Life Spreads Like Fire - Jar of Life coming soon

[@FatherFish]

AWESOME!! I am so excited about your channel and your impact on the hobby. You guys are AWESOME!

[@peytonrobinson3843]

Hello father fish

[@leahnjr]

I was on the fence about ordering the bag of bugs, but now I am sold!

[@audreycooper4860]

Thank you for sharing your experience with us as well Father fish. It was because of your videos that I learned to accept the different life forms that ended up in my aquariums. Without you and others sharing your experience and insight I wouldn’t have realized how beneficial it is to let the microfauna, fish, snails, etc play their role and maintain a healthy ecosystem. All of my aquatic animals are thriving, healthy and happy! ❤

[@WiseFishKeeping]

I love this natural way of fishkeeping. I’ve only started one container that way, but the other aquariums are next

[@GustyW1nds]

I love your voice and the calming music. Your video clips of life are so soothing. This is like meditation.

[@christinaolson8579]

Habitat is the great mother! It will build resources, create rich, comfortable, abundant spaces that, in turn, make my tricksey little fish feel like they could have fry successfully there. It also cushions my mistakes. Bag o'Bugs and Bag 'o Leaves gave my 55g a huge headstart to a primarily self-sustaining system.

[@LushSaltyAquariums]

Great analogy. Photography stunning as well. TY!

[@janemarriott3389]

Whoa!!!! This is thrilling!!

[@phillipsfishworks]

Talk about backburner projects🫤🫤🫤

[@miashadows]

Those isopods look soooo cute!❤

[@StillNoPickles69]

I love that these long format videos are really chock full of information.

[@psilocyborg125]

This is exactly what I did with the bug bag I got! :) I will seed many tanks with this!

[@audreycooper4860]

Thank you for sharing your insight. I have noticed detritus worms and other microorganisms in nearly every freshwater tank I’ve setup (somehow copepods hitchhiked in my newest setup). The very 1st time I noticed a worm in my tank I was HORRIFIED I was so new that I had no clue that was “a thing” & I’ve always had a phobia of worms. With time I have learned to accept the different critters as a part of fish keeping, I’ve never had to put the microfauna in they just COME (I have heavily planted tanks so often they come hitchhiking on plants). It’s reassuring to look at it as a positive thing! They will come whether I like it or not, it’s Mother Nature ❤

[@GreatDanesCreations]

You are an amazing human keep going your content is amazing 🤩

[@Dogfish63]

Over the summer I collected water from an actual puddle of water. It was full of life! I made 3 jars and added plants and leaf litter. The jars are still going and still teaming with life! I have a microscope and look at water samples from the jars. There are all sorts of micro creatures along with the macro creatures in the jars. I collect a few scuds out of the jars and other creatures on occasion and feed them to my wild fish in my aquarium. I also bought a bag of bugs from Phillips Fish Works along with some shrimp and snails and added them to my aquarium. This will be interesting to see how their jars work out.

[@francesdumaliang6132]

That’s actually great wisdom. Experiencing a few mishaps myself, I learned that a little food goes a long way - I’ve resorted to mostly live foods now (in very small quantities). It really is a very delicate balance. Nature really knows how to manage itself well…and it’s beautiful to observe and admire. Thank you for sharing.

[@mterenzi]

I have a fishless 10 gallon tank that has been dosed with a bag of bugs, scud balls, and your cherry shrimp. I am so vigilant and love watching it. There’s so many things that I hope will eventually thrive in there.

[@MichaelClifford2020]

😮😮😮 I need to come on the channel more! I have 2 gallon UNS shallow aquarium coming Saturday that's why I just bought the bags of leaves and the pendant! I can't wait for these! Awesome video Tony!

[@miashadows]

Happy new year! Can hardly wait for the isopods, they look great!

