Giant Amazon sword plant forest - Echinodorus and Ancistrus in nature

[@ilikegaia]

The amount of productivity and all the air bubbles coming from the plants is incredible

[@belowwater]

yes, this is quite amazing to see, and constantly wipe the fine bubbles off the dome port!

[@travisdt]

it is called Pearling as aquarium hobbist...

[@rraqua1279]

Even the rivers in Amazon producing Oxygens…

[@vinodsiba4823]

@@travisdt damn no one asked

[@crispysocksss]

@@vinodsiba4823 tu madre

[@michaela-be4le]

I pray this incredible ecosystem is not harmed by man's foolish activities 😔

[@belowwater]

the region lives off tourism, but those big agri-business companies have a lot of power.

[@raclark2730]

An attempt could be made to restore and build riparian buffer zones, as has be done In some other countries. In general farmers will co operate with such things especially if other organizations put their hand up to do some of the work. Not sure if that would be the case in Brazil but it would not hurt to try and engage them over it.

[@r.guerreiro140]

​@@raclark2730we have done it already It's amazing how the riparian forests became biodiversity corridors what Indeed are restoring the wildlife to what it once was some 50 or 60 years ago Now we have jaguars preying on our soybean fields

[@michaela-be4le]

Supremely beautiful 😉👍😊

[@robdavinroy1761]

The ease by which you pronounce the scientific names of fish and plants is amazing. This could only be achieved by someone loving the aquatic world early on in life. Would love you to consider doing a biography someday of your life. Thanks so much for sharing your passion and making all these fantastic videos.

[@belowwater]

I am happy to write books about fish, I try not to get in the way of the camera as much as possible. Check out the books at Belowwater.com !

[@SevroAuBarca04]

Amazing video! I would love to see footage you’ve collected of different Acestrorhynchus species. You mentioned A. Pantaneiro here, have you ever encountered any of the smaller species? Isalineae, or Nasutus. I’m a huge nerd on Acestrorhynchus, after owning some Pantaneiro they’ve become my favorite fish

[@belowwater]

Seen them, not sure what species they are and what we have on film. It is a bit tricky to identify them from some moments on video in places where several species occur together. There are some nice pictures of them in the Xingu book.

[@majsterblutengeld5613]

Nicely done, sir!

[@NordicMoor]

Thank you for this video! I find it so exciting and important to see such habitat vids. Especially for biotope aquarium keeping, of course. It's always nice when you can see what the natural environment looks like in reality.

[@belowwater]

Thank you.

[@jeffkane4391]

That is definitely a beautiful spring ! Thanks for sharing 😊

[@belowwater]

Thanks for visiting

[@StephenP2003]

Hello, Jeff from the past. I'm binging this channel at 4am.

[@australianbiotopes4563]

Beautiful! Thank you for sharing 🙂

[@robertforrest7956]

Totally Awesome!! I love this. 👍🏻😎

[@belowwater]

Thank you

[@andycarter4581]

Beautiful, depressing what we are doing to our planet though

[@yungstahotmail]

Dont worry the planet will fight back

[@orionm4268]

It isnt humans alone, you know nature, including plants migrate to new regions. In other words, there will be major death and what was once a beutiful site is nothing like it was before, and new life forms else where making new beutiful scenery.

[@andycarter4581]

It's states in the ntroduction industrial aggriculture has impacted the region.

[@pedrosampaio7349]

You aren't doing this, private/industrial farming companies are doing this and the government they've paid off for decades too

[@frauleinhohenzollern]

Yeah, making farms to feed people is terrible. Why can't every single person just run their own little perfect eco friendly farm in their own little plot of land that doesn't hurt anything?! Clown.

[@mountainhobbit1971]

corn and soybeans grown to feed cows...so incredibly sad and GMO I am sure. Some of the clearest water and the nicest aquatic plants I have ever seen. Subscribed! Thanks!

[@belowwater]

not just to feed cows, a lot of this is used to produce biofuel also. And yes, a lot of the same companies that you see in Europe or North America are part of it.

[@mountainhobbit1971]

yes! thank you so much for sharing these with us...maybe these areas will get protected before they too are impacted beyond repair. @@belowwater

[@belowwater]

@@mountainhobbit1971 - they are quite well protected, but any protection is always a fine balance. Even in North America or Europe a change in government, and suddenly people are fracking in a national park... for now, it is ok, but the adjacent farmers don't earn profits from the tourists, so they have little understanding to protect the watersheds.

