i'm oddly a little too excited for today's video but i'll explain why remember this aquarium right
here it's a 40 gallon breeder size tank it's 36 inches long 18 inches front to back and i
believe it's like around 17 inches tall i don't know it's a common 40 gallon breeder
and you guys will remember we're filtering this with a simple sponge filter yes you heard that
right you can set up a beautiful aquarium and still use some of the most basic and cheapest
methods of filtration and still have a highly successful aquarium with that said the only
thing that's really changed in this aquarium is a couple of things one the wood is finally sunk and
is staying in place for the most part two i added a bit of anubias uh these were my worst pieces
because i don't know how they're gonna do in this aquarium so some of the leaves are bit and whatnot
uh and i just added them throughout a little bit on the ground and a few throughout there
they're not glued they're just kind of stuck uh you know squeezed in between the roots and that
sort of thing and we'll see what happens over time but if what i think will happen is all this entire
area will just be covered in those anubias plants and i think it'll just look absolutely gorgeous
over time but a couple of things i did want to do is take a closer look mind you the tank's a
little cloudy and um bubbly because i just did a water change that's something i like to do
before i add fish to a brand new aquarium before i put in its cycled medium whatnot
is do a water change make sure just in case anything was in the water i want to dilute it
and start almost fresh so some of the wood as you can see has a little bit of fungus
on it that's normal for wood when you first introduce it especially hardwoods like manzanita
what's going to happen there is it looks like that just for the first few weeks and then eventually
goes away honestly the fish will eat it and it's harmless totally fine for them as well
all of the leaf litter on the floor of the tank is still there that's a good sign i think it'll
be there for far longer than the average aquarium simply because i don't think these epistles were
going to mess with it that much but they might use them to lay eggs they might lay eggs underneath
of it i think ultimately though it's going to be a fantastic aquarium especially since we're
adding in four different species now as for the fish that's their tank up there and all the way
down here is their quarantine aquarium i don't mess with these i leave them alone you can see
it they're just coated in algae now some people say you know why not clean the front glass i do
sometimes but i don't put a focus on it because it technically adds a little bit of protection for
the fish and you know a little privacy keeps them a little calm as they're acclimating to their new
captive environment the problem is is i don't know how many is in this tank sometimes i'll
only see one or two and other days like today for example and they must know it's moving day
but they are everywhere i don't want to get too close because they're going to dart out of the way
but you could barely see through the algae but maybe get you a different angle and stay
still you can see them just move it's like a sea of pistols and i don't know how many
have got left of each type or you know that sort of thing so it's going to be really exciting to
finally see them in a perfectly scaped or at least a escape tank that i really like
that's nice and clean and we can see them properly the first thing we have to do though
is make sure that this is a safe environment now there's currently a sponge filter in it
right now that sponge filter is not cycled in any way maybe a little bit because it does have
rotting wood in there and no matter what if you put wood in your aquarium it does contribute to
the bio load but the filter is not cycled just yet but if we look down here i've got two sponge
filters in here one's been soaking for months and the other one's actually been running you
can see which one's running one because of the bubbles too because look at this coating and
the coating on that yes sponge filters do have suction they do do their job but we'll be taking
one of these out most likely this one and adding it to the tank why do i have an uncycled filter
in the original aquarium to begin with so i was able to escape around it and set it up now all i
got to do is pop this one out put that one in the quarantine tank and put the cycled one in there
take this one out this one in
so simple now the aquarium is ready for fish we've got a cycled filter
in there we already have a bio load within the aquarium that's going to continuously feed the
filter until the fish develop enough waste in the water column to feed it it's by itself but uh
now the worst part comes you see most of what's in this aquarium right now is like moss and detritus
uh i don't touch it at all it's very balanced aquarium as well nitrates aren't really detectable
