm sorry, I really dont have anything good to help you with here. I can only offer my opinions and experiences which doesn't amount to all that much in comparison to someone with a degree and more time in the hobby... That said, if you ever need to talk about this stuff, reach out to me and I'll absolutely respond back. I hope this doesn't put you off of the hobby after going through this.
I just started this and wanna point out how messed up it is that this video is up for 16 hours and didn't yet reach 4k people. The entirety of Google/TH-cam has degraded so far as to be almost useless. Unless I wanna buy something.
Well thank you. For some reason it only has shown the thumbnail to 12k people so it is extremely frustrating, when I have 70k+ subs and most don't even get an option to click the thumbnail. My channel is not the kind of fish content they're pushing... not enough danger or silly stunts perhaps
@@Fishtory Have you considered a water flea circus?
Not me bro. I never make any mistakes. 🤥
That's good haha
The dunning Kruger effect is mostly just a data artefact.
Well there's a lot of people saying " nuh uh! What about xyz?!" But as a general pattern of learning it's been peer reviewed, replicated and mostly consistent..
Timestamps please
I do on videos with instructions or clear chapters, but this one I didn't want people skipping around because I overlapped the same themes and subjects multiple times intentionally.
I can tolerate a lot of hyperbole, and I'm usually good at sifting fact from fiction. I don't even mind having philosophical disagreements with content creators if the information is sound. What I have a HUGE problem with is being fed a commercial when I'm just seeking info. Some of the biggest FishTubers that in the past I could rely on for decent info seem to not even want to bother making content that isn't peddling their products anymore.
Its not dissimilar to how our news is consumed today. You have to be able to read through the agenda and try to determine what is factual.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but content providers get paid not just by likes, but by comments and views. Having a literally unbelievable title for clickbait is half of it, but saying something deliberately, clearly wrong that provokes comments can be profitable. I saw a short with geese that the narrator called ducks and there were dozens of comments correcting him or calling him an idiot, but he won by creating post interest. Something that I've seen multiple times that given these clips are from "knowledgeable" fishkeepers would appear to be on purpose is calling cardinal tetras neons. Every time this occurs the comments go crazy as this is the fish equivalent of the grammar police, but I see it so often it seems to be a planned error.
It IS intentional and it was designed ( or pointed out by a Russian Programmer in the 2010s) I forget his name, but yes he called it Fishing The Fool , or some translation of that.
Something I've never understood about non-mammal hobbyists is the assertion that any amount of aggression means a cohabitation has failed, the animals cannot be kept together, split them up, and it could even be that that whole species shouldn't be cohabbed. But then, if you have two cats or two dogs and they fight, even to the point of injury, that's just how they are, we'll keep working with them, it's not a big deal.
The attitude is just completely different, and that's before people start adding a moral component to it that just gets twisted and weird.
I totally agree! Maybe we need a whole video on this topic haha 😄 thank you for the ideas that are flooding my mind now
If my dog and cats fight I immediately put training in to prevent it happening again, I dont just live with the fighting and no good mammal owner would.
The difference with dogs and cats is they are harder to rehome if there's compatibility issues. Dumping them at a shelter is not an acceptable solution for most people that get attached to their pets. With most fish you can return them to the store if there's a problem, or you can buy another tank and split the problem fish into two tanks. With animals that free roam your house like dogs and cats its much harder to separate fighting animals, crate and rotate is an option but its very labour intensive.
I opted for management and training when my dog had resource guarding issues with my cats. She's good now, there haven't been any more incidents, but crating and rotating wouldn't have been an option in my small house so they had to continue to live together (with management in place to prevent fights over food) until the training had taken effect.
@@giftofthewild6665 You'll notice I said "keep working with them" not "let them fight".
And I notice the thing you did not do after your experience is claim "dogs and cats can never be kept together", and badger people who are successfully keeping dogs and cats together peacefully to separate their animals.
Bro your content is very genuine but your videos are extremely hard to navigate. There is no intro, there is no summary, all scattered points. At least give us some timestamp. Thanks
This one was that way on purpose as it is a big stream of consciousness piece. But for most Android users most my videos the last 3 years do have chapters/sections. I do appreciate the feedback though. I just didn't want people skipping around this one hehe
The butts got here before me, I can't believe this, it's impossible
Yeah you slackin bro
So, while I do find your video is mostly correct in the intention, that is to say, you should evaluate your data and check your sources and not assume you are always right, I will object to the use of the Dunning-Kruger Effect for a couple reasons.
First: The graph you used is not from the original study. The great peak and slope is a fabrication and is not represented in the article. Indeed, the graph that is in that study show that people who knew less might place themselves higher than they should in terms of knowledge, but still below experts.
Second: The entire effect itself is disputed and may be a simple error in the calculation of statistics. I don't fully understand the math behind it, but it has to do with something called "autocorrelation". The gist as I understand it is that in the study, the researchers measured a result and a statistic, but the result is based on the statistic. Because of this, the comparison between the two is invalid as they will correlate because they are derived in part from the same source and thus appear to imply a result that isn't there.
I don't think I can add links here, so the article I read was from Blair Fix on the website "Economics from the Top Down".
I appreciate your feedback and the input, however I've read 3 or 4 fairly logical counters to the Dunning Kruger Effect, and I noticed 2 of the main arguments were sort of just trying to be contrarians or their arguments don't off any alternative or a null-hypothesis. But sort of say "it's over stated ".
But I already agree that there are flaws in it. It is not perfect and just meant to emphasize a similar path to the one I see via assisting aquarists daily for a decade.
In fact the confirmation bias bullet point in the video is actually logical fallacy, as making my point not to assume my content- or any creator's is gospel. The point came across to most people bit the devil is in the details.
I wander. If i have few aquariums and everything works for me and meets my needs do i need to watch any more videos? May be i need to quit watching youtube and only concentrate on maitaining or creating new beauty in my tanks?
Its like sports - it is healthy to play some ball games or workout, but watching in front of tv is kind of stupid and oposite of what sports are for...
I think we come to those videos and streams again and again for sence of belonging and prooving of selfrightnes.
Creators of content - live hobby every day, and consumers might be just wasting time. I feel need to do more than consume content, but having 5 aquariums and not having event to talk about them brings me back to various comunities online...
Very thoughtful insight. Do what you need to do to nurture your soul !
Its easy... if you're more into FISH and if you're ok with swampy "natural" planted tanks and not about the art and meditative aspects of real aquascaping..follow father fish or aquarium co-op,with them,you'll learn the basics and fish keeping. If you want bootleg "highish end" aquascapes and want to save money (commonly more of an American thing) follow MD. If you want real high end,ADA type show room scapes,but are a beginner with not THAT much money,follow MJ. After that, if you learned from MJ, and want even HIGHER end,after being a beginner and kind of GET IT, follow greenaqua. If you are past that..and want a competition Type aquascape, follow ADA. I discovered the GREEN MACHINE at the beginning of my aquascaping journey,then found out they are no longer a thing..i followed green aqua after that,already knowing fish keeping info. REAL AQUASCAPING is what I wanted to accomplish,and I feel like I made the right choice.
I agree with that progression 100%. I think you'll need to read more than video watch for high end aquascape content. Barr Report, 2Hr Aquarist etc.
Thanks for this. I’m not as anxious about what’s going on in my tanks now as I was years ago when I didn’t really know the truth about the biological systems in a more natural tank. I just followed the advice from those I felt were more knowledgeable. What works for some does not work for all. Deciphering all the available info in this hobby is a full time job. Thankfully we have you Alex☺☮❤😁🦐🪴
Thanks!
Whoa. Thank you kindly 🙏