[@r.guerreiro140]

​​@@belowwaterthere is no use of soybean or corn to make biofuel in Brazil You are faking this just as you did at least twice on your video Soon I have time I'll post your debunking here

[@r.guerreiro140]

What you ate last week?

[@anga9495]

Gorgeous!! 🤩

[@ricardo68]

Amazing!

[@ChanceLarson]

Fantastic footage and information, thanks for sharing.

[@belowwater]

Many thanks!

[@FishmanEricRussell]

Such a lovely spot!

[@cameroonkendrick6312]

Similar things happen here in Florida

[@amx1820]

You guys deserve million subscribers, from every fishtubers to hobbyists

[@belowwater]

if we reach the 100k one day it would be a celebration !

[@jcdla64]

Beautiful, very inspiring as always.

[@TheBobRick]

Amazing. I think the monkey's are low key feeding the fish on purpose. xD

[@belowwater]

I think they are too selfish, but not sure what their contract details are.

[@aquahobby1982]

Amazing as usual .... i could n't find link of ur book though .... can u paste it here ?

[@belowwater]

you can also go to belowwater.com to find it!

[@jeffalbillar7625]

This may sound weird but watching your videos is so fun. Thank you once again for the hard work that you put in. I am very appreciative.

[@belowwater]

Thank you, great to hear that.

[@markthomas3730]

WOW..!

[@leancove9662]

Good job guys, this is a fresh water paradise. As as an aquarist I would like to visit this fresh water paradise and snorkel just as its so rare. please let me know some details on how to get here.

[@belowwater]

you have to get to the city of Bonito (Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil) and from there many tourism agencies can book the different locations. There are some spectacular caves, redwing macaw colonies, riding and hiking etc. in the region, it is also safe to bring the family.

[@pdean_photography929]

This beauty is breath taking and I only hope this will be protected for the foreseeable future.

[@belowwater]

It is, but these things are always a delicate balance.

[@COOPERSCICHILDS]

Beautiful footage thanks for sharing 👍🏿

[@belowwater]

Thanks for watching

[@themarkedman72]

that was awesome!! I dream of seeing places like that. So cool.

[@klausoxen6597]

👍😊✌

[@cory_aqua]

Love these documentaries. Great work.

[@belowwater]

Much appreciated!

[@Cgraseck]

Wow! Thanks for posting! Cheers, Chris

[@Christian60]

that is just extraordinary!!

[@vitaliyvyntu4566]

Very interesting

[@paulstingray]

So awesome!!

[@belowwater]

Thanks!!

[@roten2902]

mega schön ...🤩😍👍👍👍

[@donaldmcdonald156]

❤😮coolest

[@weiji1380]

it is quite a nice and accoutable material for aquascaping! super!

[@belowwater]

Thank you very much!

[@Aquafinity]

Wow, this is really insane!

[@DashDrones]

Breathtaking

[@101wormwood]

Just found channel. FW fish keeper for most of my life. Love seeing such great, calm footage of the fish that I know from the hobby. thanks

[@belowwater]

Welcome aboard!

[@abinn7717]

So beautiful to see.Thanks for showing☺

[@Sinserg]

This is breath taking! Thank you for sharing!

[@belowwater]

Thank you so much!

[@gillianmiller9710]

so sad what industrial farming has done to this beautiful ecosystem;; miles of our streams in the US flowing through similar intensive row cropping areas are today little more than channelized ditches

[@belowwater]

yes, the river 1 min. from my house has suffered this fate, there were likely salmon spawning in it once

[@ghinannafsiaqila4629]

Eat locally please 🥺

[@물멍-d8b]

Ooh... plants make so much oxygen

[@belowwater]

yes, it is crazy to see just how much oxygen is coming off the plants there

[@ariefbeatboy]

Stunning. Thanks so much for the documentary.

[@gustavoteixeirateixeiragon8122]

Eu trabalhei 20 anos com turismo, quem destrói é o próprio turismo ,não é o agricultor, nem o pecuarista, a cidade também contribui para a destruição, basta fazer uma observação no Google map e você verá que a cidade tem pequenos rios que são afluentes do Rio formoso, esses pequenos rios estão sendo contaminados a muitos anos com esgoto e lixo.

