Have you ever seen a unicorn?
Well, one exists here in this aquarium, and a King has asked for your help to find him.
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And now onto the episode!
Word has it that a unicorn has been spotted roaming these lands, and the ever powerful
King of this great kingdom has called upon you to find it as it has the power to cure
the deathly illness that has befallen his Queen.
Many have tried to find the Unicorn, but it hides from sight with great skill, and it
takes a good eye to spot him.
This is where you all come in.
Spot this elusive Unicorn somewhere in these lands, and in return, the King will give you
a special gift.
You’ll know you’ve spotted the quote-unquote ‘unicorn’ by its long spiral horn.
So keep your eyes peeled for that spiral horn, as we enter the Meadow of the Dwarves.
The Meadow of the Dwarves is a fantastic world bustling with life, colour, and myth.
It’s my freshwater, planted community aquarium, fully stocked with 25 species of plants and
9 species of fish and aquatic creatures, whom you will all get to meet shortly, including
the Unicorn which of course your eyes might prove sharp enough to spot somewhere in the
video.
Now they say in aquascaping, your aquarium should tell a story, and so as a D&D and folklore
fan, I took that quite literally when designing these lands.
The inspiration for the Meadow of the Dwarves here came to me when looking at dwarf folklore
of several cultures.
I had found hills and meadows to be commonly chosen habitats for dwarves and halflings.
Look at Frodo, for instance, and the Shire.
Rolling hills of green.
That’s where I drew inspiration for these territories, which are filled with hills and
dips, that make for some very interesting landscape.
Now, guys take a look at these inconspicuous rounded black lava rocks here.
You’ll notice them scattered all around the territories.
These are where the dwarves live.
Within each rock lives a separate dwarf family.
You can even see some of them have entrances to welcome you in.
There are eight families of dwarves living in these territories, and ruling them all,
is the dwarf King who resides here, in this grand tree stump tower.
The dwarf King and his Queen live in the most beautiful palace, adorned with great mosses
and ferns, plants of purple, pink, and magenta.
But as mentioned, the Queen has fallen gravely ill and we need to locate that Unicorn to
save her.
So let’s move on and keep looking.
But now that I’ve introduced you to the invisible/imaginary inhabitants of these lands,
let me now show you, the visible inhabitants of the Meadow of the Dwarves.
First we have two great angels, Michael and Gabriel, my angelfish who float gracefully
above and around the meadows protecting the lands from evil spirits.
Their names are of Biblical origin, two majestic archangels.
Aren’t they pretty?
Soaring across the skies are my beautiful neon dwarf rainbowfish, which change colour
depending on lighting.
I see them as the moving rainbow that arches across the sky, a well-known symbol in Leprechaun
folklore so they fit right in to the theme.
I’m sure if we follow these dwarf rainbowfish, they will lead us to a pot of gold somewhere.
And look!
Here comes the Meadow’s resident herd of deer, grazing on the greenery as they pass
through the meadow.
These deer, aka siamese algae eaters, feed on algae that grows around the lands.
They’re super shy, though, so I always have to creep up to the glass slowly when approaching
if I expect to see them.
If they dart away, I just sit completely still, and they once again emerge to graze.
Giggling and playing gregariously through the meadow are the Sprites of the land.
These are the ever playful and cute school of celestial pearl danios.
Like colourful and rambunctious fairies, they dart all around the territories, chasing each
other around in a never ending game of tag and hide and seek.
They particularly love hanging out in and around the King’s Tower, and peek through
the back door.
And oh, look here!
The gorgeous and lusciously flowing fins of the mermaids.
These are my long-finned albino bristlenose plecos, and though odd-looking with their
skin-coloured exterior and long fins, they're quite mermaid-like in appearance and alluring
to look at.
They clean algae from the rocks and the wood.
A clowder of cats, Otocinclus catfish that is, relax together in the Meadow, often riding
the refreshing winds that blow through the hills.
If you look closely, you’ll also find ancient spirits, who are mostly invisible to the inhabitants
of the Meadow, my Australian amano shrimp who sit discreetly in the confidence of anonymity
all around the lands, watching and eating up bits of organic debris unnoticed.
The only obvious evidence of their presence in the meadow are the random exoskeletons
they shed and leave behind.
Now where is that unicorn?
Did you guys see him yet?
Well, let’s keep on moving.
As mentioned, there's a plethora of beautiful plants in this aquarium, most notably the
Monte Carlo carpet, which look like mini clovers, the dwarf hairgrass which give the meadow
that grassy feel, and the Hydrocotyle tripartita which look like shamrocks.
There are also several species of mosses growing here including Christmas moss which covers
the lava rocks of the dwarf families, java moss which adorns the Dwarf King’s Tower,
Phoenix moss which cover the main rocks, and coral moss which I’m starting to grow around
the territories.
I love the random pops of red and pink from my Ludwigia, Alternanthera, Rotala, and massive
red Amazon swords.
I also truly love the fluff of the Cabomba which resemble towering trees, and the Hygrophila
which look like epiphytic ferns from a forest.
There are plants here with gorgeous iridescent leaves like my Bucephalandra which look like
they’ve been sprinkled with fairy dust, and frosted leaves like these Pantanal.
Now check this out, guys!