[@johnheaton2545]

I really liked the fire analogy. I set up my first natural water garden about three years ago, using a clear two gallon plastic food container. I still have it sitting in my window sill, and even though it has crashed and rebounded nigh on a dozen times since I set it up, I am still lighting fires from it. I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that anyone who has a microscope can learn a lot from a crashed ecosystem. Failure isn't always bad, and a crisis is an opportunity. I love your water louse BTW (the aquatic isopods)... I just caught a few dozen of them from the creek behind my house last month and I'm trying to "start a few fires" with them as it were.... I would really like to see a deep dive on raising them in captivity. I've looked all over the internet and all I've found is silent video and still photography. What I'm saying here, Tony, is you have a chance to be the first in the world to instruct newbies in how to successfully raise water louse. Seriously, I want YOU to be the first! 😄

[@gregorynull5630]

Thanks for the great channel, it's all about understanding nature better, I went to a creek close to where I live, & drug my fish net along the bottom & up along the plants along the side of the creek, the mud in my net contained scuds, I have been around creeks all my life, & never noticed them,

[@johnheaton2545]

Go to your creek in the autumn after the leaves fall but before it gets too cold, and select a spot where many fallen leaves have collected. I did that last month and I hit the jackpot on scuds, water louse, bladder snails, and oh my god so many worms. Watch out for insect larvae, though. I found a few damselfly larvae that I had to remove.

[@joesneed]

My gallon jar has a few scuds and snails and a bag of bugs in it I put maybe a couple flakes every other day in it

[@RolandRees]

I really feel, as I did note the same issue on a past video, that you really do need to make a video of your sounds. Those whooshs and other variations of your sounds are definitely a deal. I look forward to them!

[@Sea-cucumber1151]

Are those pill bugs in the water? Didn’t know there were aquatic ones, pretty cool.

[@sandorrabe5745]

Okay i really like this video and i say this out of love for you who made it: fire is not a god or any other kind of entity. You stand on the earth with your feet and feel the "gravity" holding you down so you can enjoy the "scenery" without getting motion sickness, and at the same time you deny the Creator God His welldeserved praise? Come on my friend 💟🙏

[@MandyJane123700]

I started two 1 gallon tanks with the bugs I got from you, and I just transferred some of them to my 300 gallon pond. I love watching the scuds! They're like tiny shrimp. I'm thinking about setting up a 5 gallon bug and scuds tank, but I can't decide if I'd rather turn it into a paludarium. I guess it could be both!

[@jonisolis9645]

Do you have any videos on the water louse (aquatic isopods)? Will you be selling them one day?

[@TimCluckey]

I just went to a ditch yesterday got me some mud some leaves and dirt twigs got it in a jar I haven't seen nothing yet

[@phillipsfishworks]

Yes, No matter what anyone says wild samples can be hit or miss. I've collected many samples over the years and while it's uncommon for a body of water to be void of life, I have run into it before. Even in a body of water with lots of life it is possible to find areas that are much less populated especially in cold winter months. Also it's very easy to collect up way too much rotting organic material that quickly becomes a fouled mess when it's confined to a jar. Its one of those balancing act things that can take several tries before finding success. I would definitely encourage you to experiment though.. And if you get tired of that you can always check out the cultures I have on my websites. PhillipsFishWorks.com

[@rustyshackleford6092]

Are you able to ship shrimp, bag o' bugs, etc during the northern winter months?

[@phillipsfishworks]

Yes we ship.. There may be periods of time where we have to delay shipping but they do pretty well in their insulated and heatpacked box.

[@otallono]

Philip, I had cory cats where no matter what all they did was swim up and down the tank and on the surface and since I added bag of bugs the fish are behaving the way I'm pretty sure they are supposed to and cory cat never leaves the bottom now. Tetras are even always looking for food at the bottom, even though I don't see anything, the fish seem to. One thing I do see is white ramshorn snails that I know I didn't have before, they look cool. My only concern is all of the microfauna getting eaten before the culture grows, it's been a couple weeks though and still seeing that natural wild behavior from the fish. Are scuds also microscopic other than the ones you can see in the bag? While it was dark I put half in a 20g and half in a 55g, both well planted.

[@ForProfit-x100]

I just dumped pond water in my ostracod jar,let's see what happens!