[@plyr6369]

I just wanted to point out, those consistent streams of bubbles coming from the bubbles are actually from damage! The plant trying to heal. In one of the clips, you can clearly see a bubble stream coming from a stem that was snapped right before the leaf. So not meaning a happy plant. If you look up plants pearling, that is a happy plant!

[@tktropicals4997]

Very cool

[@BravoCheesecake]

God nature is so beautiful. The beauty comes from simply existing, a delicate balance that this world has known since its existence. I hope we humans can learn to fully appreciate the world we live in.

[@drockingfish]

Very good as expected, great info, thanks for sharing!!

[@belowwater]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@dltguitar6532]

when I was fishing in Colombia I caught a Brycon Hilarii , I did not know the name of the fish until seeing this video. Thanks for that. I also caught several lima shovelnose catfish there

[@belowwater]

_B.hilarii_ is endemic to that region. Likely you caught _Brycon falcatus,_ that would be the most common species in Colombia.

[@dltguitar6532]

@@belowwater cool thanks yes

[@elzielasso]

👈🤜🤛👍💪👏

[@kingkobra18]

👌

[@とし河合]

It reminded me of the Pantanal.

[@belowwater]

these rivers are the headwaters of the Pantanal, that is where all that water goes!

[@norbertthoens3561]

Unterhaltsames Video von anderen Teil der Welt! 👍Sehr erstaunlich ist der dichte Pflanzenwuchs im Pantanal. 🤩

[@katiundpadi]

Einfach nur klasse ❤

[@belowwater]

Thank you

[@yashtapase3821]

Hello sir what is the name of this plant 3:30 I found it in my local area it smells very bad 😂

[@belowwater]

technically this is an algae (Charophyte), I think it is _Nitella mucronata_

[@yashtapase3821]

@@belowwater thanks sir 🙏 Huge ❤️ and respect from india 🇮🇳

[@Sean-ll5cm]

It's so beautiful. It's such a shame that we're destroying places like this all over the world.

[@belowwater]

yes, it's all very delicate but this year the new Brazilian government has been very active at stopping the destruction in the Amazon

[@Sean-ll5cm]

@@belowwater that's good

[@r.guerreiro140]

​​@@belowwateranother fake from you, sir The last government put the army fighting any illegal activity on Amazon Your beloved Lula stopped it and the deforestation ratio exploded since his first day on office

[@mikecampbell7421]

Very much unlike mankind to ruin paradise !!! We will never learn I fear.

[@ladyshibari8838]

Watching this and then more recent videos for example from mr. Bleher just makes me wanna cry

[@slimsqde7397]

awesome video, i can only dream of getting to snorkel something that beautiful

[@aryaprincess2479]

such an oxygenated water full of life.

[@yahya_176]

Thank you soo much for sharing such a amazing video, Because of your hardwork, I'm subscribing you. We need more videos like this, habitat of fishes. How they live in their natural way, and a little bit detail of soil plants how water is. It will be so helpful. Peace be upon you❤.

[@belowwater]

Thank you!

[@JorgePerez-bu4ph]

The fact that you published this video will probably attract more people or tourists to the area, increasing the risk to the environment

[@pm0747]

OMG 2023 720P

[@belowwater]

Yes, some time this year we will show some video from this place that was filmed in 4K, it makes a big difference in the colours, but especially the sharpness!

[@hunterhq295]

This counts as blue carbon?

[@WillsAquarist]

You're providing a real service with these videos thank you! I'm interested in the limestone bed of this location and the species found here - does that mean that the water is harder than you'd usually expect from South America?

[@belowwater]

yes, mineral clay and limestone, pH is alkaline and quite hard, lots of magnesium

[@WillsAquarist]

@@belowwater really interesting do you happen to know any gh or ppm figures? Do you think it would be fair to keep some of these species in harder water in aquariums?

[@belowwater]

@WillsAquarist yes, certainly. _H.eques_ did perfectly fine outside at 14 Celsius and pH 7.8 in my well water in Canada. Sorry I do not have the actual values, these measurements are always taken in peak dry season when we travel, so i am not sure how relevant they are. Much of the Serra de Bodoquena is karst limestone (that is why there are cave systems and cave fish).

[@mr.chaossenior6297]

What is the correct name of that beautiful Echinodorus? Echinodorus Ludwigia?

[@belowwater]

Echinodorus macrophyllus

[@brooksmiller5597]

Truly amazing footage. This vid was incredible

[@belowwater]

Thank you very much!

