Speaker:
Man, I swear these guys are looking different every day already. Today, already here in the aquarium gallery we're going to do three things.
One, I'm going to give you guys an update on the fish, see how they're all doing and we're also going to feed them because obviously, that's something we all enjoy doing. I also want to talk about some new fish that are coming and the plans to come. Let's start it with these guys, got to see them. The Tropheus tank. You, guys, remember the last video we set this 120-gallon aquarium up and added 60 Tropheus IKola to the aquarium.
It currently has one of those awkward decor backgrounds in it, which is absolutely stunning. Truly sets off this tank. Now, these guys as I mentioned in that video, we're going to go through a color and pattern metamorphosis, almost changing every day. Since we have so many, there's so many opportunities to witness this change.
I swear since I've added them these guys look like almost entirely different fish. Clearly, they're happy in this aquarium is what that says to me. With that said, I'm really excited to get them to that point, where they have that jet black body and a large sharp yellow stripe directly down the center of their bodies, which takes up probably about 70% of it. These guys look like they come straight out of the ocean, and we all know that some of the best, the most colorful fish do come from the ocean.
I'll give you saltwater people that, but boy, do we ever have some gems in the freshwater hobby as well. I got to say, these guys are one of them. Currently, these guys are just getting a small pelletized herbivore pellet. While they're not aggressive eaters just yet, they certainly are accepting the food, and that's one of the benefits to this fish is that they're not really that much of a picky eater, and at times I question myself why do these little guys have such a bad reputation?
It really doesn't come down to them, I think it truly comes down to the hobbyist not being able to provide them with proper conditions in the aquarium, but in my opinion, man, these are some of the most rewarding fish to keep, especially when feeding them. They're not being entirely aggressive right now, but when the time comes and they put on some real size, these guys are a blast to feed.
This pellet as is might be a little too hard for them to take in all at once, so I do find that some of the larger ones can do that and the rest, the pellets fall to the ground. It softens up, saturates with water, and then they start eating it as such, but having a variety of sizes indicates to me that I have a variety of sexes, as well. Which is going to be very important shortly because we need to have a female dominated aquarium.
The benefit with Tropheus a lot of the times is, there's no real difference between the sexes in terms of like the males looking better or the females don't look as good. The females do stay slightly smaller and the males will be slightly more robust, which is kind of typical in Cichlids, but they don't have a huge color difference unless the males are trying to court the females, they might be slightly more vibrant.
The only way to properly sex these guys is to turn them upside down and vent their sexual organs, and I'll teach you, guys, how to do that here shortly. What I do need to do is ensure that-- I only have maybe between three and five males in here maybe less, and dominated by females like five females to a male type of ratio or maybe even more. We'll see how things go, but right now, I absolutely love this tank. I'm so excited that this was the first tank we set up.
It's just a really fun tank to watch. These guys have such unique head shapes, the nape of their head comes down making them look almost alien like. The only thing they're missing is names, so I think we're going to have to name all 60. I'm kidding, we're not doing that. Let's move on to the 375. Every tank is my favorite tank moving forward, so if I say this is my favorite tank, it's my favorite tank because I'm standing with it.
If I'm with the Tropheus tank, it's my favorite tank because I'm standing with it. The 2,000 and so forth. I mean come on guys, this is an amazing tank. I love the scape. The moss is growing and it's looking really fluffy right now. I can't wait till it just creates an absolute jungle of moss in here. Only problem is, is these guys like me too much or they like to eat too much, so they follow me constantly around the tank.
Come on, over here. Maybe they like you guys more, but the end of the day these guys still need a lot of time to grow and color up and-- but right now the males are looking like really good. They're starting to get deeper in coloration, and they're going to get that deep red coloration in no time. The females, of course, will be a little less colorful, a little less drab, but nonetheless, they're still beautiful, and the thing with rainbows is you have to have females in the tank.
You can do an all-male rainbow fish tank, and everybody's going to get along fine, but if you want the males to display to the females and get that ridiculously rich red deep red coloration, you need the females in there for them to display to. You know guys, we need to show off for the girls a little bit. One thing I did last night though is I did remove a little bit of the sand from the tank. Maybe about 40 pounds or so, and over the next few weeks I might remove and adjust the layout of the sand slightly, because in places there was literally like three inches of fine grain sand, and over time that's going to prove a very big problem for me, for a couple of reasons.
One, this has 24 square feet of surface area, that's a lot of sand to constantly turn over, and make sure it's not trapping any detritus or fish waste or creating any anaerobic regions in the aquarium, which in turn will release nitrogen gas. I like to only have a thin layer of sand, but I'll admit I got a little exciting with the scaping and I added a little bit too much. I promised myself, less is more and I did that with the wood but went overboard with the sand.
