Natural Aquariums

One year ago, I set up our first outdoor pond in an old above-ground pool. I let the gutter drain into the pool, put 15 goldfish in to take care of the mosquitos, and just let it go. I've used the pond water to irrigate the garden, and enjoyed the wildlife that now calls my rudimentary pond home. The success of this pond is another post altogether...

I absolutely fell in love with this pond, but I've always wanted an aquarium to teach the kids about the underwater world. I started researching how to make a natural aquarium that required few inputs, and finally set one up a few months ago. I followed the Father Fish example:

-2" of dirt/compost at the bottom
-Covered by 2" of sand
-Sprinkled decomposing leaves on top of the sand
-Plant the aquarium with a diversity of flora
-Just a few small fish (smaller aquarium)

At first, since I started the aquarium with rain/pond water, it was pretty cloudy. My wife kept expressing her concern, but I kept reassuring her, "trust the process."

After one month, the water started showing significant changes in clarity. After two months, the water was completely clear. We are now into its third month, and the fish are living their best life. All I have had to do is occasionally top it off with water (usually from the pond, make sure it is non-chlorinated). I have yet to put any food in the tank. The fish get all their food from the tank itself, their waste gets transformed into nutrition for plants, and the plants feed the fish. A perfect ecosystem in a 10 gallon tank.

I'd love to try a larger tank one day (when we have the space). Let me know if anyone else has experimented with natural aquariums. I'd love to see what I could do differently, or what others have done.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Yh16_cfcjxs

Love it!! Here's a little natural aquarium project I did last year: https://youtu.be/_QJfwNz58Xw?si=syvSAt495L0Z2b6Z

This is mine! It now contains one female betta, four baby crucian carps which reproduced in the garden pond, and some guppies. And shrimps. Lots of shrimps hiding in the "bushes"! There are floating watercress and mint, of edible plants.

And here are two of the baby crucian carps and a shrimp. She looks black but she's actually dark blue. The other two crucian carps are piebald, white and orange.

Flora Eerschay wrote:This is mine! It now contains one female betta, four baby crucian carps which reproduced in the garden pond, and some guppies. And shrimps. Lots of shrimps hiding in the "bushes"! There are floating watercress and mint, of edible plants.

I’ve got to add some edibles to the tanks. Looks great!