you know the interesting thing about the aquarium hobby is there's so many different
types of aquariums that you can have and so many types of animals and organisms that you can keep
within them and a lot of people identify as certain different types of hobbyists for me
i'm a fish keeper a diy fish keeper to be exact i and my focus is on the fish and my fascination
with them but i always find myself asking why why do you look the way you do why are you the way you
are why do you have that coloration and body shape and those characteristics and traits what happened
over the millions of years that made you come to that conclusion and deep down in my heart i
believe that all of my fish are superheroes they all have it sounds ridiculous saying
out loud i'm going to go with it because it's how i feel i think all of my fish have super
super powers and they're all superheroes they all have these like individual traits and
things that make them incredibly special obviously are they wouldn't be an individual species let me
explain let's start with my freshwater stingrays these guys are the masters of survival obviously
they've been around for 150 million years ago 50 million years after that which is 100
million years ago we had all of the species that we have today for the most part they've
recently discovered about 10 15 years ago other species of stingray fresh water but i want to
talk about why i believe they are masters of survival and that is their superpower
obviously over 150 million years they develop the ability to survive under a
substrate meaning that we could literally their their gills are under their bellies underneath
them and if we put them under the substrate you think they would suffocate but they've
they developed sphericals on top of their uh backs right behind their eyes that operate like little
flaps that allow them to still breathe oxygen and and push fresh water through those gills
it reminds me of uh kevin costner and water world where behind his ears he has those special gills
anyways their superpower is their masters of survival when i think about the uh
when i think about like an apex predator like the the most famous predator of all time it's
got to be like a dragon something mythical like that doesn't it well the reincarnation of the
dragon is the asian arowana we also call it the dragon fish very similar to a dragon isn't it
has very long pectoral fins almost like wings armor coated with those very large and very
thick and strong scales coating its entire body built powerfully yet slim and has the ability
to jump completely out of the water and catch its prey jumping several feet unfortunately the silver
air one in the amazon is referred to as the water monkey but i don't like that name so we're going
to talk about this guy all asian arowana and all arowana do have something on their chin though
almost like a little butterfly or a little bug like little feelers but those are technically
called barbells and what they use these for is uh skimming the surface of the water waiting
for movements or fluctuations or changes uh these guys are incredibly and highly sensitive they have
fantastic eyesight as well as a sensory system all throughout their body making them a master
predator what if i'm going to talk about something that likes to sh but if i'm going to talk about a
fish that will and can jump out of the water to get its prey we might as well talk about
the ones that can shoot them out of the air and drop into the water and that is the archer fish
coincidentally these guys are similar in body shape they also have a similar mouth they'll have
that jawbridge style that's pointed upwards just like the asian arowana which obviously indicates
they are a top feeder but unlike the asian arowana these guys have the ability because over millions
of years they've developed the specific conical system in their mouth that allows them to spit
water and knock down insects out of branches and leaves and trees into the water where they
can eat it the the only downside is if you've ever been underwater and you looked up through
it it doesn't look right if you've ever been in a pool and you and you've got your hand under
the water and you look at it your hand looks like it might be further away that is called
refraction of light the archer fish's superpowers they have the ability to not only be incredibly
accurate the reason why they are accurate is they can correct refraction of light making these guys
the masters of archery or targets and then of course i'll go ahead and i will mention
the shell dwellers we've got them in a few tanks at this point we have them over with anyways the
shell dwellers in my opinions are masters of their environment over millions of years they
could have decided to grow bigger or get bigger because obviously in in the wild the bigger
biggest and baddest are always the apex for the most part but these guys decided no we're going
to stay tiny in fact we're going to be one of the smallest cichlids on the planet for a very
specific reason we have developed the ability and the understanding to take a shell a snail shell
and turn it into our homes we don't need to grow any bigger because the shell is going to protect
us we will feed our fry in there we will breed in there we will rest in there and we will find
refuge in there furthermore we can drag this shell around wherever we want and bury it in the sand
or build up mounds to hide ourselves but don't get it confused the shell dweller has all the attitude
of a regular cichlid just in a tiny little cute thing but in my opinion that is what makes them
