How to Make a Self-Feeding Aquarium

I've been building self-feeding aquariums for years. 

I prefer to call them sustainable aquarium gardens. 

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Self-feeding is just one of many aspects leading to sustainability.

 Here is a 3 year old self-feeding aquarium garden with snails, seed shrimp, scuds, aquatic, and land plants.

 It stays beautiful without me providing any food. 

The plants and algae growing in the aquarium provide food for all the critters breeding here.

 Once every month or two, I add water to the level and dust it. 

Nature feeds and takes care of itself in this sustainable ecosystem.

 Things get more interesting in sustainable aquariums with fish. 

The sustainable aquarium with fish has to be spacious to allow enough food to grow for fish’s consumption. 

Here is an example of a 1 year old 3 liter sustainable aquarium garden with Endlers. 

There are enough plants, scuds, and seed shrimp for adult fish and their babies to feed on for about a month.

 It would take a much larger aquarium to sustain the same number of fish for a longer period of time.

 And as babies grow, the aquarium will have to grow accordingly to sustain them all.

 So...how long do you want your aquariums to be self feeding or sustainable for?

 I enjoy my aquariums and take care of all of them as often as I can, including sustainable aquariums.

 Yes, I can go on a long vacation, up to a month long without worrying about them. 

Otherwise, I feed my fish every other day or so. 

Here you can see a shelf of self feeding sustainable aquariums as I keep them next to the window away from direct sunlight.

 My subscribers may notice babies in aquariums with Endlers - yes, things go well with my Endlers :)

 Fish breed only under appropriate breeding conditions: aquarium size, water quality, food, etc.

 I provide my fish with the best possible food in addition to what is already growing in their aquariums.

 My guppies and endlers enjoy eating Grindal worms and Springtails. 

I think it would be cool to culture (within the aquariums) Springtails and other land critters fish like to eat.

 Riparium or paludarium or...self-feeding aquarium it is. 

Here you can see my first take on it. 

Take a closer look at it. 

This aquarium is about 2 months old at the time of this recording. 

There are 2 male and 1 female Endlers. 

They have 3 babies born recently in this aquarium.

The aquarium is also populated with snails, seed shrimp, and scuds.

 Fish eat them and plants just as in previously shown smaller 3 liter aquariums.

 Fish also feed on Springtails, I put in a container in the top part of the aquarium. 

For building this aquarium, I choose a plastic jar with a wide enough mouth to fit my hand through.

 Also the jar is noticeably larger than my 3 liter aquariums. 

More space means more critters would breed for my fish to feed on.

 Remove the labels and wash the jar thoroughly. 

I save the cover in case I decide to use it for making a planter later.

 In past years, I have set up dozens of sustainable aquariums - check my videos for details. 

This time I am going to set it up a bit differently. 

OK, let's get driftwood. 

This time I want to try cholla wood. 

Here is another difference in the setup. 

Instead of using clean dechlorinated tap water, I am going to reuse water from the old aquarium. 

I already moved fish out of this tank.

 So, here comes cholla wood with Subwassertang plant on it.

 Let's pull out all aquatic plants. 

Now I am going to dump water with gravel, accumulated waste, and critters hidden there into the new aquarium. 

Yeah, it looks ugly for now.

 Reusing the old water with waste is optional. 

Let's add the rest of the old water. 

Besides hidden critters, the old water comes with a host of bacteria. 

Bacteria from a well established aquarium is beneficial for the aquarium. 

So, by reusing the old water and waste, I basically expect to jump-start my new aquarium :) 

Let's add some more gravel, rocks, marbles - whatever makes the aquarium look prettier. 

I always add some seashells to provide snails with calcium. 

Here some pretty shell goes in.

 And now I can put the plants in the aquarium.

 First, let's anchor this bush of dwarf grass with a piece of cholla wood. 

You can use seashells to anchor plants as well. 

And now let's add dechlorinated tap water to the level. 

Again, using water from the old aquarium is optional. 

7 liters of water is the capacity of this aquarium in total.

 Now let's put in all pieces of driftwood and cholla wood. 

And finally, let's add the rest of the aquatic plants. 

Notice that aquatic plants come with snails and other critters. 

Now let's put the assembled aquarium on the shelf in the spot of the old 3 liter aquarium. 

Let it sit for a couple weeks for bacteria to build up a healthy environment for fish.

 In the mean time, I add more snails and scuds. 

And a couple Marimo balls. 

It's all in addition to plants and critters that are already in there. 

By end of the day the water cleared up, revealing a pleasant looking aquarium. 

In the following days, water gets cloudy. 

It is a welcome sign of bacteria building up in aquarium. 