[@donovanjones8838]

I was wondering if you had any reccomendations for plants that do well long term with scuds? I'm looking to make jars of microfauna, and want to have plants with the scuds, but I do worry theyll eat all the plants eventually if they overpopulate. I have hornwort and elodea, mine devour floater roots tho, and duckweed. Java fern also seems safe, but moss is not. Im looking mainly for small plants that could look nice in a pint or less jar.

[@mikecollins3793]

Where do you get the little jar light?

[@janemarriott3389]

Do you blanch your cucumbers first?

[@phillipsfishworks]

Typically I would not blanch cucumbers, pumpkin, zucchini or other squashes. Although it probably wouldn't hurt. Some would say there is benefits to it being fresh and uncooked. Cooking it does help loosen up of the fibers so it's easier to consume. Thanks

[@TheRealEvilSink]

I am so jealous of the people who get to enjoy your hard work in their aquariums, i unfortunately have to find and culture my own stuff since we reside on different continents. I found one company who culture some daphnia and other stuff like that for science, but i highly doubt they would let some lowly car mechanic buy some for his aquariums lol. Do you have any tips for where to look when spring comes? :) I plan to retry my jars, they all failed unfortunately last year. I think i overloaded them with decaying matter. I did manage to get some critters out of my aquarium and into a jar, trying to culture them now. Hopefully i can manage to do it.

[@johnheaton2545]

Select a spot with lots of leaf litter and you will get a good variety of tiny monsters. Select another spot with lots of filament algae and you will get a good variety of tiny monsters. Select yet another spot with lots of fish and/or crawdads and you will gat a good variety of tiny monsters. What I am saying here is that it is best to collect from several different spots. Different places will have a different profile of tiny monsters; a sunny spot will be better for certain creatures while a shady spot will be better for others, see?

[@TheRealEvilSink]

@@johnheaton2545 Yeah, i do. Any habitats or type of waterways you prefer over others? I have a big selection where i live. I tried a small river, a rocky river, swampy river and a blackwater lake last year. I had the most success with the rocky river which had a lot of leaves on the bottom.

[@johnheaton2545]

@@TheRealEvilSink I live about twenty paces from a muddy creek that flows through the middle of my hometown. It's full of trash and dirty as sin, but also full of life. Creeks are usually good. Ponds can be too, but not always... and be careful of water from a place that is in or downstream from a cow pasture or a hog lot. It isn't always a problem but it can be. The worst places are usually places with stagnant water. Dirty water is often okay for finding living things, but not if it is both dirty and stagnant. I get the best results at places that have a lot of visible living things (like algae or fish) or a lot of visible dead things (like leaves). Also, I find that it helps to take several different samples from the spot you are visiting. What I mean is, take some mud off the bottom, some algae off the top, some rocks from the bank, some water from the middle, some leaf litter from another spot, and so on. Different creatures live in different places, so you get more variety that way. Hope that helps, and good fortune in your search....

[@johnheaton2545]

@@TheRealEvilSink Minnow Traps! I forgot to mention minnow traps.... You can build a trap for snails, worms, scuds and stuff.... use a 2 liter soda bottle, cut the top off and invert it and re-attach with zipties or something. Put some rocks in the bottom to weigh it down, and some bait inside to attract living things. I've used cabbage, lettuce, cilantro, banana, strawberry, and cucumber to good effect. Just drop it in the water and retrieve it 1, 2, 3 days later. Works great!

[@jamezs51]

Hello. I have a unique setup that I'm looking to improve with more bio diversity i wondered if you do special orders to asia?

[@myhobbiesgalore]

In tge bags do they have daphnia?? I want my community tank to be filled with life

[@MrDavez]

no daphnia, I get cultures from sellers on ebay or amazon,, here in the states. not cheap, sadly, but can grow quick if done correctly

[@johnnybest6386]

When scuds eat all java moss leaves and only the bare stems are left could java moss come back to life or not

[@Sea-cucumber1151]

Hate hydras, but they are easily killed with panacur, or better yet goat safeguard dewormer, and it kills only the hydras. Snails, shrimp etc were all safe!