I released many schools of fish into my Giant Tropical Wetlands Vivarium and the result was stunning! Various fish of differing species, from catfish to tetras, newly occupied the waters and brought new life and vibrancy to the tank. It was an aquarium lover’s dream! But my dream tank, quickly turned into a nightmare with the discovery of an invasion by creatures that I least expected! Hope you enjoy this Season 4, Episode 7 of my Ecosystem Vivarium Series. Ant love forever!

I Unleashed NEW SCHOOLS of FISH Into My Giant Wetlands Vivarium

This is Hydroma, my giant tropical wetlands vivarium, home to a plethora of aquatic creatures and even a flying lizard ruling the land area. It’s a personal biological project of mine to study the workings of ecosystems of wild tropical wetlands, all leading up to the second phase of this project when I finally get to connect Hydroma to my other two giant rainforest vivaria to create one massive world of life within glass.

But the time has come to truly make these waters a wetland ecosystem with the addition of the most anticipated of additions—the fish. Huge schools of over 100 fish of different species were scheduled to be added to Hydroma, and the result after their introduction into the wetlands truly left me speechless.

But despite my carefully plotted plans for the creation of this new aquatic community, a crisis that I never could have predicted arose from the shadows, and by the time I noticed, it was already too late. This is the story of what happened when I added masses of schooling fish into my giant tropical wetlands vivarium and how Hydroma was changed forever, thanks to the recurring and signature chaos of Mother Nature.

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Welcome to the AC Family. Enjoy!

A school of shrimp we’ve named “The Skittles” were picking away at a dead fish that had miraculously fallen from above.

“Um, excuse me. Stop hogging! Let me in, guys! Will you please move?”

There were actually a couple of other dead fish nearby that were also claimed by the shrimp, but I was actually okay to see this, and I’ll explain why soon.

But something I was not okay with was actually happening unbeknownst to me in a place I wasn’t quite looking.

And this, AC Family, is how it all went down.

I was super excited to finally add this next batch of fish into Hydroma. The wetlands already had several algae-eater fish, but what I was really looking forward to seeing were schooling fish.

I longed to watch fish travel in tight groups through the lands like a flock of birds streaming through the skies. And I had several fish species lined up to add in, but this first batch were some of the cutest schooling fish ever—the catfish.

“What peculiar fellows,” said a yellow Skittle as it tiptoed past, picking food from the wood.

Let’s meet our new catfish now, shall we?

In these bags are small catfish belonging to the genus Corydoras. These are Panda Corydoras, Leopard Corydoras, and Peppered Corydoras. They were so eager to be released into the lush green lands below and had been waiting patiently in their bags.

I was actually curious to know if they would travel in separate schools of their own kind, if they would happily mix, or if they would simply just all scatter around to do their own thing.

Rumor has it that Corydoras catfish do travel in schools of hundreds or even thousands in the wild.

So let’s see, AC Family, shall we?

First, I released the Leopard Corydoras.

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They were at first a bit stunned at their new surroundings and just stood completely still, taking in the strange, vast world around them.

Some explored the shadows of the driftwood. Some immediately began to forage, tasting all the edible junk they could find in the sand. Others hung out in the plants.

Let’s release the Peppered Corydoras.

[Music]

The Peppered Corydoras immediately began to feed from the sand floor, performing their important job as bottom feeders and a cleanup crew. They also eat tiny insects and creatures they can manage to suck up.

I love the blue shine on them! They even worked to clean up and feed from the shadowy places I couldn’t quite see. There was plenty of junk for the fish to feed from, and they knew it.

Those whiskers are sensory barbels that help them sniff out food. The shrimp now had some help with cleaning up—or perhaps some competition.

So far, I didn’t see any mixing of species, but let’s see what happens when we release the Pandas.

The Pandas appeared to be in shock with the introduction at first and just kind of lay there, but soon woke up and began to search the lands for food.

I loved watching this Panda work meticulously through the moss in search of food.

This Panda was excited, rummaging through the grains of sand.

This Panda took a quick snooze break before moving on.

It was interesting to see that some of the Pandas somehow ended up finding each other, but some of the Corydoras seemed quite content to travel solo.

[Music]

I spotted a trio of Peppers swimming together, but what I saw next was quite sad.

Jules, a Leopard Cory, was eyeing the trio, swimming all around.

Jules was hoping to school with them. He swam up to the Peppers.

“Hey guys, mind if I join you? Uh, hello?”

Aw, how sad. The Peppers weren’t willing to mix with Jules.

Rejection can be painful.

Maybe he could be friends with the shrimp?

[Music]

Okay, guess not.

It too kept its distance.

It was amazing to admire the anatomy of the Corydoras up close. Check out that pattern! They’re so cute, right? I love their sections of iridescence, and those barbels look quite funny.