I add trumpet snails and more scuds.

 5 days after the initial setup, the water is crystal clear - bacteria is settled down. 

Basically, I can add fish in this aquarium anytime now. 

Notice, I do not feed snails and other critters. 

Those critters feed on waste, algae, and plants growing in the aquarium. 

Usually, I use the cover to make planters for holding land plants and to reduce water evaporation in all my aquariums. 

This time, I modify the planter to culture Springtails and Isopods.

 I can use for the planter either a16or or an 8oz container that fits nicely on the mouth of the jar.

 In this example, I use an 8oz container with a lid and a plastic tube to make the feeder/ planter. 

The tube has to go from the top through the bottom of the container. 

I use a permanent marker to mark the hole to cut in the bottom of the container.

 I want the tube to go through the middle of the container. 

Make the hole about 5-10 mm wider than the diameter of the tube. 

The point is to make a gap for Springtails to go through between walls of the tube and the edges of the hole. 

And now let's make a hole in the cover to fit the tube firmly into it. 

Insert the tube from the top through the hole in the cover. 

And then put the cover on the container. 

The bottom part of the tube goes through the hole in the bottom, protruding for about 1 cm outside of the container.

 Now let's check it out. 

Place the container on the aquarium - the bottom of the tube should be hovering above the water level.

 Perfect!

 Now I can put roots of a Painters Pallet plant in the tube. 

There are many other land plants that can grow with their roots in water. 

Land plants growing with roots in water compete with algae feeding on waste dissolved in water.

 Here you can see the feeder/ planter as it is from the bottom. 

Water evaporating from the aquarium will get in the planter through the gap. 

And Springtails will fall through that gap right into the aquarium.

 Now let's fill the feeder with a medium for Springtails to feed and breed on. 

Put the feeder/planter in a larger container. 

Remove the cover with the tube. 

We can use soil, live land moss, and synthetic polyester as mediums for Springtails.

 I fill up the feeder with wilted leaves.

 Wilted leaves are the new medium I've been testing with good results so far.

 I will let you know more about it in future videos.

 Whatever medium you choose, remember to moisten it with water. 

Cover the feeder. 

And place the feeder/ planter back on the aquarium where it belongs.

 The next day, I collected Springtails from my well established cultures.

 Here you can see hundreds of Springtails walking on the water surface.

 Let's open the feeder and deposit the Springtails with the water into the feeder. 

Cover the feeder quickly to prevent Springtails from jumping out. 

Springtails jump when they are scared. 

Place the feeder on top of the aquarium.

 Congratulations, we have made the feeder! 

The only way Springtails may get out of the feeder is through the hole in the bottom. 

Springtails may walk on the water - that is where fish will eat them. 

Springtails are unlikely to climb up by the roots of the land plant outside of the aquarium because they like humidity.

 March 2nd 2022. 

The self-feeding sustainable aquarium garden is all set and ready for fish.

 I move 1 female and 2 males Endlers into this aquarium. 

They will find plenty of food already in the aquarium. 

A couple times a week I give them a pinch of homemade fish food flakes made of what growth in aquariums. 

Just pick up the feeder and drop the flakes in the aquarium. 

Notice that the fish is not in a rush for food - they got plenty of live food in aquarium any time they want it.

Fish are actually looking for food at the bottom where they usually find scuds and worms.

 I forgot to mention that my aquariums are also populated with black worms. 

Well anyway, it's good practice to provide varied  supplemental feeding. 

My Endlers enjoy eating Grindal worms at least once a week. 

Grindal worms have very high nutritional value. 

Do not overfeed your fish - overfeeding is a major cause of problems in aquariums. 

Here you can see Endlers go into a frenzy after Grindal worms. 

And again Springtails. 

In regular aquariums, I simply drop Springtails right in the aquarium during feeding time.

 In this aquarium with a feeder, I put Springtails in the feeder. 

The medium I use in the feeder in this example also serves as food for Springtails.

 So, Springtails find plenty of food and space to breed in the feeder.

 I add new Springtails into the colony in the feeder once every couple weeks or so. 

Just to ensure that there are some Springtails in the feeder. 

I add more aquatic critters, scuds in this example, from one aquarium to another to boost health of existing colonies. 

Here you can see my Endlers had babies on April 4th.

 The fish fry the size of an adult Scud will be hunting tiny baby Scuds and Springtails.  

And the adult critters keep breeding right in this simple self-feeding aquarium garden.

It takes about a month for most critters to grow into a colony with a setup just like that. 

And then you can go on weeks long vacation - your fish have plenty of food here! 

Have fun and happy aquarium gardens :)