Ultimately removing some of the sand is fine, and the fish are doing okay, but-- so it might be a little bit foggy right now, but I mean the filter underneath the bashy aquatic sump is just an absolute power horse. I got to say, I think it giggles at this tank thinking, "Is that all you got?" I feel like I've answered this question already, but one of the questions that I've gotten and there's some concerns every once in a while is, why did I only get one species? Why only one color? Why not a variety like a rainbow of rainbow fish?
Its answer is very simple. One, I prefer a species only tank a lot of the times, I find them to be far more impressive for a couple of reasons. One, it looks more uniform and I feel like it has a better feng shui feel to it. Second is, they act more natural with their own. If I had a bunch of different rainbow fish, one, I find it looks tacky. Two, they're not going to school and perform the exact same way as they are now. I'll get a different acting fish which might be interesting to some, but it's simply not to me.
While I hope many of you guys enjoy this fish, there's tons of rainbow fish out there to enjoy and discover, and if your preference is to have a bunch of different types of rainbow fish, fill your boots. I think you'll enjoy those as well. Now, we got to feed these guys. Now, I've got a dirty little secret. These guys are always hungry and one of the things that I do when I know they're really hungry is- and I don't know why I do it, but I put my hand in the tank and they all come up and they will nibble at me a little bit.
I don't know, I just like that kind of interaction with my fish. Maybe I'm a weirdo for doing it, but they just that-- It's just that really weird feeling and for little fish like this, I don't mind them associating my hands with food, but I will say that when my hands are in the tank and I'm trying to work on things, they swarm me, attacking me, thinking that I'm going to offer them food. Right now, they just get a basic all-purpose food. It's just a flake food, nothing incredible about it.
Ultimately, it's just bulk them up, put some size on them with a little bit of color enhancers in them. Eventually, I will be switching to some frozen foods and whatnot, not entirely but every once in a while they will get some frozen foods just to entice breeding activity, and get the males flashing and performing for the females, but man, these guys have a lot more growing to do. They're going to at least double in size. This is going to be an awesome tank to pay attention to.
Now, let's move on to my baby. The 2,000-gallon aquarium. Technically 2,100 gallons, but 2,000 is easier to remember for everybody. This tank is doing incredibly well, all the plants are growing. Some of the Anubias has torn off, and I still haven't replaced it or fixed it or anything like that, but ultimately, the moss is doing well. The Anubias and ferns that are placed within the light are doing well. I do notice some underneath the wood are not performing as well as they could, but they're not dying either, so that's a good sign.
The Arowana being in there now, she's doing really well. These videos are always filmed as per the moment. I don't plan the mode or rehearse them or anything like that. I just set the camera up and start rolling. I think that's the best time to do it is when you really want to film, but that said, the rays aren't out, and when I film like this, it means that it doesn't look like it usually does. However, the rays are hungry so they're behind the wood right now searching and foraging.
Sometimes a lot of uneaten food will blow back there, and they will go find it, and they will eat back there, but as soon as I feed them, they come out. Watch this. Now, these guys are just going to get a little mixture of seafood here, a little bit shrimps, some scallops, a little bit of Tilapia. Watch the Arowana, she should go after right away. It's always been a good eater, never a problem. Look, one of the rays already know.
We've got four stingrays in here, all freshwater, of course, and there's three black diamonds and a pearl. The other pearl that I just recently got is doing really well as well, and she'll be added here soon. It's got one of the rays out wait for the others to taste it in the water and they're coming. If you look in the back there you could see the pearl jumping over one of the black diamonds.
She knows there's something here, she comes. She's coming out from under the wood. I don't if you guys can see them back there. Look at them behind the wood, they know something's in here. Here comes one. Being so small, they have the ability to swim back there and stay under the wood and do whatever they want, but as they get older and larger, they're definitely going to stay out more and be out in the open more often type of thing, but the Arowana again, always a good eater. She'll eat anything which is unusual, she'll even eat pellets. She's a big glutton.
Some of the food's a little big for her mouth, but she'll chew that up. I got it for the pearl over here exploring the GoPro. She could taste it underneath, look underneath the little knob there, see what she's trying to do. She's trying to create some sort of vacuum by trying to get the little pieces of fish stuck in there. I always find this sort of thing interesting. She's the most aggressive eater in here for sure. Come on, you can get it.
There you go. See what I mean? Creates a little vacuum, a little opportunistic black diamond comes along and tries to steal her hard work. They'll come out of there all the food over here still. You can see it on the ground here, so that's only two of the rays. There's more in there. Let's go check the other side. I hope there's one coming up over the rock there. What's up? Come get it. More fish are being added to this tank as well. Here they come, they're like best buddies. Let's go.
More fish are being added to this tank here shortly. I'm just taking my time and making sure I get exactly what I want. Sometimes the fish that I'm looking for I find them but they're not big enough, or they are big enough but they don't have enough and I do want to get them all at once and- so we got to take our time with this, but now all the rays are coming out, they're eating. I know they're getting beautiful.