But it seemed for now, the Corydoras were okay with solo time or loose groups.

It wasn’t until Day 2 that I truly began to see some cool grouping behaviors.

The next day, I spotted a pair of Pandas that had truly paired up.

They explored the surface of the sandy floor together and joined another Panda to create a loose Panda trio.

The trio would even rest together before moving on.

And guess what? I introduced a fourth species of Corydoras known as Sterbai.

They look pretty awesome, right?

And what do you know? It seems Jules had finally made a new friend.

I watched with glee as Jules and a new Sterbai swam together through the joyful currents—two new best friends in a promising new world.

[Music]

I was happy to see the two Corys enjoying each other’s company.

The Sterbai were also quite cliquish, traveling together in loose groups of two or three.

In fact, two or three seemed to be the magic number for the Corydoras schools.

And though they didn’t travel together in larger numbers like I thought they might, it was still such a delight to see them group up into their mini trio or duo cliques.

All right! Now that our new community of Corydoras catfish were in and we learned about their schooling behaviors, now we could add in some other fish species that I knew for sure would school in large numbers and satisfy that itch I had to witness masses of fish schooling.

And AC Family, this was where things got very interesting.

Tetras.

The common name for a multitude of freshwater fish belonging to the family Characidae, to which many popular species within the aquarium hobby belong.

There were three species of Tetras I’ve been dying to see swim through these waters simply because of how awesomely trippy they look swimming in their massive schools.

You guys are about to get quite the visual treat from here on in.

It had been a week since I released the Corydoras, and it was now time to release our Tetras.

The first two species were waiting in these bags. Each bag contained a massive school of about 50 Tetras.

The fish were eager to be let out as they eyed the expansive land below.

To all your aquarium hobbyists, do you guys recognize these Tetras?

And wait until you see the third species to be added in after these.

What a trip.

The next day, I was thrilled to see this—the Rummy Nose Tetras.

See those bright cherry-red heads?

That is the color of optimal water quality and happy fish!

The Embers had befriended the Rummy Nose and were happy to swim with them.

The Cardinals were also quite happy with their new home, still preferring the back end of the wetlands—probably due to the taller vegetation.

It was amazing to see our wetland ecosystem welcoming its new community of fish.

The ecosystem reached a new level of completion now because—check out the incredible cycle of nutrients that’s happening here!

We have the fish that release waste, which provides nutrients for the plants to grow.

And wow, were the plants loving all these pooping fish!

The plants and microscopic life feeding on fish waste were offering food to smaller creatures, which were feeding bigger creatures like the Corydoras.

Microscopic algae feeding from fish waste nutrients were food for the algae eaters and snails.

Decaying matter and dead fish—like these individuals that were actually dead upon arrival at my place—were being eagerly picked apart by the Skittles and nibbled on by the Corydoras.

Super cool to watch.

The only missing link in our food chain at the moment was more predatory fish and creatures, which will be coming up in a future episode, as well as an abundance of microscopic insects and creatures needed to feed the Tetras.

I wasn’t sure if the Tetras could eat the shrimp newborns, but I’m still thinking of a way I can create a refugium for little creatures to breed safely, away from the Tetras, to eventually get dumped into Hydroma—perhaps in the sump tank below.

But that will be for a future episode.

For now, I’ll just have to feed the fish commercial fish food until I come up with an automatic Tetra feeding solution so this vivarium could be largely self-sustaining like my other vivaria.

But I didn’t mind doing this, as it was such a delight to watch them feed every day.

Now, AC Family, I bet you know what I’m about to ask next.

What should we name our different schools of fish?

Let me know your name suggestions for the Corydoras, the Rummy Nose, the Embers, and the Cardinals in the comments, and I’ll choose my favorites!

As the spiritual mists arrived to blow through Hydroma, I couldn’t help but marvel at this miraculous slice of nature we were able to create.

How awesome that similar beautiful scenes like this happen out in the wild, on a macro scale, in the various diverse aquatic systems of the world, without us ever seeing it.

But Hydroma gave us the perfect peek—and had quickly become the coolest vivarium I’ve ever created in my life.

And for hours, I sat with my heart full, enjoying the view.

[Music]

Hey… what was that?

I looked closer.

What? An ant?!

But when I realized what kind of ant it was, my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach.

Fire ants.

I could see some swimming on the surface of the water.

Wait a second…

[Music]

[Applause]

I gasped as I opened the door to the vivarium.

They were everywhere!

A swarm of fire ants was marching into Hydroma—but where were they coming from?

My heartbeat pounded loudly in my ears as I followed the trail…

Down to the floor…

Across to the other side of the Ant Room…

And quickly realized where the swarm of fire ants was coming from.

[Music]

Oh no…

[Music]

Volcania.

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[Music]