masters of their environment and then we want to talk about other fish i love doing this guys and
i'm sorry if this is dragging on and just get to the point no this has a point the the puffer fish
now we could say that the masters of eating snail shells and clam shells and that's what i think
they're the masters of not being eaten themselves for two reasons one they're poisonous if you eat a
puffer fish you're gonna die sorry that's just the way it works the other thing is if you do decide
to eat them and they don't want to be eaten they can puff up to be double or triple their
original size making it incredibly difficult for a predator to swallow or eat it and a lot of times
predators will only go after a fish that they specifically know that they could fit in their
mouth and when that puffer puffs up they realize oh well maybe i can eat this guy but if they do
get it down they're gonna die from that from the puffer being poisonous obviously so in my opinion
i wish i could give kevin and tyrese better titles but their superpower is simply
just the ability of not getting eaten oh you gotta see this the walrus cichlid walrus amphicantho is
the masters of camouflage you see when the art see when the walrus were born they uh
look like little dead leaves their bodies are it almost looked like dead leaves and rotten
they're very camouflaged into their environment giving them incredibly high survival rates plus
given the fact that the parents have a a highly involved raising method with them
they do really well until they get older and they start transforming into their adult form and
that's when we come into you know the waru being called the triangle cichlid because it has these
black wedges on its side what are the purpose of those black wedges or those black blotches on
their sides it has everything to do with being able to be found and identified and uh showing
that hey i'm mature uh and it has everything to do with breeding the darker the spot and the and the
more healthier and vibrant it is the healthier the fish which means it's going to attract the females
a little bit more and obviously they want to go for whoever's healthiest and biggest type of thing
so not only do they start off looking like a dead leaf but over time they transform to
use their coloration and their ability to almost metamorphosize to attract a female and that's kind
of what i did i started off little and looking like a dead little leaf and no i still look like
that okay speaking of coloration though i really want to talk about the oscar fish the oscars
and you might think they are the uh the masters of eating whatever you add to the tank no they are
not i will get to something like that the oscars are the masters of trickery why would i say these
guys are the masters of trickery well for two reasons first and foremost let's look at their
body shape isn't it shaped like an oval almost symmetrical on both sides meaning is that the head
or is that the head like is the tail the tail and the head are kind of shaped the same well let's
take a look at their name astronautus oscillatus the oscillatus part means roughly translates to
small eye spot in the back peacock bass a number of cichlids also have these but the oscar has a
false eye spot at the base of their tail now we already know that their tail fin and their
their anal and dorsal fin kind of almost look like that might be the front of their body but we put
that false eye spot on there and now it looks like that's the shape that's the front of the
fish why would the oscar do that obviously when it comes to predators they look to disable their prey
first and a lot of the times they go after the eye the oscar knows because of his special power
and being a superhero he knew that i have a higher chance of survival if they go after my tail than
if they go after my head and that is why they look the way they do they are the masters of trickery
or masters of disguise ooh that was a good movie so then we look at another fish the scat uh the
argus fish the red scat that i have scout of faggis argus i guess we can look at their name
as well to find out what their superpower was and i wish it had more to do with their beautiful
coloration their intricate spotting their body shape just the way they look and they act their
ease of care and i wish it had something to do with that but it has more so to do with their name
scatterphagus argus scadophagus roughly translates to what their diet entails scat i've said it
before they'll eat anything uh in the wild and in in nature they will of course go after crustaceans
and snails and detritus and fish waste literal fish waste and human waste because scadophagus
roughly translates to poo eater their superpower is they have the ability to eat human feces or
fish feces and not die in fact over time they've developed a taste for it anyways in today's
video we're going to be adding all of them to the brackish water aquarium however before we add them
just a couple of things first and foremost podcast is now back up and running finally it's been three
months i've got everything set back up oh we're not going to miss a beat every week will be a new
podcast for the remainder of the year and in the new year i think we're going to go to two podcasts
a week if you're not subscribed to that channel yet like it is is in the description or it'll
probably be like the pinned comment make sure you follow because i got some there's like it's
the awesome conversation if you guys like this sort of video which i'm just trying to test in
the waters with you you're gonna like the podcast with that said i just flushed the filter out and