um however if i put a net in there it's going to cause a absolute disastrous mess so what
i'm thinking about i'm gonna have no choice to do is take a hose and uh suck out all of this
without sucking up the fish oh my lord there's way more than i thought can you guys see them all
i moved the filter once and like 10 of them are out here they're all over the place get i don't
know they're suck they're so good at camouflaging that's one of the things that i think is just
fascinating about these guys they're everywhere they're gonna have a much harder time um
being out of sight in the main aquarium now oh yeah i can't wait all right that's
exactly what i'm gonna have to do i'm gonna have to siphon out all of this on the bottom
and hope for the best plus it'll lower the water level making them easier to catch
man i'm i can't wait i'm really not looking forward this is a lot of job a lot of work i
wish i could just scoop them out okay i'll just do it now i don't want any of this in my drain
uh going down to my septic tank so here's what i'm going to do and plus this is on the floor
so um the end of the hose is going all the way outside and ends up on the ground but there's a
net catching all of this stuff now in order to get this going um i'm going to skim the surface of the
aquarium first i don't need to suck on the hose i just put this in here i showed you guys this
years ago where i see way too many people sucking on the ends of the hoses to get the water started
all you gotta do is put the siphon in there tip it upside down and go from there but it can also work
fantastic as a surface skimmer so all we'll do is constantly allow it to drain but also keep it
under water so that it's constantly siphoning and i do this if there's too much protein slick like
you ever see an oil on the top of your aquarium that's just a built up of buildup of proteins
in a saltwater aquarium they got skimmers but they don't work in uh fresh water just due to surface
tension differences between the two um so yeah suck all this stuff out at the top because this
tank is absolutely filthy but just because it's dirty to us it's literally probably my healthiest
aquarium i don't really need to do water changes on it i'll do them if i'm feeling like generous
or bored but i got a hundred other things i could do it here instead of this but pretty
straightforward now that i have the suction started though and this is a great idea for you
cleaning your aquariums but once i get the suction started and i got all the stuff going out of it
to suck the bottom off
i'll get that siphon started again and then just simply pop this off
i hold my thumb over it if it's above water surface but now yeah the suction's going so now
i can go along the aquarium and suck up all this crap oh gotta be careful fish are hiding in it
literally just sucked up this part and watch there's a fish in here i gotta be super careful
i don't know what to do like tell them hey guys maybe don't go near where the water is
oh they're coming over to it too yeah this is gonna be a nightmare
i'll have to take my time at least it's going into a net outside it's actually
quite satisfying to do this sort of thing too gotta watch because they are everywhere in here
it's tough to do this with one hand oh look see one just swam out from there too he's right there
see him that's what i was saying that's why i wasn't looking forward to this i knew this is
going to be a thing well what i'm going to do is suck up the most of it because watch if i come in
here with the net all i'm going to do is make an absolute mess but i also want to save this
so i got the net out side and a little chunk of something i thought it was a fish i'm standing
on them too so as soon as uh as soon as i notice a fish go up this tube all i gotta do is uh kink
it right where my foot is right now standing on it and uh that will stop the flow oh oh oh
all right i got this is way too nerve-wracking way more nerve-wracking than i thought it was gonna be
but uh i want to save all this stuff i'm going to wash it and filter it and i'm putting it back
in the tank because this is like the perfect quarantine tank for a little fish literally
the perfect aquarium you know there sucked up one of the balls didn't expect that to happen
i didn't expect to see sucking on balls tonight all right i got them all in this little container
it looks absolutely awesome this water is the tank water from there no need to acclimate all the
aquariums out here are from the identical water source and i heat the building not individual
tanks so temperature is also identical i like to pour them all in at once to reduce aggression
as well as to ensure they all get put in you know kind of at the same time
oh wow stunning absolutely beautiful and these guys look how well they camouflage
man just gorgeous these guys are going to do
absolutely fantastic in this aquarium
all hiding of course now we had 24 of them i finally had the opportunity to count them
uh and there's only 24 left of 40 that i originally ordered but if you guys remember