You found the- you ate pellets there, didn't you? Comes the pearl. Stingrays to me are by far the most fascinating freshwater fish. Some people don't like them and a lot of it has to do with people don't like what they don't understand. Some people don't like my Asian Arowana, never seen one in their life in person but don't like them type of thing, and then you know that's preference. Look at her with a mouthful of food, big glutton.
I could stare at these guys for hours though, but we can't, we got to move on. Then, of course, we got Frank over here. I know you guys love Frank. Quickly look at him. Frank doesn't have a light on his tank right now and he's a little jealous of the others but overall, he's still doing well, still being Frank, lighting will be here either next week or early the following and we'll go from there. Frank knows that there's food right above him.
There's a container up there, and that's where it is. He already ate today though, and we got to put Frank on a diet though. Look at his gut. Frank, you're becoming disgusting. Frank, for the most part, buddy, get in the camera. Camera view, cameras is out. This is what you want. It's your time to shine. Frank is a Flowerhorn. Flowerhorns are made up of a variety of Central American Cichlids or that's suspectingly what they are.
We know that they're Trimac in there and some have said Synspilum. Others have said all kinds of different fish, but bottom line is he's made up of Central American Cichlids. Below him is going to be a South American tank. Above him, or his tank, is going to be Central American I believe, and the next two we're going to talk about that in a second. This is a tank that-- We'll just talk about that in a second. African Cichlids, Malawi Cichlids, Tanganyika Cichlids, Central American, South American and we're going get to the rest here in a second, but I really want this to be a nice Central American tank and to be honest with you, Frank's going kill anything that goes in that tank with him.
In the 2,000, plenty of room for him and when the Arowana was in there, the Arowana kept him in line, but at the end of the day it's a Flowerhorn and these guys are just simply mean fish. He could do a barrel roll though so he gets to pass. Do a barrel roll, Frank. Come on, do a barrel roll, come on, come on. Everybody's watching. There you go. [laughs] On the note of what's to come, we've already got the Tanganyika Cichlid tank set up with the Tropheus.
I was going go in a pattern of bang bang bang bang all the bottom tanks. I'm doing Malawi Cichlids very soon and to give you an idea what I'm keeping and this is going to cause either some excitement or some problems. I'm doing all peacocks. Hopefully, all male peacocks or Aulonocara, I believe is how it's pronounced. For those that don't know this is one of the most beautiful Cichlids from Lake Malawi. Again, I can cause some controversy there matter of opinion. I think they're beautiful especially all males.
We'll see what happens though. I will say that they will be here late next week. I'm not sure if we'll unbox them and set them up, or I'll have to quarantine or we'll see the condition they come in, but ultimately I will probably most likely do an unboxing. I've got about 36 on the way. We'll see how many make it and we'll see which ones we get. I will say they better be labeled because I'm not going to be able to identify them very well, so I'm probably going to need you guys' help, stay tuned for that.
They are coming in at around four inches long so we're going to get a really good idea of what they're going to look like as well as their potential. With that said, this South American tank is going to be arguably one of the most nostalgic tanks in this entire gallery. I'm going to go shopping for these fish at 1 Fish 2 Fish in Dartmouth here this weekend most likely, and we'll see what happens there, but I'm excited for this tank as well.
Again, every tank is going to be my favorite. So far out of the three that are almost done, the rainbows, the 2,000 and the Lake Tanganyika, which one is your favorite? Now it's getting really exciting because of the next racking system I need to set up. You see, this system here isn't set up at all. It has no water, it's not plumbed or anything like that and I need to get moving, why? I already have the fish in quarantine for this tank here and the fish for this tank up here arrive next week as well.
I need to get to move on. This Sunday, I hope to have this setup by then. I'll show you guys how I did that. I'll probably make like an interesting video on how I do it, but I'm going to be semi planting these tanks as well and given the fish that I'm adding to them, it's going to make entirely-- It's going to make a lot of sense, but I got to wait till I get the lights in order to have the plants in there or you guys know what happens after that. Within about two weeks, both of these tanks should be up and running as well as scaped and stocked.
I'm going to call this I think the versus rack because the fish down here and the fish up here but heads in the aquatic community with hobbyists. I can't have one without having the other. I got to show love to both. Both are going to be feature tanks with individual species being the feature. However, they will have other fish within them as well, other smaller fish and community type style fish that are really going to set these tanks off.
With that said, none of these tanks even the rainbows and the 2,000. None of these tanks are finished. I can't just add all of the fish all at once. I need them to get established and then we can continue to add in some bottom dwellers and some Tetras and some of this and some of that, but it's not all at once so you got to bear with me on this. With that said, by the end of the month I want all of these completely finished.
Anyways, guys, I hope you enjoyed today's video. I'd also like to thank you for watching it. If you're not subscribed to this channel yet and you like what I'm doing, make sure you subscribe so you don't miss any of this, but before you guys go. Disco time.