[@berkahjayafishingberkahjay1663]

Menarik 👍

[@longschlong5341]

Awesome content sir.

[@Desmond000007]

Hi there. Fantastic channel. Would you be interested in doing a fish species/biotope colab with Father Fish? Im with his research team. Best regards. Tommy

[@belowwater]

sure, you can write me by my website.

[@ConcealedWeapon]

It's incredible how diverse is Amazon now! Jeff Bezos must be so proud!

[@Qporradnomedisponive]

That's not in the Amazon region.

[@rozita9996]

Very beautiful video thank you 🙏🏻👍🏻❤❤❤❤

[@belowwater]

Thanks for visiting

[@steffanjansenvanvuuren3257]

you "lucky fish" ...

[@jpemydura4860]

Incredible !

[@danielfletcher7796]

Love watching your videos and your interactions with the public always crack me up. I always seem to attract them aswell 😅

[@belowwater]

can't win on stuff like this.

[@andrewsager7928]

Beautiful video, even through a Fred Flintstone camera case. ;) 👍

[@belowwater]

thank you!

[@willparsons32]

I'm not the type that tries to reference plant species by their Latin or scientific names however, as I continually toy with the idea of selling my own from my privately propogated collection, I find that I'm being somewhat forced to become more familiar with the proper identifiable names. Anyways, thanks for the informative video. It's always a pleasure watching what we keep in our aquariums swim or grow in their natural habitat.

[@belowwater]

yes, it is quite tricky, in nature plants look very different because of the varied light conditions, but also because many grow emerse most of the year, and when we visit in dry season they look totally different as emerse marginal vegetation.

[@viktormoraes9876]

Just a little correction: in the descripton is writted "Rio Sucurin". It does not have the "N" at the end, is just "Rio Sucuri".

[@belowwater]

yes, maybe autocorrect added it - not sure why there is an N - to those not from Brazil "Sucuri" means "Anaconda"

[@footagemissing]

Incredible video, thank you.

[@belowwater]

Thank you!

[@ThilosAquaristik]

@belowwater which plants are in this habitat to begin from the video, 0 - 30 seconds? thx for this video i like

[@belowwater]

_Echinodorus macrophyllus_

[@berndscheppke-mc7xb]

Hammer Dicker

[@jochensommer308]

Over the Top!

[@TMKAquarist]

Amazing footage Oliver! ❤

[@belowwater]

Thank you very much!

[@JohnDBloch]

You got my sub, This video was in my recommended!

[@belowwater]

thank you

[@michael_k7356]

You mentioned that the spring emerges from limestone. Does that show in water parameters, i.e. alkaline water?

[@belowwater]

yes, most of these headwaters are harder, alkaline, and cool, snorkeling does require a wetsuit.

[@OpinionatedChicken59]

I love how every video I watch about the environment makes me depressed, might as well just knock it all down now and get it over with there's not a damn thing I can do about it and I'm tired of being made to feel guilty over it.

[@belowwater]

much of the nature around the Pantanal and this region with the headwaters is well protected and pristine. It's not all bad, but there is no place on the planet that is not threatened, I think the key is to enjoy and not add harm. Even after 30 years snorkeling in this place was spectacular!

[@hachinguyen5473]

I hope more and more water bodies will become this magnificent. Thank you for this amazing document

[@ابوزينب-ذ3ف]

باسم الله الرحمن الرحيم ما شاء الله ❤رائع جدا

[@belowwater]

شكرًا لك!

[@Comrade_Akimov]

truly unique, considering how small this particular biotope is

[@Nmh86]

Wow!

[@Nansen1981]

You always do such excellent and knowledgeable videos, thank you.

[@belowwater]

Thank you very much - means a lot that people are watching the videos!

[@PsychoPlantLady]

Wow!

[@johnarizona3820]

Subbed & shared. Blessings!

[@belowwater]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@buwanpablo]

Amazing! Thank you for sharing this with us! :)

[@-AndrewR]

👍🏻👍🏻

[@shannarafryer3111]

I forgot these plants came from the wild at some point

[@belowwater]

Sometimes it is hard to recognize them because they look so different in nature.

[@marvinbokamp6486]

❤

[@florentincioaba7989]

Bravo from Romania Dracula land ❤🎉

[@belowwater]

Brazilian vampire bats agree! Thank you.