that order was also the worst shipment in my history of fish keeping right out of the bag
i believe 15 were doa so dead on arrival i had 25 left it looks like maybe one didn't make it over
the next uh you know over the following what's it been like five six months since these guys have
been in quarantine waiting for an aquarium to go into some of these guys were just absolutely tiny
let's give them a few days to kind of uh settle in and get comfortable in the tank they don't look
to be too happy right now you can hardly see them because they're camouflaging so well they're gonna
love this aquarium they're gonna absolutely love it and so am i but uh losing one out of a shipment
that was that bad it's just fantastic look at you already colored up oh my lord oh he's gorgeous
oh you beautiful thing can you guys see that look how pretty it is look at his colors just
absolutely stunning what a beautiful fish we got 24 of these guys oh man
that's one of the reds obviously this guy under here is one of the very very rare ones
very rare um so buying wholesale these guys were pennies i'm talking you know uh i don't not even
a dollar but this guy here that ugly one with no color they were 24 each no 18 each and i'm telling
you if you order wholesale neon tetras for example you might see them for 299 or 5.99 or whatever on
the list they're like two or three pennies just to give you an idea of the rarity it doesn't matter
oh man all three different species just lined up there there's four different types in here what a
friggin fantastic exciting aquarium this is gonna be i'm gonna give this a few days i'm gonna let
them settle in and then we'll have a look back and uh see how they're doing i suspect they're
going to be out all over the place just loving this aquarium so we're only about 24 hours into
the apistos being added to this aquarium and i gotta say most of them are settled in wonderfully
uh they are a little bit skittish here still um however a lot of these guys are just absolutely
gorgeous the longer you sit by the tank and not move like don't move don't move an inch uh the
more these guys will come out and in the near future i'm gonna film some more cinematic type
stuff with some of my better cameras and whatnot instead of like these vlogging type styles but oh
god look at this guy coming out of the crevices if you can even see him see that that was cool
yeah some of them are back there um but yeah they're enjoying absolutely every uh ounce of
this aquarium i was a little worried about adding so many to such a relatively small aquarium
but to be honest with you it seems as though this aquarium is more uh than big enough for them i
think i'd like to see maybe a little bit of top action but we'll see over time first and foremost
i'd love to get these guys uh grown out a bit and get them to you know breeding size and whatnot
and see what happens there but you guys got to see some of these some of these guys
are some of their coloration is just absolutely phenomenal it's just gorgeous but a lot of them
there's so many cracks and crevices and i think that's the key to an apisto tank but these guys
settling in so quickly was having the ability to just go wherever they want obviously there's some
uh still some you know some of the rot coming off of the wood but as you can see it's clearing up
really quickly it shouldn't be too much of an issue uh too much later uh longer but i can say
that the prettiest of the epistles haven't made uh their appearance yet or at least my favorites oh
back in that corner is uh behind that rock they like to say ooh you're pretty
these are some very tiny cichlids so you're going to get a tremendously beautiful fish that's active
and interesting and just super simple to take care of uh that's incredibly similar to a shell dweller
uh although shell dwellers don't really have the look uh the you know they're not as pretty
uh so if you're looking for a small cichlid or a small fish that's going to be beautiful
and entertaining uh relatively simple and easy to breed definitely start looking into apistos
there's so many of them and there's something for everyone i just wish we could see them a
little bit easier anyways guys if you guys want to see this type of thing before anybody else does
uh consider joining my uh my members section oh look at you beautiful i just love how they dart
out and display like that um yeah mind you i'm gonna have to set the camera up and just film
this continuously for over an hour at some point just so you guys can see everything that i get to
see but anyways if you want to become uh consider becoming a member you'll get to see all this stuff
first we do uh behind the scenes uh we do uh some live videos here and there
we also of course show pictures of you know sneak peeks and whatnot um anyways join if
you're interested all the links to everything that i usually talk about my book instagram
that sort of thing all in the description below i'll see you guys in the next video