The secret to maintaining and growing such a community nature aquarium, is the epic gear
I’ve outfitted to run such a biological aquatic sanctuary.
I use not one but two external filters to keep the waters clean and flowing.
A surface skimmer keeps the surface, crystal clear of water surface debris and biofilm,
so gas exchange is good.
An air stone runs 24 hrs to ensure the fish receive enough oxygen, and here you’ll see
CO2 gas, which is being injected into the water to support the plant growth.
Now check this cool thing out, guys!
The microbubbles of CO2 are taken in by the plants, and under the lights which are on
for 8 hrs a day, the plants undergo accelerated photosynthesis, procuring these shiny micro
bubbles of gaseous oxygen, that float to the surface as the plants respire, a super satisfying
process aquascapers call ‘pearling’.
I love watching when the water is most saturated with oxygen, and the pearling is at its peak,
creating the most beautiful and relaxing bubbles, which kinda resemble gentle snowflakes falling
in reverse.
It’s hypnotic and entrancing, wouldn't you say?
I also use a variety of different liquid fertilizers added daily in varying amounts, and instruments
to ensure optimal water parameters.
Alright, and that concludes our tour of the Meadow of the Dwarves, but the question is
did you find the unicorn?
What even is the unicorn, you ask?
Well, it did appear in the video already so if you still want to take a stab at spotting
it, before I reveal the answer, go back to the start of the video and give the meadow
a second look through.
Otherwise, this is where it was.
Not sure if you managed to spot it, but the unicorn appeared in two places in this video:
when looking at the mermaids, and while looking at the back door of the Tower.
The unicorn is an elephant snail, and is so good at hiding.
I only spot him a few times a month as he spends most of his time buried in the ground
sleeping, only wandering the lands at night or random times in the morning when he’s
searching for a place to sleep.
So did you manage to spot him?
If you did, good for you, but if you didn’t, don’t worry.
This game wasn’t easy, and there are days even I question if he’s still alive and
in the tank because he’d been MIA for so long.
Anyway, guys I urge all of you to keep this game fun!
Help me troll any cheaters, cleverly trying to go through the comments in search of where
and what the unicorn is.
Be creative and leave a comment about how you spotted the tusked seahorse, horned octopus,
spike shark or whatever aquatic animal you can think of, along with a random timestamp
to confuse them.
I’ll be sure to HEART my favourites!
Haha!
Thanks, guys for being good sports!
This was fun!
All the dwarves of the land rejoiced with the news that we had found the Unicorn, and
had saved their beloved Queen, whose health had been fully restored.
As promised, as a token of their utmost appreciation, the royal King of the Dwarves has sent you
a gift, a living crown, a Clithon corona snail, to wear as official Dukes and Duchesses of
the Meadow of the Dwarves, which he proclaims is now your home to escape to anytime you
like.
What an honour!
Coming to this mythical, watery garden full of beautiful creatures, plants, and fantasy,
today along with all of you guys, has been satisfying beyond words!
They say aquariums offer a healthy avenue of escapism, relieving the mind of stress,
anxiety, depression, and even helping with lowering blood pressure.
I find renewed clarity after staring at this aquarium for extended periods of time, in
very much the same way as when I’m ant-watching.
I also love that it stimulated our imagination!
I hope this episode was enjoyable and relaxing for you, as well!
Let’s come back to the Meadow sometime again in the future, shall we?
Thank you for watching, and I’ll see you all next week.
It’s ant and fish love forever!
AC Family, did you enjoy today's episode?
It’s a nice break from the ants for a bit, but we’re back with the ants next week with
more nature discovery ahead, so if you haven’t yet, do SMASH that SUBSCRIBE button and BELL
ICON now, and hit ALL so you get notified at every upload, because I think notifications
are broken again.
Also don’t forget to hit the LIKE button every single time including now.
It would really mean a lot to me, guys.
Thank you!
AC Inner Colony, I have left a hidden cookie for you here, if you would like to watch extended
play scenes of the tank and its inhabitants.
And guys, did you know that it’s anting season in the Northern Hemisphere, and you
don’t even need to leave your home to start an ant colony?!
You can catch pregnant queen ants from the safety of your own backyard, balcony, or open
window starting this month!
Be sure to visit AntsCanada.com for all your ant keeping and collecting gear shipped to
you in a special package from our ant-loving facility in the USA, so you can get the most
out of your ant keeping experience.
We ship worldwide and also offer full email support if you need our help!
We also have a helpful forum and ant colony trading marketplace on the site.
Visit AntsCanada.com today.
And now it’s time for the AC Question of the Week.
Last week, we asked:
What is snot made of?
Congratulations to Eric Morales who answered:
Snot is composed of water, epithelial cells, dead leukocytes, mucin, and inorganic salts.
Congratulations Eric, you just won a free Ultimate Ant Keeping handbook from our shop!
In this week’s AC Question of the Week we ask:
Which was your favourite creature in the Meadow of the Dwarves and why?
Leave your answer in the comments section and you could also win a free e-book handbook
from our shop!
Hope you could subscribe to the channel as we upload every Saturday at 8AM EST.
Please remember to LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, and SUBSCRIBE if you enjoyed this video, to help
us keep making more.
It’s ant love forever!