i'm draining this tank no way i'm gonna try to catch these fish in uh 24 inches of water so when
i know i'm shutting a tank down i'm going to move all of their biological media that's currently in
the filter we built i'll put it to the brackish aquarium the water in here the salinity is 1.004
uh and all of the fish are doing fine the monos are out a lot more than the uh the scats see what
the scats do is they hide like this uh they will put on a lot more size and weight in the new tank
quarantine was successful four weeks of it and quarantine was simply to make sure there are no
parasites or anything like that we haven't lost a single fish once they got in my care or nothing i
could do about the doas but i'm going to go ahead and drain this tank and then the next shot we're
just going to add them right to it you guys have waiting around long enough and i think they're
going to do absolutely phenomenal in this aquarium for a number of reasons uh we do have more plants
added in giving it a more lush look the archers are doing fantastic i think everybody's going
to be a little more secure than this tank simply because escaped and set up and ready
and uh to be honest i'm just super excited to see what everybody's gonna look like once they're in
there so i'm gonna drain that tank get them in okay so the tank is a little bit cloudy because i
just took all of the biological media that was in the quarantine holding tank and added it to this
aquarium all of that cycled we are increasing the biological load here so i do want to increase the
biological media as well and since they've already gone through quarantine all of that is safe and
good to go downside is just clouded the tank up a little bit anyways i'm going to grab the fish now
okay first few scats and monos
oh yeah they're going to do great in here the the reason why i'm able to take them from one tank to
another is incredibly simple oh they're gonna look great in here i heat the entire building
as opposed to individual aquariums so no worry about temperature fluctuation the salinity in
this aquarium as well as the quarantine were also identical keeping in mind these are brackish water
aquariums which is uh halfway in between fresh and salt water currently the salinity is 1.004
in both so i'm able to basically take them one from one and put them in the other
with no real side effects other than a small amount of stress they are changing environment
so it will take them a little while to settle in but man this is going to look awesome
as expected though out of all these fish the monos are the most difficult to capture
but they are a much needed flash of silver in this tank which complements the black and silver
as well as the hint of red on the archer fish and then of course we have the the scats
the red scats so they're all like working together and as it wasn't necessarily planned to be that
way and having uh them all kind of be those types of colors and and kind of complement each other
it's just like these are the types of fish i want and they just happen to look really good together
i'll also mention that like uh there was like one or two of the scats that weren't doing great
in terms of eating but i think largely that had more to do with like their environment as opposed
to the the health of them the monos are already out look look the scats scattered down the scats
scattered into the plants that's the whole purpose of of the plants though offers them refuge and a
place to hide and when they look down they have a sense of comfort this tank is so unique i love it
i think we'll get 100 survival out of the remaining uh monos but as i said i think there's
a couple of scats that i'm not too uh excited about but a lot of the times when you have a fish
that's uh there's like that one guy right there is a little emaciated
um a lot of the times when that happens they could be to the point where it's too far gone
but worst case scenario sometimes adding them in with actively eating fish builds up that natural
instinct to survive and compete for food and a lot of times trying to get for example a new
stingray to eat one of the things that typically always works is put them in with other stingrays
and it will find the food and compete we're down to the last three fish here and then that'll be it
get in there one there's a mono stuck in the net oh booger good to go
yeah i think uh i think for the most part they're all going to be fine but ideally i i can't have
this many scats in this i can have that many monos but the scats i could probably only have three
to five anyways in the long term so the ones that we do grow out i'll probably most likely
donate them to the fisher i do that quite a bit so all fish are in the aquarium at this point and one
of the things that i like to do is wait 24 hours let everybody get established and then show the
tank off to you guys i could tell right away that the monos are going to like as you can see they're
out front immediately they will make they're going to be almost like a dither fish um the the scats
are out everybody's looking fantastic like look at this guy just gorgeous but yeah i've got a
scheduled podcast to do uh so maybe i'll post like a picture on instagram uh here today or tomorrow
they've actually established because i'm not sure the next time we'll get a chance to film this tank
uh but definitely got to do an update on a bunch of these guys and show you some
of the things that change but anyways if you enjoyed this video and you want to see
more like this make sure you subscribe if you're not already i'll see you guys in the next video